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Employment Law

Appeals court rules against health-care employee who refused vaccine

02/04/2019
The ADA prohibits employers from forcing employees to undergo medical testing before being offered a job. Employers should always be prepared to justify testing before requiring employees to participate.

Insist on working within medical restrictions

02/04/2019
The ADA doesn’t require employers to let disabled employers test the limits of their abilities in ways that may lead to injury.

Note all details that led up to discipline

02/01/2019
Having good documentation of your reasoning will often persuade a judge or jury that discrimination wasn’t the real reason for differing discipline, and that you legitimately used discretion to arrive at the appropriate punishment.

Justify why you decided not to follow the ‘same rule violation, same punishment’ rule

02/01/2019
Generally, if two employees break the same workplace rule and don’t have any prior violations, you should punish them the same way. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make judgment calls on which one may deserve more severe punishment, including discharge.

Supreme Court could address LGBT bias

01/31/2019
The U.S. Supreme Court could decide in the next few weeks whether to hear cases that ask if Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex also bans discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

RICO doesn’t cover employment law violations

01/31/2019
An employer has won a case that could have greatly complicated employment law litigation. A federal court has refused to allow a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act claim against an employer for using phones and the internet to discuss terminating an employee.

EEOC, DOJ cooperate to stop public-sector harassment

01/31/2019
The EEOC and the U.S. Department of Justice have signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow faster federal intervention in sexual harassment complaints involving state and local government employees.

Pot business’s FLSA defense goes up in smoke

01/31/2019
State and municipal laws legalizing marijuana sales for recreational and medicinal purposes have created a legal limbo.

N.Y. legal update: Preventing data breaches, criminal records checks

01/29/2019
This month, we bring you news on data breaches and further restrictions on using criminal records in the hiring process.

Contractor pays $2.8 million for prevailing wage violations

01/29/2019
Federal contractor Fedcap Rehabili­tation Services has agreed to pay more than $2.8 million to 443 em­­ployees at 17 locations to settle charges the company violated a law requiring contractors to pay a prevailing wage.