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

Employment Law

McDonald’s pays half a million for harassing teens

05/06/2008
McDonald’s will pay more than $505,000 to four former workers who won a lawsuit in which they charged the manager of a Durango store with harassment. A lawyer for two of the victims said the girls did not pursue criminal charges because they feared they would be revictimized in the process …

EEOC sues Albertson’s for retaliation

05/06/2008
The EEOC has filed a second lawsuit against Albertson’s, the Idaho-based grocery store chain, for retaliating against workers in its Aurora distribution center. The first lawsuit, filed in 2006, claimed the center harbored a racially hostile environment against blacks and Hispanics …

Black Denver deputies allege discrimination in sheriff’s dept.

05/06/2008
A group of black sheriff’s deputies is suing Denver and the Denver Sheriff Department, claiming the agency harbors a “culture of racism.” The lawsuit claims black employees are punished more harshly than whites for similar behavior …

DOL files back-Wage suit against Aggregate Industries

05/06/2008
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in back wages for 302 Denver-area employees of Aggregate Industries in Golden. The lawsuit claims the company paid truck drivers on a per-load basis without regard to the number of hours they worked, resulting in unpaid overtime …

Serial harasser moved … and brought harassment with him

05/06/2008
Dillard’s, the Arkansas-based department store chain, has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit on behalf of 12 female former employees who were sexually harassed by an assistant store manager in two states …

Kids will be kids: Inappropriate workplace behavior and teenage workers

05/06/2008

Q. Some of our employees are teenagers who work part time while they go to school. Often, this is their first job. Some of them don’t seem to understand proper behavior in the work environment. They usually are OK with customers, but when they are interacting with each other, they give each other a hard time. Verbal put-downs and even physical acts are common. Does this create any potential problems? …

Hourly computer programmers and overtime pay

05/06/2008
Q. We employ computer programmers who write sophisticated custom software programs for clients. We bill their services by the hour and pay them by the hour, based on their experience and the work involved. The hourly rates we pay range from $30 to $80 per hour. Sometimes, there is a rush on a project and the programmers have to work overtime. Do we have to pay time and a half the hourly rate if the programmers work over 40 hours per week? ….

Congress OKs New Genetic Bias Law—What’s it Mean for HR?

05/06/2008
Congress just passed the nation’s first federal law prohibiting employers and insurance companies from discriminating against individuals on the basis of genetic information, a protection critics have called “a remedy in search of a problem.” Find out what the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act prohibits, and why some believe it could cause trouble for employers.

Make sure investigation process doesn’t defame employee

05/05/2008
As an employer, you are obligated to investigate employee harassment and discrimination claims. How you handle those investigations can determine whether you’ll have to prepare for later lawsuits. The problem: allegations that you defamed someone while conducting the investigation …

Track discipline to show equal treatment for all workers

05/05/2008
Insist that managers tell HR when they issue any form of discipline, even an oral warning. That way, there’s a record that you can later use to explain why it only looks like a discharged employee was punished more harshly than others who committed the same offense …