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Employment Law

State AG Office embroiled in sex scandal

05/02/2008
Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has placed Anthony Gutierrez, his office’s director of general services, on leave during an investigation of sexual harassment complaints by staff members Vanessa Stout and Cindy Stankoski …

Rival unions come to blows over recruiting nurses

05/02/2008
Officials of the California Nurses Association (CNA) have sought a restraining order against members of rival union Service Employees International Union (SEIU), accusing them of stalking and harassing them. The two unions are engaged in competing efforts to represent Ohio nurses …

Feeling poor? It could be worse: At least you’re not a reporter

05/02/2008
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has expressed support for a union of editorial workers seeking a new contract at the Dayton Daily News. Union members took to the streets in April after the newspaper announced plans to deny part-time workers affordable health care and freeze wages …

Renhill Staffing pays for discrimination that ‘Didn’t happen’

05/02/2008
Perrysburg-based Renhill Staffing Services has agreed to pay more than $580,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit alleging age and race discrimination. The lawsuit accused the recruitment and temporary services firm of failing to refer blacks and people over age 40 for job openings …

Get ahead of the curve by offering anti-Gay bias training

05/02/2008
Ohio may soon join other states in outlawing sexual orientation discrimination by private employers. It may be time for employers to rethink their employment discrimination policies and include sexual orientation. One good first step is to include anti-gay discrimination training in your regular anti-discrimination program …

FMLA protection can be triggered by ‘Potential’ of serious illness

05/02/2008
But does the FMLA cover leave taken by an employee who thinks he has a serious condition and needs some tests to check it out? Yes, it does. That’s why employers should never discipline or fire employees while they’re in this “limbo” medical stage …

Notify employees every time you plan to charge time off to FMLA

05/02/2008
When employees take leave to deal with serious health conditions, inform them that you plan to charge that time against their allotment of unpaid FMLA leave. If you fail to do so, it will be relatively easy for her to sue and show she was harmed by the lack of notice …

Service members’ jobs protected—If actually employed

05/01/2008
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) protects members of the armed forces by allowing them to return to their jobs when their service ends. But USERRA has limits, applying only to service members who actually were employees when they went to serve …

Good news: Court nixes class action for unrelated claims

05/01/2008
Good news on the class action front. A federal court has refused to allow a lawsuit to go forward as a class action when it was clear that none of the employees named in the complaint had anything in common except that they worked for the same company …

You can require absent employees to follow call-In process

05/01/2008
To manage the workload, employers have to know who will be at work and who will not. After all, when an employee isn’t at work, someone else has to step in and get the work done. Of course, employees sometimes do get sick or have emergencies. A well-crafted call-in policy can help employers cope with unexpected absences …