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Employment Law

Provide real chance to weigh signing separation agreement

04/08/2008
To make a severance agreement involving older workers stick, employers have to follow the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA). The law prohibits releases of Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) claims unless the agreement meets very specific requirements …

Older worker’s performance falling? Document the decline before discharge

04/08/2008
It almost never looks good in court when an employee who has been with the company for decades suddenly loses his job. For many potential jurors, that smacks of age discrimination even before they’ve heard any testimony. That’s one reason to try to get age cases dismissed long before a jury gets a chance to impose its judgment …

State’s lawyer says she was punished for union organizing

04/08/2008
Assistant Attorney General Amy Lawler says she was suspended for speaking out in favor of a union movement in the attorney general’s office. But Attorney General Lori Swanson’s administration says Lawler was put on leave in March only because she had failed to follow the proper channels in raising ethics concerns …

Airline merger in holding pattern

04/08/2008
A potential merger at Delta and Northwest airlines is on hold while pilots try to work out a seniority agreement. The proposed merger is complicated by the fact that Atlanta-based Delta has a younger work force than Northwest, which is based in Eagan …

Burnsville hospital prevails in EEOC discrimination suit

04/08/2008
Sheila Smith, a former transport aide in the emergency room at Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville, filed an EEOC lawsuit alleging she suffered discrimination and retaliation because she is black. The court found that while the comments made about her  were “abhorrent,” they were made by co-workers, not supervisors, and did not rise to the level of creating a hostile work environment …

Charging employees for uniforms

04/08/2008
Q. We would like to require employees to pay for their work uniforms. Can we do this? …

Exempt employees and a reduced workweek

04/08/2008
Q. During our slow season, we would like to require employees to work just four days per week in order save on labor costs. Can we require exempt employees to participate? …

Charging falsification? Make sure you can back up claim

04/07/2008
Employees who don’t follow company rules should be disciplined and possibly terminated. But employers must make sure they can back up their claims. Otherwise, they may face lawsuits if the fired employees belong to a protected class …

Spotty promotion, training systems? Prepare for class action

04/07/2008
The rise of class actions makes it essential for HR professionals to explore exactly how their companies dole out training and promotion opportunities. If individual supervisors or managers have too much discretion, there may be trouble ahead. An “old boy” network may be alive and well …

Supersensitive employees? Don’t treat with kid gloves

04/07/2008
Don’t let fear of litigation allow one or two supersensitive employees to squash reasonable criticism and destroy workplace morale. Take, for example, an employee who happens to be a member of a protected class (e.g., race, gender or disability) and always seems to believe that supervisors are singling him out …