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

Employment Law

Rescinded job offer amounted to pregnancy discrimination

01/12/2016

A Saint Louis Park, Minn., orthodontist has learned the hard way that you can’t offer a job but then rescind it when you learn your new hire is pregnant.

No benefits if there is no cooperation with investigation

01/12/2016
Employees who claim they quit be-cause their employer wouldn’t address harassment or discrimination are eligible for unemployment compensation benefits—if they gave the employer a chance to remedy the situation.

For unemployment purposes, your degree of control determines worker’s status

01/12/2016
Under Minnesota unemployment compensation law, individuals aren’t independent contractors just because the company that uses their labor says they are.

Muslims in the workplace: A guide to help managers avoid discrimination lawsuits

01/11/2016
No doubt the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., have had a dramatic effect on the workplace for employees who are, or are perceived to be, Muslim or Middle Eastern. Here are some scenarios in Q&A format, compiled by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to help managers ensure that their workplaces are bias-free.

Alert bosses to little-known caregiver bias liability

01/08/2016
Your supervisors probably know it’s illegal to discriminate against someone because of his or her disability. But do they also know about a less-obvious part of the ADA that makes it illegal to discriminate against employees or applications because those people have an association with someone who has a disability?

Each new racial slur can reset the litigation clock

01/08/2016

Generally, employees don’t have long to get the litigation ball rolling if they want to complain about discrimination. In most cases, they must file a complaint with the EEOC or a state agency within 300 days of an alleged discriminatory act. However, employees often have lots more leeway if they are claiming they had to work in a hostile environment characterized by repeated slurs or other harassing behavior.

Feds target no-fault attendance

01/08/2016
No-fault attendance programs were designed to be completely objective, the idea being that all absences and therefore all workers are treated equally. But the FMLA and ADA require employers to know why an employee was absent, so the “hear no evil” approach can’t work.

Attendance, biometric scanning and employee privacy

01/07/2016
Many employers now track attendance using biometric scanners that require an employee to clock in and out by scanning a fingerprint or a palmprint. New York employers should note a statute that limits the collection of biometric data.

Speaking out in course of government job isn’t protected

01/07/2016
Government employees have limited First Amendment rights when speaking out. But the right doesn’t apply if the public employee is merely doing his or her job.

Isolated comments aren’t enough to prove discrimination

01/07/2016
When an employee gets fired, his thoughts may turn to filing a lawsuit—maybe based on some suddenly remembered comment that he took as offensive or another supposedly discriminatory act. Fortunately, courts are rarely persuaded.