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Employment Law

Racial slur or everyday saying? If it’s offensive, make sure it stops

01/07/2016
Certainly, train your managers that they cannot use common racist phrases and names. But go beyond the obvious and provide examples of other terms and behaviors that may not seem obvious. The following case provides an example.

Rejecting sexual advances protected in NYC

01/07/2016
Under federal law and New York state law, merely rejecting a supervisor’s sexual advances without reporting the conduct to HR probably isn’t protected activity. However, that’s not the case under the New York City Human Rights Law.

Harassment ended? Tell employee to move on

01/07/2016
Some employees will never be satisfied with their employer’s solution to perceived harassment. But if you have fixed the problem, it’s perfectly fine to tell the employee he needs to move on and forget about the past.

EEOC claims Glenwood F.D. hosed older firefighters

01/07/2016
The EEOC has sued a volunteer fire company for age discrimination because of the way it manages its length of service award program.

Light duty essentially admits FMLA eligibility

01/06/2016
When an employee returns from FMLA leave and his employer assigns him to light-duty work, that is basically an acknowledgment that the employee has a serious health condition incapacitating enough to interfere with performing an essential job function. The employer can’t later challenge that part of FMLA eligibility.

Minimum-wage employers plan to stay that way

01/06/2016
Despite well-publicized moves by retailers such as Walmart, Starbucks and Whole Foods to raise the pay of their lowest-level workers, 72% of organizations with minimum-wage employees have no plans to pay them more.

‘Racist’ not a protected class under Title VII

01/04/2016
Here’s a common sense conclusion: Firing someone you suspect may be a racist is a legitimate decision.

Local anti-bias laws may help employees–or help you get cases dismissed

01/04/2016
You may have heard that employees have new opportunities to sue their employers based on local laws that expand employment protections and prohibit forms of discrimination that state or federal laws don’t include. Sometimes, that’s true. Fortunately, though, these new laws and their regulations may trip up employees and give you an opportunity to push for the case to be dismissed, as this recent case shows.

Investigation reveals bogus use of FMLA leave? You can and should discipline employee

01/04/2016
Some employees seem to think that if they are approved for FMLA leave, their employers have to accept their time off as legitimate. That’s true to a point. But it doesn’t mean employers can’t ferret out leave abuse if they have reason to believe the employee isn’t being honest.

Pennsylvania State Supreme Court rules on noncompetes

01/04/2016

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has clarified rules for noncompete agreements entered into after an employee has been hired. It has concluded for the first time that the employer must offer the employee (and the employee must accept) something of value beyond just a mutual promise to make the agreement binding. This has practical consequences for employers adopting or modifying employment agreements.