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Employment Law

Tapioca Express settles EEOC sex harassment suit

08/23/2019
Asian tea and snack chain Tapioca Express and two of its franchisees have agreed to a 30-month EEOC consent decree.

Piece work pay rate violates FLSA in LA

08/23/2019
ESS Apparel in Los Angeles has agreed to pay 21 employees $53,876 in back pay and overtime to resolve charges it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Offer to ‘help’ doesn’t equal quid pro quo harassment

08/23/2019
A supervisor’s offer to “help” someone reach their career goals in exchange for romantic involvement isn’t enough to support allegations of quid pro quo harassment. To make the employer liable, the supervisor must have had the power to actually “help” and then deny that assistance.

Prepare to reasonably accommodate medical testing

08/23/2019
Don’t assume that someone who appears healthy and has been successfully performing his job isn’t disabled while undergoing medical tests.

Warn bosses: They may be held personally liable for hostile environment harassment

08/23/2019
Warn supervisors: If they insult and abuse employees based on protected characteristics, they’re not just putting the company at risk. That kind of misbehavior may mean punitive damages against them personally.

Feel free to set tougher rules against harassment than the law requires

08/23/2019
Employers can create rules to prohibit and prevent sexual harassment that go beyond the standards laid out in Title VII, state or local laws.

Warn supervisors: No vulgar name-calling

08/23/2019
Here’s a reminder for HR professionals in charge of training programs for managers and supervisors: Warn bosses to refrain from name-calling that could be perceived as sexist or hostile.

FMLA covers some school-related absences

08/15/2019
For years, employers have been told the FMLA doesn’t cover leave that employees take for their children’s school-related meetings and visits. But an eye-opening new U.S. Department of Labor opinion letter adds an important new exception to that rule.

ADA covers temporary disabilities, too

08/15/2019
The ADA was enacted 18 years ago, but it’s still one of the most misunderstood employment laws. The hard part isn’t necessarily determining how to accommodate disabled employees. It’s figuring out which employees are disabled.

Track every disciplinary action in detail

08/14/2019
Document all the details when you discipline or terminate. That way, you can review past discipline and compare it with currently proposed action. Similar conduct should result in similar punishment.