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Employment Law

Your safety rules outweigh employee ‘personal appearance’ rights.

03/01/2003
Company dress codes will withstand any legal challenge if they’re gender-neutral and involve a legitimate business reason. Recent example: A county prohibited …

Simple pain complaint doesn’t count as FMLA notice.

03/01/2003
A worker who previously fractured his coccyx told his boss he was “in pain from his tailbone” and needed to go to the doctor that day. Although the boss told him …

Don’t conspire with competitors to freeze workers out of a job

03/01/2003
Never agree with another company to refrain from hiring each other’s employees unless your workers and the other company’s workers sign the agreement. Reason: …

Job-bias claims in 2002 saw biggest one-year jump in decade

03/01/2003
Here’s one more reason to crank up your anti-discrimination training: Job-discrimination complaints filed in 2002 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)jumped …

Beware unintended bias against unmarried workers, applicants

03/01/2003
A new study gives your single employees and applicants new ideas for a lawsuit. The study by consultant Challenger, Gray and Christmas says unmarried people …

EEOC nets largest-ever age-discrimination settlement

03/01/2003
California’s public pension fund (CalPERS) will pay $250 million to settle an age discrimination case with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), …

Safeguard your health data: HIPAA rules kick in April 14

03/01/2003
Reminder: If your company sponsors an employee benefit plan, it likely has to comply with new privacy standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s …

Guard HR records, the No. 1 source of identity theft

03/01/2003
In the past, thieves stole a person’s identity mostly by snatching a wallet, intercepting mail or digging through garbage to find identifying data. Not anymore. Now, …

It’s OK to Offer Incentive to Drop Health Coverage

03/01/2003

Q. Due to rising premiums, our company is looking into alternatives to reduce our group health benefit costs. Several employees are on our plan and their spouses’ plan. They are willing to go off our group plan if we compensate them “x” amount of dollars each month. Is it legal to offer the medical insurance benefit or a cash alternative? —S.P., Michigan

‘Possibility’ of serious illness wins coverage

02/01/2003
The rule has been drummed into your brain: An employee can take job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) if he suffers from a …