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

Employment Law

$1.5 million harassment cost for Madera, Calif., company

08/22/2016
One of the nation’s largest dried fruit processors, Z Foods in Madera, Calif., has agreed to pay $1,470,000 to settle sexual harassment and retaliation charges leveled in an EEOC lawsuit.

Ensure lawyer knows about arbitration clause

08/22/2016
If you use an arbitration clause to cut down on expensive litigation, make sure your attorneys know as soon as an employee sues. Otherwise, you may end up waiving your right to compel arbitration.

The right way to collect proof of FMLA need

08/22/2016
To help you decide whether an illness or injury rises to the level of a serious condition that triggers the need for FMLA leave, you can require employees to provide FMLA medical certification. But what happens if employees use that initial FMLA certification to take intermittent leave in a suspicious pattern?

Less than 50 workers? Stay silent on FMLA

08/22/2016
Only employers with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius must offer job-protected FMLA leave to their employees. If your organization is below that limit, make sure not to mention it in your employee handbook or benefits materials.

Harassment: Bosses can be personally liable

08/19/2016

Want to get the attention of bosses who’ve demonstrated borderline harassing behavior in the past? Scare them straight with the eye-opening news that being on the losing end of a harassment lawsuit could mean more than just bad news for the company.

EEOC continues push for LGBT rights at work

08/19/2016
The EEOC is moving forward with an aggressive, new stance that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Discrimination complaints filed by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees have led to several big settlements.

OK to ask worker to finish simple tasks during FMLA

08/18/2016
Need to contact an employee out on FMLA leave about pressing business matters like incomplete work or file locations? That’s perfectly fine. Courts recognize that employers may need information the employee has.

Guess the employer: DOL settles old OT suit

08/18/2016

The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement in a decade-old overtime lawsuit—against itself. The department agreed Aug. 12 to pay $7 million to several thousand of its own employees.

How to respond when EEOC, MDHR allege discrimination

08/15/2016
The EEOC and Minnesota Department of Human Rights are the agencies primarily responsible for making sure employers comply with discrimination laws. When an applicant or employee files a discrimination charge in Minnesota, either agency or both will investigate.

DHR ruling challenges disabled hiring practices in Bloomington, Minn.

08/15/2016
A “sheltered workplace” in Bloomington, Minnesota, where disabled employees are paid pennies on the dollar may face changes following a Minnesota Department of Human Rights ruling. DHR Commissioner Kevin Lindsey found probable cause that Opportunity Partners discriminated against a disabled worker when it refused to consider him for one of its fully paid staff positions.