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Employment Law

Justice Department settles harassment suit with N.C. A&T

04/23/2008
The U.S. Department of Justice has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University for $57,000. The university will pay $29,000 to Tasha Murray and $26,000 to Mattie Smith for sexual harassment they endured while working in the university’s Department of Police and Public Safety …

Wachovia sued for back wages

04/23/2008
Carrie Williams, an employee at a Wachovia call center in Alabama, has filed a lawsuit alleging the company failed to pay employees for time spent logging onto computers before taking calls …

When a former employee steals customers

04/23/2008
Q. One of our employees left and is stealing our customers. Can we sue him for breach of the duty of loyalty? …

When weighing soft skills, document decisions

04/22/2008
Employers can ask questions about candidates’ subjective qualities, especially when many applicants are objectively qualified. But don’t risk a discrimination lawsuit by carelessly documenting how you arrived at ways to distinguish applicants … 

Good faith is the key to litigation-Proof employment decisions

04/22/2008
Employment decisions don’t have to be perfect—they just have to be based on good faith. That’s good news, because it’s a fact that supervisors and managers will make mistakes. What that means: Just because an employee can prove management did something wrong doesn’t guarantee she will win a lawsuit …

Tell supervisors to zip it! Little digs can add up to retaliation

04/22/2008
When supervisors have to work with an employee they view as a troublemaker, they sometimes look for subtle ways to exact punishment. If the so-called troublemaker got that title because he constantly complains that his co-workers are being discriminated against, supervisors should lay off …

South Bend postal boss’s comments not harassment

04/22/2008
Jennifer Ohda was hired in 2004 as a part-time mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in South Bend. On her first day, Ohda was assigned to a male training officer named Dale. At the end of Ohda’s shift, a supervisor, Linda Batteast, said, “Dale, tell your little helper to go home tonight and eat something.” …

What HR pros should know about trade secret misappropriation

04/22/2008
When any valued employee leaves, the company experiences a loss. The loss is greater, however, when the former employee departs to work for a competitor and begins using the company’s confidential information or trade secrets. HR has a key role to play in protecting a company’s proprietary information. Here’s how to do it …

Prepping for work: How much time do you have to pay for?

04/21/2008
Perhaps no other aspect of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is more confusing than the so-called “donning and doffing” provisions. Exactly what preliminary preparation before work and cleanup after work should be included in paid time? Fortunately, a recent case helps clarify that employers don’t need to pay workers for many preliminary and post-work activities …

FMLA entitles you to request proof worker’s parent has serious health condition

04/21/2008
Do you routinely accept employees’ claims they need FMLA time off to care for an elderly parent? If so, consider a new policy. While it may be easier to approve leave than to challenge it, blanket approvals may prove costly in the long run as more and more “sandwich generation” employees find themselves having to care for both their children and their elderly parents …