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Employment Law

EEOC issues guidance on leave as a reasonable accommodation

08/10/2016
Here are the key points of the guidance, which was prompted by a disability discrimination spike.

Horseplay or harassment? Use common sense

08/10/2016
Employers sometimes have to make judgment calls: Is that misbehavior plain old horseplay … or a serious case of sexual harassment? The difference often comes down to context.

Federal contractors must comply with new rules on sex bias

08/09/2016
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ revised rules take effect today.

Wage suit against Friendly’s claims it’s a joint employer

08/09/2016
A ruling by a federal judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania will allow a class-action lawsuit to proceed against Friendly’s Ice Cream stores and its franchisees. According to the complaint, the restaurant chain requires servers to perform work off-the-clock during unpaid meal breaks and after clocking out following their shifts.

It serves no purpose: Keep references to employees’ ages out of official documents

08/09/2016

There is rarely a reason to note an employee’s age on official company documents. There’s no reason to list birthdates, for example, on seniority lists when seniority is based on years of service. Doing makes an age discrimination lawsuit more likely.

It’s OK to address earlier performance problems after employee returns from FMLA leave

08/09/2016
Employees who take FMLA leave sometimes think their supervisors aren’t allowed to criticize any performance deficiencies that occurred before the leave began. That’s just not true.

Warn supervisors: No age-based comments

08/09/2016
It’s usually hard for employees to win age discrimination lawsuits—unless a manager or supervisor insists on making ageist comments. These can create an age-based hostile work environment.

Always check a manager’s history of discipline

08/09/2016
When it comes to retaliation, pay attention to how managers have disciplined in the past. Before approving a recommendation for discharge, you should check that history.

Employer gets to choose the ADA accommodation

08/09/2016
Employees don’t call the shots when it comes to picking a reasonable disability accommodation. They can certainly make suggestions, but the ADA leaves the final decision to employers. As long as the chosen accommodation is reasonable, it complies with the law.

Not-so-silent workers win harassment award

08/08/2016
Some supervisors seem to think they can get away with mistreating low-paid workers who have few employment options. Increasingly, that confidence is misplaced.