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Employment Law

Speaking of cutting to the bone …

09/15/2008
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in Athens has granted preliminary class certification to a group of quail processors at Quail International in Greensboro who claim the company forces processors to work off the clock and through breaks in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act …

Don’t overlook fresh evidence that the employee you fired deserved to go

09/12/2008
Sometimes, employers fire employees for the wrong reasons and end up in litigation. Then, while preparing to defend against the wrongful-termination case, they discover other—perhaps even better—reasons to have terminated the employee. Make sure your attorneys know about the new evidence …

Ask attorney for help to make sure employment contract contains proper language

09/12/2008
If you use employment contracts, don’t be tempted to draft the agreement yourself. Doing so may mean you’ll end up with terms that go beyond what you meant. Contract law is tricky, and an experienced attorney can best guide you in creating a contract that is clear, unambiguous and complies with Michigan law …

AARP sued for age discrimination

09/12/2008
Bonita Brady, an employee in the Lansing office of AARP, is suing the advocacy group, claiming she was passed over for promotions and terminated due to her age …

Did old rap sheet lead to firing and another appearance in court?

09/12/2008
Sometimes it takes awhile for a company to find out how well an employee is going to work out. For example, it took Guardian Alarm Company of Michigan 21 years to figure out that Ronald Schocker wasn’t a good fit. Now a judge has said, “Wait a minute!”

The rules of company blogging: Avoiding employee misuse and abuse

09/12/2008

Spend any time scanning the world’s 112 million blogs and you’ll find plenty of employees discussing their work. Sometimes that spells legal trouble for employers. By implementing an effective company blogging policy, you may avoid many of the pitfalls …

Can the union demand we pay for employees’ personal protective equipment?

09/12/2008
Q. Our company is in the midst of planning for contract negotiations. The bargaining committee has made it known it will demand that the company pay for all steel-toed safety shoes. The company does require that its employees wear steel-toed safety shoes in the plant, but the company has never paid for the shoes. The union states that because of new OSHA regulations, which have been adopted in Michigan, the employer is required to pay for employee personal protective equipment (PPE) and therefore must pay for the safety shoes. …

Fire employees who take FMLA leave? Yes, with reason

09/10/2008
Employees sometimes think taking FMLA leave gives them special protection. Some may even attempt to go out on leave when they know they are about to get into trouble at work. Don’t fall into that trap. The fact is, if you would have fired the employee even if she had never taken FMLA leave, you can do so if she has taken leave …

Employ commercial drivers? They have special protection

09/10/2008
Commercial drivers are protected from retaliation if they refuse to operate their vehicles in violation of U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) safety rules that restrict the number of hours they may drive without resting. Firing or demoting someone for refusing to break those rules may be retaliation …

Carefully craft bona fide occupational qualification limits

09/10/2008
Some jobs can be handled only by someone of a particular gender. For example, a dress model necessarily has to be female. Under the sex discrimination provisions of Title VII, employers may limit those jobs to members of one sex and refuse to hire members of the opposite sex under the so-called bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) exception. But the BFOQ is strictly limited …