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Employment Law

What’s the cost of a chair? A lot less than a lawsuit

07/01/2004
Issue: Minor squabbles between employees and supervisors escalating into illegal “discipline.” Risk: If left unchecked, they can escalate, resulting in discrimination or retaliation claims. Action: Use the following case …

Use severance as a hiring tool; more applicants ask

07/01/2004
Issue: Survivors of recent layoffs are asking about severance plans before signing on. Benefit: More than ever, a good severance plan can help lure the best candidates. Action: Trumpet …

New OT rules: countdown to compliance

06/01/2004
The long wait is over. Now it’s time for you to act.
More than a year after proposing changes to the rules that define which employees are eligible for overtime …

Passing the ‘duties test’: new exemption definitions

06/01/2004
Under the new overtime rules, white-collar employees who earn less than $455 per week ($23,660 annually) are automatically eligible for overtime. Those who earn more than $100,000 and perform just one …

Preserve at-will rights by ditching your employee probation period

06/01/2004
If your employee handbook or job-offer letters say new hires will face a 60- or 90-day probation period, you should consider dropping that policy or, at the very least, referring to …

Don’t write wishy-washy policies that make it hard for staff to comply

06/01/2004
Your employment policies should never leave employees guessing about how they must comply.
That’s why it’s vital to use concrete terms in your
policies that discuss employee behaviors and …

Continued employment may be enough to make noncompetes legal

06/01/2004
If you ask employees to sign an agreement not to compete with your organization for a certain length of time after they leave, the agreement isn’t binding unless you offer the …

You can trim health benefits for Medicare-eligible retirees

06/01/2004
If your organization offers health insurance to retired employees, an important new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruling says you can reduce or eliminate those benefits after the ex-employee becomes eligible …

Supreme Court expands filing window in ‘Section 1981’ cases

06/01/2004
The U.S. Supreme Court last month set a four-year statute of limitations in so-called “Section 1981” discrimination cases.
While most employees file discrimination cases under Title VII of the Civil …

Federal contractors: Post ‘Beck’ notice in workplace

06/01/2004
The Labor Department issued final rules last month requiring federal contractors to post notices that inform employees of certain union rights under the Supreme Court’s Communi-cation Workers v. Beck case. Essen-tially, …