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Employment Law

Just asking for help doesn’t trigger accommodation process

06/04/2008
If employees’ disabilities aren’t obvious, the ADA doesn’t protect them if they don’t make it clear they have a disability. Only after an employee reveals he has a disability are you obligated to pursue reasonable accommodations. Vague requests such as asking for “more help” aren’t enough to trigger the ADA …

Make sure handbook spells out maternity leave terms

06/04/2008

Is your employee handbook clear on exactly what constitutes maternity leave and how long it lasts? If you plan to permit just the 12 weeks allowed for pregnancy and childbirth under the FMLA, spell that out. Don’t refer to maternity leave separately and then provide a different week or month count …

Personnel records a mess? Clean them up now

06/04/2008
How carefully do you maintain your company’s personnel files? If they are a mess and don’t include relevant information such as applications, set aside time now to straighten them out! Courts are increasingly ordering employers being sued for discrimination to turn over any arguably related files …

Want to guarantee a lawsuit? Just fail to investigate

06/04/2008
It is pure foolishness to ignore an employee complaint. Employers are almost always better off investigating the claim—even if the matter seems frivolous—than letting the perceived problem fester. Ignoring the request may be all it takes to spur a lawsuit …

Good-Faith Process—But Not Absolutely Correct Conclusion—Is Enough to Fire Harasser

06/04/2008
When it comes to sexual harassment complaints, you won’t land in legal hot water if you conduct a thorough and fair investigation—even if you reach the wrong conclusion. What matters is that you take the charge seriously, investigate and come to a reasonable conclusion based on the findings …

Feuding employees leave employer mired in the middle

06/04/2008
Annie Ludwig began working for the Rochester Psychiatric Center (RPC) as a psychiatric nurse in the Adult Services Unit. Within a month, she was counseled to improve her professional knowledge, supervision and attendance. Otherwise, she would be in danger of losing her job …

Switched at birth: DCS women will get almost $1 million

06/04/2008
The New York State Department of Correctional Services (DCS) will pay $972,000 to 23 female DCS employees who were shortchanged by the department’s maternity leave policy when they became pregnant while on workers’ compensation leave …

Sexual harassment costs Rochester company $375,000

06/04/2008
American Industrial Sales Corp., a Rochester-based distributor of highway and industrial safety products, will pay $375,000 to 18 women to settle an EEOC sexual harassment lawsuit …

Job background check must comply with Fair Credit Reporting Act

06/04/2008

The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates how your company performs a job background check on applicants. Contrary to popular belief, this federal law doesn’t just cover credit checks. It covers any background report, such as driving records and criminal histories obtained from a “consumer reporting agency.”

Restrict access to data about protected characteristics

06/03/2008
One of the most important HR functions is monitoring whether your organization is unwittingly discriminating when hiring, firing or promoting. To do that, you obviously have to know who belongs to what protected classification. At the same time, you don’t necessarily want the supervisors and managers who make employment decisions to have that information at their fingertips …