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Employment Law

Fernwood Resort files will be public in sex assault case

04/01/2008
Fernwood Hotel & Resort, located in the Pocono Mountains, tried to bar the details of a supervisor’s alleged assault on a saleswoman from her sexual harassment suit, but the courts ruled the allegations are key to the woman’s case and will remain in her complaint … 

15 years after enactment, FMLA changing with the times

04/01/2008
The FMLA is undergoing change. In early 2008, Congress made the first significant amendments to the law since it was enacted almost 15 years ago in 1993. Only a few weeks later, the U.S. Labor Department published proposed changes to its FMLA regulations …

Can we dock vacation time if sick leave is exhausted?

04/01/2008
Q. If an employee is out sick but has already used up her sick leave hours, can we legally subtract from her vacation time instead? …

How to handle employee’s domestic abuse

04/01/2008
Q. There is an employee in our company who repeatedly comes in to work with injuries obviously suffered at the hand of her spouse. As an employer, do we have an obligation to alert authorities about at-home physical abuse of an employee? …

Collecting unpaid health insurance premiums after FMLA leave

04/01/2008
Q. One of our employees recently came back from FMLA leave. Before he left, we never agreed on the method by which he would pay his share of health insurance premiums. It’s been two months now, and the employee hasn’t mentioned it or attempted to pay us back. What can we do to collect the premium? …

Starbucks Steamed Over $100M Verdict

03/25/2008
A California Superior Court decision ordering coffee giant Starbucks to pay its baristas $100 million in lost tips has the company in a froth. Trouble has been brewing since it instituted a policy letting supervisors split tip income with hourly workers. You don’t want to find yourself in the same hot water.

Alternative staffing models may save on employment costs

03/18/2008
During these difficult economic times, small and midsized businesses are looking for ways to reduce their employment costs—while maintaining employee benefits and gaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Many employers are looking at alternative staffing models to meet those objectives …

How International Conflict Breeds Domestic Employment Laws

03/18/2008
The employment law legislative cycle has played out repeatedly for more than 40 years: Congress acts to protect service members’ rights when they are risking their lives in the field. Often those rights end up spreading to all other workers as well. The result: the Civil Rights Act, the ADA, the FMLA and USERRA.

Section 1981 Claims

03/16/2008

HR Law 101: Section 1981, a little-known section of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, prohibits racial discrimination in the making and enforcement of contracts. Now, employees are increasingly using Section 1981 instead of Title VII to sue for discrimination because there’s no cap on damage awards …

Answers to your FMLA military family leave questions

03/11/2008
On Jan. 28, 2008, President Bush signed into law the first significant amendment to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Because of the significant changes to this important and complex statute, we have provided answers below to the most frequently asked questions regarding the changes to the FMLA …