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Employment Law

Accommodate religious requests; don’t debate ‘sincerity’

01/01/2005
Issue: Accommodating employees’ religious beliefs and practices even though you question their legitimacy.
Risk: You’ll waste time (and potentially spark a lawsuit) by challenging a person’s religious sincerity.
Action: …

Prevent union criticism for ‘offshoring’ jobs

01/01/2005
In an effort to shame U.S. companies into keeping jobs in America, the AFL-CIO has launched a Web page that lists 200,000 employers who have moved jobs overseas (so-called “offshoring”). The …

Temp employees lose many unionizing rights

01/01/2005
If you hire lots of temporary employees and fear that they’ll join with the regular staff to organize a union, we have good news: A new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) …

Insist on fluent English only if job requires it

12/01/2004
It’s clear that you can require bank tellers and phone salespeople to speak fluent English. But can you make the same demand of a construction worker or dishwasher?
In many …

Inability to ‘get along with others’ may qualify employees as disabled

12/01/2004
Perk up your lawsuit radar if you (or one of your organization’s managers) plan to discipline an employee who has emotional problems and difficulty relating to other people. As the following …

You can offer, but not force, light duty as an option for FMLA leave

12/01/2004
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows certain employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year. But, as the following case shows, you can …

Apply ‘fashion police’ rules evenly to avoid discrimination complaints

12/01/2004
When it comes to enforcing your organization’s dress code, consistency is the name of the game.
As the following case shows, you can’t prevent employees from wearing union-related shirts, hats …

Sick-leave ‘buyback’ compensation should count toward overtime tally

12/01/2004
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), you must pay employees time-and-a-half overtime pay based on the workers’ “regular rate of pay.” That regular rate includes the person’s salary or wages, …

Take harassment training seriously; more states mandate it

12/01/2004
Smart organizations have hosted sexual-harassment training for years. But now that California has joined the list of states that mandate such training, your state may be next.
The California law …

Learn how to handle employees with ‘intellectual disabilities’

12/01/2004
If your organization employs, or is considering employing, people with so-called “intellectual disabilities,” obtain a copy of a new EEOC fact sheet that explains how to legally accommodate those employees under …