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Employment Law

11.1% of workers belong to a union, membership rate held steady in 2015

02/10/2016
The union membership rate—the percent of hourly and salaried workers who were union members—was 11.1% in 2015, unchanged from 2014, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Audio recording at work may violate NLRA

02/04/2016

The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new ruling that only solidifies its activist posture of the last few years.

Worker takes patient records, university pays HIPAA fine

02/04/2016
Lest there be any doubt that employers are ultimately responsible for keeping confidential information under wraps, consider the case of the University of Rochester Medical Center. It is now paying for a security breach that was entirely preventable.

Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority settles PDA claims

02/04/2016
The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority has agreed to settle charges it discriminated against female officers by automatically transferring them to less desirable assignments when the officers revealed they were pregnant.

Isolated, mild comments don’t add up to legitimate lawsuit

02/04/2016
Some terminated employees think that all they need to do to build a winning lawsuit is recall an offensive comment a supervisor once made. That’s not usually true.

Retire or you’re fired? Prepare for age bias suit

02/04/2016
It’s fine to offer an early retirement buyout. It’s a very bad idea to say that, if not enough older workers accept the offer, they might be fired.

Transfer away from alleged harasser may be an ADA reasonable accommodation

02/04/2016
Usually, judges rule it’s not a reasonable ADA accommodation to not have to work for a particular supervisor. In other words, a disabled worker can’t demand a transfer away from a specific supervisor, even if that supervisor may aggravate the employee’s disability.

Boss’s affair with someone else is no basis for third party’s bias or harassment suit

02/04/2016
The fact that a supervisor may favor a subordinate with whom he is romantically linked doesn’t justify a sex discrimination or harassment lawsuit by someone who isn’t involved in the affair.

When ‘continual violation’ may exist, courts allow harassment claims dating back decades

02/04/2016
Here’s something to remember if you find that an employee’s sexual harassment allegations have been swept under the rug, unresolved and ignored.

FMLA case: Your hands could be tied for years

02/04/2016
A federal court has issued an injunction preventing an employer from firing a worker seeking to take FMLA leave until the litigation ends. That could take years.