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Employment Law

Former Minn. health department official claims retaliation

08/08/2018
A former director of the Minnesota health department’s health regulation division has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired in retaliation for complaining internally about a culture of bullying and intimidation at the department.

OK to fire disabled worker who cannot perform job duties

08/08/2018
Sadly, some employee disabilities just can’t be accommodated, which means the employee can be terminated. Just make sure you can back up your contention that there was nothing that could be done to allow the employee to keep working.

Consider hiring outside attorney to conduct investigation into HR harassment

08/08/2018
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to reinstate a case involving sexual harassment in which the alleged harasser claimed he was fired because of racial bias.

8th Circuit slaps down DOL in FLSA case

08/08/2018
The Department of Labor has suffered a rare rebuke after it tried to press an employer to reveal information that might expand a Fair Labor Standards Act claim to cover related entities.

Is that valid guidance or sex discrimination?

08/08/2018
A female employee sued for sex discrimination when she felt that she was told to do her job more like a man.

New tip rules: Prepare for a deep dive into the tip pool

08/06/2018
Employers have long been allowed to pay tipped employees less than the usual minimum wage. In some industries, tips have traditionally been pooled, so “back-of-the-house” staff can share in customers’ generosity. But the informality of tipping means it is a surprisingly complicated wage-and-hour issue.

Cuomo orders DHR campaign on pregnancy discrimination

08/06/2018
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed the state Division of Human Rights to investigate pregnancy discrimination and develop an outreach program to educate both employers and employees.

Sex-for-job quid pro quo indefensible in court

08/06/2018
Make sure you police what your managers and supervisors are doing when hiring applicants. A demand for sex in exchange for a job is basically indefensible.

Ignore a lawsuit, prepare to pay millions

08/06/2018
Do you have a solid process for making sure that any lawsuits filed against you are promptly processed and sent to your attorney? If not, you risk a potential default judgment that can cost you a million dollars or more.

Don’t expect quick dismissal of FMLA suit just because you have few employees

08/06/2018
A New York employer has learned the hard way that there’s no quick and easy way to get an FMLA case dismissed—even if it may not have enough employees to be covered by the law.