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Employment Law

Ask about right to work, not immigration status

01/01/2002

Q. Is it OK to ask an applicant about her immigration status before making an offer of employment? —A.R., New York

Blue Mondays? Thwart Attempt at 3-Day Weekends

01/01/2002

Q. How can we handle an employee who routinely uses vacation and sick time on Mondays? —D.M., Ohio

Deciding who’s exempt? Focus on employee’s duties, not job title

12/01/2001
Twenty former Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) employees won back overtime pay when they sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The workers successfully argued that they were wrongly classified as exempt …

Paycheck problems: Know limits on deductions, promptness of pay

12/01/2001
Two mistakes with Trina Richardson’s final paycheck cost her employer, an Oregon credit union, more than the check itself. Here’s where the company went wrong: Improper deduction. The credit union …

Staring can be sexual harassment

12/01/2001
Assembly-line worker Michelle Birschtein complained to her foreman when a forklift driver made sexual remarks to her. The driver never spoke to her again, but he did stare at her, five …

Each paycheck can equal a discriminatory act

12/01/2001
After six years on the job, Gerard Cardenas quit and sued his company, alleging that he was paid less because he is a Mexican American. A lower court tossed out his …

You can correct FMLA mistakes

12/01/2001
In golf, they call it a mulligan. Kids call it a “do-over.” And in the world of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) administration, it can be legal to do an …

Filing suit to protect trade secrets won’t kill your arbitration rights

12/01/2001
MicroStrategy put the head of its HR department, Betty Lauricia, on paid leave soon after she filed a discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Lauricia had an arbitration …

Court upholds workers’ right to bring co-worker to meeting

12/01/2001
A federal appeals court has upheld a controversial labor rule that gives employees the right, even in nonunion workplaces, to bring a co-worker along with them during an investigative meeting …

Can you give inferior benefits to disabled retirees? Courts split

12/01/2001
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) recently ruled that a company doesn’t violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it provides less generous retirement benefits …