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Employment Law

$46.7 million for manager who blew the whistle on age discrimination

08/11/2008
In the midst of a merger that would make it the second-largest waste collection company in the country, Republic Services Inc., based in Fort Lauderdale, has been ordered to pay $46.7 million for wrongfully firing an employee and doctoring company records to justify its actions …

Court rules employers must provide harassment-Free workplace

08/11/2008
Earlier this year, a federal jury in Florida awarded $630,000 to 14 female prison employees who alleged that the state Department of Corrections created a hostile work environment by failing to prevent lewd behavior by male inmates. The court made it very clear that employers must ensure all employees have a harassment-free workplace, regardless of who the harasser is …

Act fast to investigate, correct hostile work environment signs

08/08/2008
It’s not unusual to read about racially motivated incidents that occur at work. Slurs, graffiti and other acts of intimidation can lead to hostile environment lawsuits. By the time the graffiti shows up or the slurs are uttered, some of the damage has already been done. However, smart employers react immediately and try to limit the damage …

Remind managers: No comments on workers hiring lawyers

08/08/2008
It’s tempting for managers to lash out at litigious employees—especially if they think the suit has no merit. Remind them to keep quiet.

You don’t have to pay all managers equally unless jobs are substantially similar

08/08/2008
Competing demands for talent mean some professional positions warrant higher paychecks than others. As the following case shows, the Equal Pay Act (EPA) doesn’t require all positions on the same line of the organizational chart to be paid the same …

Don’t forget attorneys’ fees when calculating potential cost of pay disputes

08/08/2008
When it comes to calculating the exact cost of failing to pay employees correctly, many employers forget to add in the winning employee’s attorneys’ fees. In many cases, it pays to settle such cases early on because the tab for the other side’s attorney can quickly grow very large …

Tab tops $60,000 in firing of pregnant bartender

08/08/2008
In November 2004, members of the board of Maracci Temple 13 in Detroit called Eronda Garner into a meeting. Garner, a part-time bartender for the Grenadier Lounge, which the temple runs, was pregnant. The board told her she was being let go because it feared tending bar was unsafe for a pregnant woman …

Déjà Vu owners should have seen dancers’ FLSA claim coming

08/08/2008
A group of exotic dancers who worked at nine Déjà Vu nightclubs over the past three years are suing Lansing-based Déjà Vu Consulting and Durand-based Cin-Lan Inc. for back wages. The lawsuit claims Déjà Vu misclassifies its dancers as independent contractors, resulting in wages below the minimum wage …

Suit claims Muslim employees were told to hold the hijab

08/08/2008
Two Muslim women are suing McDonald’s restaurants, claiming they were denied jobs at a restaurant in Dearborn because they wore Islamic head scarves, or hijabs …

Employee ‘Family & friends’ can now bring EEOC retaliation claims

08/08/2008
Earlier this year, the U. S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, whose decisions apply to Michigan employers, expanded the coverage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s anti-retaliation provision when it held that the fiancé of an employee who made a complaint to the EEOC could bring a retaliation action when he was discharged by the employer …