• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Gender wage gap widened for first time in two decades

09/30/2024
According to a recent Census Bureau report, working men earned a median $66,790 in 2023, a 3% change from 2022. Wages for working women increased by half as much.

The 6-figure classification mistake you must avoid

09/27/2024
Classifying workers as independent contractors instead of employees has advantages for employers. There’s no need to provide benefits or pay the company’s share of Social Security taxes. Contractors are on the hook for all that. But if you make a classification mistake, it can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

EEOC: ‘Fully healed’ return-to-work policy violates ADA

09/27/2024
Here’s a warning for employers that insist workers taking medical leave must be fully healed before returning to work. According to the EEOC, such a rule violates the ADA because it forecloses the possibility that disabled employees could perform the essential functions of their jobs with or without an accommodation.

Review policies limiting workplace romantic relationships

09/27/2024
Earlier this year, the EEOC released the final version of its Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. One of the report’s most significant conclusions: Employers can lessen the likelihood of workplace sexual harassment by putting up guardrails to regulate workplace romantic and sexual relationships.

Keep it Legal: Offer can’t be revoked for disability nondisclosure

09/27/2024
Most employers have a stipulation that specifies lying on an application as a dischargeable offense—a rule meant to prevent résumé fraud. But don’t apply it to someone who didn’t reveal a disability that you will have to reasonably accommodate.

Take employee misconduct complaints seriously, for their sake and yours

09/27/2024
Employers would love it if unacceptable behavior never happened in their workplace. Unfortunately, few work environments escape problems. Effective leaders realize their actions during such critical times play a huge role in employee relations going forward.

How to write a data-collection policy

09/23/2024
We already know we participate in a surveillance economy. It may be worse than you think. Payroll collects a lot of data from employees and is being asked to do a lot more with it. Maybe it’s time for a data-collection policy.

Provide any form of short-term leave? Better cover military leave, too

09/20/2024
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requires employers that provide any form of short-term leave to also grant leave to members of the National Guard and military reserves so they can take time off for training or short deployments. In doing so, the 9th Circuit joined several other federal circuits in finding that USERRA requires employers to provide such leave.

Federal appeals court affirms: Overtime salary test is valid

09/20/2024
Ruling in Mayfield v. DOL, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge by a Texas restaurateur who argued that nothing in the Fair Labor Standards Act gave the DOL the authority to base overtime pay on anything except the kind of work employees perform.

Fired whistleblower triggers wide-ranging investigation

09/19/2024
An employee of a day care center who raised health concerns about the center’s kitchen will receive $43,295 in back pay. But it may cost the employer far more.