• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

In #MeToo era, you need a contingency plan

11/14/2019
In the days after McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook’s termination for having a consensual romantic relationship with a woman at work, details emerged showing that the fast food company had prepared in advance to handle relationships between C-suite executives and subordinates. Your organization needs a contingency plan, too.

Federal contractor? You’re subject to False Claims Act

11/07/2019
The False Claims Act prohibits federal contractors from firing whistleblowers who report employer wrongdoing.

Best defense: Consistent rules universally enforced

11/07/2019
When an applicant or employee launches a lawsuit, courts naturally end up scrutinizing your organization and its processes. The best defense: Have consistent rules that you universally apply to everyone.

Understand interplay between FMLA, ADA when employee must care for family member

11/07/2019
Employees may have the right to take time off to care for a disabled family member under the FMLA, but the same isn’t true under the ADA for a request for reasonable accommodations of time off to care for the same family member.

Ensure policy spells out exactly how employees should report allegations of sexual harassment

11/07/2019
You will probably survive a harassment lawsuit if you trained all employees how to use the policy and followed up with discipline whenever an investigation uncovered harassment.

Yes, same employee can file several EPA suits

11/07/2019
Can an employee keep coming back to court with a new comparator? The answer appears to be a qualified “yes” as long as the new co-worker comparator arrived on the scene after the earlier lawsuit began.

EEOC: Assisted living facility in McKinney, Texas violated ADA

11/07/2019
Enlivant, an nationwide provider of assisted-living residences, faces an EEOC lawsuit alleging the company illegally terminated a chef who worked at its North Brook Place facility in McKinney, Texas.

Employee acts as attorney? Prepare for a long haul

11/07/2019
Plenty of employees who want to sue their employers can’t find an attorney willing to represent them. Then they decide to act as their own lawyers. Courts dread these cases, but they often grant great leeway to pro se plaintiffs, who usually aren’t familiar with even basic legal processes.

Jury’s $20 million message on anti-gay bias

11/07/2019
A Missouri jury has just delivered an unmistakable lesson to organizational leaders everywhere: Open displays of homophobic bigotry aren’t just wrong; they have real-world consequences.

Poor health doesn’t excuse poor performance

11/04/2019
Employees with a serious health condition are entitled to FMLA leave. That doesn’t mean poor health is an excuse for poor work.