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Employment Law

Be consistent when bending policies to suit elder care needs

01/01/2005
Issue: Most organizations lack formal elder care benefits or policies. Instead, they assist employees by making exceptions to other policies.
Risk: Unless you apply those exceptions fairly, you’ll risk complaints …

Workers’ comp leave doesn’t stop ‘FMLA clock’

01/01/2005

Q. An employee took FMLA leave Sept. 1 due to job stress. In October, she had an operation for carpal tunnel syndrome. Workers’ comp ruled that her absence was work-related and it dated her workers’ comp claim back to Sept. 3. So, they’re now saying that her FMLA leave won’t start until she is officially released from workers’ comp. Do we need to keep a job open for her indefinitely? —F.W., Nevada

All staff on payroll count toward FMLA threshold

01/01/2005

Q. We’re a church with six full-time employees, three part-timers and six musicians who are paid per performance. Are we subject to FMLA? And who counts as an “employee” under the law: full-time, part-time and on-call workers, such as our musicians? —E.E., North Carolina

Demand English fluency only if it’s needed

01/01/2005
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Preventing harassment: not a ‘one and done’ deal

01/01/2005
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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 …