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Employment Law

Document rationale for rejecting every job applicant—and stick with it

11/12/2008

Before you reject a candidate who appears to meet the basic requirements for an open position, make sure you can explain your decision. Then document your rationale in case he or she later claims the real reason for the rejection was some form of discrimination.

OK to reject applicant who volunteers that disability can’t be accommodated

11/12/2008

If an applicant discloses a disability and says she can’t perform the job’s essential functions even with an accommodation, you can turn her down. You don’t have to second-guess her assessment and look for a reasonable accommodation.

Sometimes a personality conflict is nothing more

11/12/2008

Some supervisors like some subordinates more than others. As long as any personality conflict isn’t based on some protected characteristic such as age, race or sex, there is no need to worry that treating some employees more harshly than others will result in a winning lawsuit for the employee.

Employees can’t wait years to sue for intentional harm

11/12/2008

Sometimes, it seems as though employees spend all their time thinking up new ways to sue. At least now, courts are stopping some of the most frivolous claims by insisting employees act fast—or forget about the alleged wrongdoing.

Illini faculty, staff rally for political rights

11/12/2008

In October, the University of Illinois released a statement informing students and faculty that a state ethics law bars state workers from political activities on campus. Students and faculty protested, claiming the university was trampling on their First Amendment rights.

CAIR reports rise in religious discrimination complaints

11/12/2008

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reports that bias complaints by Muslim workers increased by 18% in 2007, reaching a record 452 cases. Complaints by Muslim job applicants also rose by 34%.

AG recommends no pension for convicted prisons director

11/12/2008

Donald Snyder, former director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), forfeited his right to pension benefits when he was convicted of engaging in “a scheme to defraud the people of the state of Illinois,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan said.

Can a ‘bad’ motive firing of an at-will employee backfire?

11/12/2008

Marsha Bartel was an award-winning NBC journalist working on the “Dateline NBC” television show. NBC fired her, claiming it was laying off staff. She sued, alleging NBC had fired her for complaining that the show was not adhering to NBC’s internal ethical standards. The case offers some important reminders about how to handle termination of at-will employees.

Our applicant turns out to be a transgender—can we revoke the job offer?

11/12/2008

Q. Our company has just made a job offer to a highly qualified man to work in our company’s IT department. During the final stages of our interviewing process, the candidate told us that “she” is transgendered —that she would be transitioning from male to female. We believe employing a transgender employee could be very disruptive and cause a morale problem in the company. Can we rescind the offer based on the candidate’s transgender status?

How must employees ask for FMLA leave?

11/12/2008

Q. Does an employee have to say that she wants to “take FMLA leave” in order to satisfy the requirement that she notify her employer of her “intent to take leave”? What must an employee tell an employer to preserve her right to take FMLA leave?