• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Canada seeks to outlaw U.S. right-to-work legislation

09/12/2017
Canada is pressuring U.S. trade representatives to override state right-to-work statutes as part of a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement.

FMLA and NY Paid Family Leave Law and Disability Benefits Law

09/07/2017
It’s time to answer some of the trickier questions about the interaction of the FMLA, the New York Paid Family Leave Law and the state’s Disability Benefits Law.

Here’s what not to say to EEOC investigators

09/07/2017
A supervisor for Regional International Corp., located near Rochester, said precisely the wrong thing to an EEOC investigator after an employee filed an ADA complaint against the company.

DOL visiting? Don’t bar employee who complained

09/07/2017
When the Department of Labor or another governmental agency says it is sending an investigator to the workplace, there’s a right way and a wrong way to respond. The wrong way: Removing the employee whose complaint you suspect spurred the authorities to visit.

ADA access obligation applies to customers and public as well as employees

09/07/2017
When thinking about disability accommodations, don’t focus solely on disabled employees. If you serve the public, the ADA requires you to consider your disabled customers’ needs, too.

2nd Circuit urges free lawyers for employees who represented themselves

09/07/2017
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the dismissal of a sexual harassment case and ordered the lower court to consider additional evidence that an employee who was acting as her own attorney unsuccessfully tried to present.

Date of firing notice–not last day of work–determines when discrimination occurred

09/07/2017
An employee who believes she has been fired for discriminatory reasons has the right to sue her employer as soon as she receives a termination notice. That’s true even if the termination isn’t yet effective.

Explain how maternity, FMLA leave overlap

09/07/2017
Many employers have maternity leave policies that provide a period of paid time off following birth or adoption. That’s fine. But if you intend for paid maternity leave to run concurrently with federal FMLA leave, be sure you spell that out.

Beware trumped up reasons for firing

09/07/2017
Sometimes, it is up to HR to stop bosses from doing the wrong thing—for example, when he is frustrated because he has to accommodate a disabled worker’s medical restrictions. If the supervisor comes up with an obviously implausible reason to fire the worker, expect trouble.

Another nail in the coffin of the old ‘new’ overtime regulations

09/07/2017
A federal judge in Texas last month formally struck down the Obama-era regs that would have more than doubled the white-collar overtime threshold to $47,476 per year.