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Employment Law

Beware growing risk of minorities’ sex harassment claims

10/01/2004
Heads up: African-American, Asian and Hispanic women are more likely to file sexual harassment charges than in the past, according to a National Partnership for Women & Families study of data …

Centralize job references to minimize exposure

10/01/2004

Q. Concerning writing reference letters, we have a few supervisors who think it’s OK to write them only for “good” employees. But our policy says supervisors can’t issue reference letters for any current or former employee. I’m having a hard time finding a reason that justifies our policy. Help! —P.T., South Dakota

Review past practices to judge FMLA leave request

10/01/2004

Q. We’re a 24/7 office. Some employees rotate shifts, but our night employees typically work the same shift. After one of our employees gave birth, she asked to be placed on the night shift. We granted her request, but now she says medical reasons require her to be off for five days in a row. We put her back into the regular shift rotation, but she claims her FMLA rights are being violated and wants all employees to rotate shifts, even the night employees. Do we have to do this? —M.L., Ohio

No Need to Pay Employee for Home-to-Seminar Drive

10/01/2004

Q. In determining when to pay for travel time, what if an employee drives his own car to a seminar that’s two hours away? Should he get paid for his driving time to and from the seminar, even if he leaves from home and drives straight home afterward? —R.M., North Carolina

What do you do when the big boss is a harasser?

10/01/2004
Issue: How to handle harassing behavior by your organization’s top dogs. Risk: Going easy on them will come back to haunt you; courts hold higher-ups to a higher standard than …

Review insurance policies for legally dangerous exclusions

10/01/2004
Issue: A poorly worded insurance policy can spark age discrimination lawsuits. Risk: If your policy excludes members of a protected class (age, race, gender, etc.)…

Require employees to show FMLA proof before their leave

10/01/2004
Issue: When must employees provide proof of their need for FMLA leave? Benefit: You can require employees to provide proof when they request the leave. Action: Don’t be …

Warn managers: Never disclose ex-employees’ medical data

10/01/2004
Issue: Former employees can sue if your managers blab about employees’ medical conditions to prospective employers. Risk: Ex-employees can file Americans …

Disabled staff? No need to revamp their jobs

10/01/2004
Issue: How far must you go to offer disabled employees a “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? Benefit: ADA doesn’t …

Calculating paid ‘On-Call’ time an art, not science

10/01/2004

Q. We have a maintenance employee who we will soon put “on call” for various shifts (occasionally at night) to fix equipment. How should we handle his on-call pay? —E.P., Rhode Island