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Employment Law

What does ‘Right to work’ mean in North Carolina?

11/01/2007

Q. I always hear North Carolina is a “right to work” state. Does that mean there are limitations on how or why I may be fired? Does that have anything to do with “employment at will”? …

Hiring for the nonsmoking workplace

11/01/2007

Q. May I refuse to hire a smoker? …

Wal-Mart hit for another $62 million in back wages

11/01/2007

You may remember the big employee win against Wal-Mart. A class-action lawsuit under Pennsylvania’s wage-and-hour law made national headlines when the retailer was zapped for allegedly allowing employees to work “off the clock.” Now the news has gotten much worse for the company—$62.3 million worse, to be exact …

Time off beyond FMLA may be reasonable accommodation

11/01/2007

The FMLA gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year. Employers are free to discharge employees who cannot return to work after that time is up—that’s legal under the FMLA. But before you fill out that pink slip, consider whether the employee may be disabled under the ADA. If so, he may be entitled to more time off as an accommodation …

Keeping pay info mum may give employees more time to sue

11/01/2007

When the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Ledbetter case in the spring of 2007, employers breathed a collective sigh of relief. It appeared that employees whose current paychecks were smaller because of sex discrimination years ago were barred from suing and instead would have had to file their lawsuits within months of the original discriminatory pay decision. Now it turns out that Ledbetter may not be as simple a decision as it first appeared …

Even vague request should trigger ADA process

11/01/2007

Employees who have disabilities and may need accommodations don’t have to use their organization’s formal process to make requests. In fact, any statement that could be interpreted as a request for an accommodation should start the interactive accommodations process that the ADA requires. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has said that an employer is on notice when an employee makes a request “in plain English.” The request does not have to mention the ADA …

Don’t let FMLA trip you up: Have HR investigate leave abuse

11/01/2007

You expect employees to follow your attendance and time-reporting rules and probably discipline those who don’t. But you need to know that FMLA leave can be an attendance minefield where disciplinary actions can cause great damage. Employees who allege that employers “willfully” interfered with their FMLA rights or retaliated against them for taking FMLA leave have up to three years to sue. One way to prevent the willful violation charge is to take the employee’s supervisor out of the disciplinary process …

Surely this employer should have known better

11/01/2007

A federal trial court has rebuffed attempts by a law firm to enforce an arbitration agreement against one of its own attorneys. The attorney, a woman, claimed that she had been paid less than male attorneys for the same work. She sued …

Morticians accused of brokering body parts

11/01/2007

Philadelphia funeral home directors Louis Garzone, Gerald Garzone and James McCafferty have been indicted for robbing bones, spines and tissue from 244 bodies. They allegedly sold the parts for transplantation …

Circuit City sued for male-on-Male sexual harassment

11/01/2007

 Two male employees at a Circuit City store in Delaware County have filed a suit alleging their male manager engaged in a campaign of sexual harassment. It started with the manager tickling their palms with his middle finger, then escalated to unwanted shoulder massages, comments about oral sex and groping …