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Employment Law

Steelworkers drop discipline against Goodyear strikebreakers

10/01/2007

The United Steelworkers have dropped disciplinary action against four former members who defied the union’s three-month strike at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Akron this summer …

Cintas fined $2.78 million in clothes dryer death

10/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department’s OSHA levied $2.78 million in penalties against Cincinnati-based Cintas Corp. after an employee at the company’s Tulsa, OK, plant fell into an industrial dryer and died. The employee was clearing a jam of wet laundry on a conveyor belt that carries laundry from the washer to the dryer when he fell …

Speedway SuperAmerica prevails on retaliation charges

10/01/2007

Speedway SuperAmerica, the Enon-based convenience store chain, won a recent sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit by a former cashier in a West Virginia store. The cashier alleged that she endured repeated sexual harassment by a co-worker. Shortly after complaining, she came up $200 short on her cash register. The company did not accuse her of stealing, but fired her …

Be alert to employment law issues related to older employees

10/01/2007

Employment laws give older workers unique protections that younger workers lack. Specifically, the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Ohio’s Fair Employment Practices Act prohibit discrimination because of age against workers 40 and older. However, employers are getting a reprieve of sorts from a new EEOC regulation …

FMLA intermittent leave and hours worked

10/01/2007

Q. We have an employee with a chronic health condition who began taking FMLA intermittent leave in February. She had worked more than 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave started. By June, she had dropped below 1,250 hours. Does she lose her eligibility now? …

Rights of returning Iraq vets

10/01/2007

Q. One of my employees is scheduled to return this fall from a two-year tour of duty in Iraq. What rights does this employee have regarding his return to work? …

When litigious employee continues to threaten retaliation suit

10/01/2007

Q. An employee filed a sexual harassment claim with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission against my company. The commission investigated the charge and found it to be without merit. She still works for us and is continually threatening to file a retaliation claim. Can she? …

Insist on accurate time sheets, even if it costs you OT

10/01/2007

The Fair Labor Standards Act says employers must pay overtime to hourly employees who work more than 40 hours per week. Work time includes more than just the hours you put on the employee’s schedule—it also includes any time you “permitted” the employee to work outside the schedule. And therein lies a big overtime headache …

Separate the decision-Maker from the investigation

10/01/2007

When it comes to internal investigations looking into potential wrongdoings, it’s a good idea to put a wall between the investigator and the ultimate decision-maker. The investigator should present the facts of the case and leave drawing conclusions and deciding discipline to someone else …

Minor sleep problems don’t a disability make

10/01/2007

Does your office look like the set for the latest sleep-medication commercial? You know, the one where employees drag themselves to work while their dreams come to visit them. These days it seems almost everyone is a bit sleep deprived. But don’t let bleary-eyed employees make excuses for tardiness. The fact  is, while insomnia can be a disability under the ADA, very few cases are severe enough to qualify as a disability.