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

Employment Law

Be more alert than ever for anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim bias

11/15/2023
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict front and center into our lives and, as a result, also into our workplaces. You can’t stop employees from talking about current events, especially when those events are so horrific and so impactful on so many of us. The key for employers is to make sure those discussions remain calm and respectful.

Blanket refusal to accommodate leads to ADA liability

11/15/2023
Employers cannot simply declare that a specific accommodation in all circumstances creates an undue hardship. Consider each disability case individually.

It’s up to HR: Act fast to fix supervisor gaffes

11/10/2023
Supervisors say the darndest things. It’s up to HR to clear things up before some dumb comment lands your organization in deep legal trouble. Don’t delay! If you know the boss was in the wrong, correct the record ASAP and make things right—the sooner, the better. Add a heartfelt apology on behalf of the company, too.

Be on high alert for harassment: You could be liable for clients’ racial hostility

11/03/2023
You no doubt know employers are responsible for protecting employees from co-worker and supervisor racial hostility and harassment. But what about hostility aimed at employees by customers and clients? The EEOC takes the position that employers must rein in hostility, no matter where it originates.

United Auto Workers win may embolden more union activism

11/03/2023
After weeks of targeted strikes and other work stoppages by the United Auto Workers against the Big 3 automakers, the union has declared victory. The three simultaneous contract negotiations marked one huge win for the UAW—and the continuation of an overall winning streak for organized labor. Other unions and other workers have surely noticed.

NLRB ruling raises the alarm! Even tiny employers should prepare for union drive

10/30/2023
Small employers sometimes act like they don’t have to worry about unionization, the National Labor Relations Act and the National Labor Relations Board. That’s a huge mistake! All organizations with any employees at all must comply with the NLRA and are subject to NLRB enforcement if they violate the law.

Worker-friendly NLRB final rule makes it easier to establish joint-employer status

10/27/2023
The rule says that, under the National Labor Relations Act, two or more entities may be considered joint employers if each has an employment relationship with a group of employees, and if they play a role in controlling one or more essential terms and conditions of employment.

You can’t dodge Title VII by misclassifying employees as independent contractors

10/25/2023
One benefit of engaging independent contractors to perform work is that contractors don’t count as employees for purposes of complying with laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. But, just calling someone an independent contractor doesn’t necessarily mean she is one. She might really be an employee.

Negligent employer liable for 2 years of back pay, not 3

10/25/2023
The Fair Labor Standards Act has two measures of liability: Pay two years of back pay if your failure to pay minimum wages or overtime wasn’t willful, or three years if it was. A mistaken failure to pay overtime due to negligence isn’t the same thing as willfully failing to pay employees, so an employer’s liability for back pay was limited to two years, a federal appeals court explained.

National-origin discrimination: What you need to know

10/25/2023
The rapidly increasing diversity of the U.S. workforce requires all managers to be aware of their legal responsibilities when dealing with applicants and employees from different races, ethnic groups and religions.