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Employment Law

Calling boss ‘Scrooge’ online: Protected?

11/13/2015

Q. An employee brought to the attention of his supervisor that a co-worker had posted a comment on social media saying that her supervisor is Scrooge, that the supervisor is probably planning to fire a bunch of people right before the holidays, and that everyone should complain about her unfair behavior so that the supervisor is the one who will get fired. The company has a social media policy that prohibits making disparaging comments about it or its employees. Can the company discipline the posting co-worker for these comments?

How do we calculate FMLA eligibility on rehire?

11/13/2015
Q. We have an employee who was employed with our company from May, 2010 until April, 2011. The employee was rehired in 2015 and worked approximately nine months. Has the employee satisfied the requirement of 12 months of employment despite the three-year gap in employment under the FMLA?

Employee or independent contractor? Avoiding misclassification

11/13/2015
On July 15, the U.S. Department of Labor issued new guidance regarding the classification of independent contractors as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, warning employers that the DOL considers most workers to be employees. Employer liability for misclassification can be substantial, making it crucial for companies to exercise caution when classifying workers as independent contractors.

Don’t ignore complaints of workers’ missing tips

11/13/2015
Money left for workers in places where tipping is typical becomes the property of the workers for which the money is intended. If employees tell you that the money is disappearing and that a supervisor is responsible, check out the allegations.

Settlement with back pay? Get your attorney involved

11/13/2015
Are you settling a discrimination case with termination and a back or front pay agreement? Be sure to work with counsel to find the most effective way to apply the payment. Done properly, a back pay or front pay lump sum may mean the employee can’t collect unemployment compensation payments.

Employer–not vendor–is liable for fitness-for-duty exam GINA violations

11/13/2015

Make sure that any entity you hire to conduct fitness-for-duty exams understands their responsibility to exclude genetic information requests from the determination. Otherwise, you may be liable for Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act violations. The employee doesn’t have to add the providers to the lawsuit.

Applicant selling himself short? That’s no reason to pay him less

11/13/2015

Sometimes, applicants don’t know how much money to ask for. That’s especially true if their target employer isn’t open about salary ranges or how much it is willing to pay for a particular job. What should you do if an applicant is asking for less money than the position potentially pays?

Beware the scope of religious accommodations

11/13/2015
Most employers are aware that certain dress and grooming practices generally must be accommodated in the workplace.

Software subtracts ‘idle time’? Beware

11/13/2015
If you use an automated system to track how much time your employees are “working” at their computers, be forewarned. Subtracting those minutes from the workday may violate both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provisions and the Minnesota Payment of Wages Act (MPWA). Employees paid on an hourly basis must be paid for all time worked, and subtracting for so-called idle time without some way for employees to correct their pay may mean litigation.

LGBT leader resigns, cites retaliation in firings

11/13/2015
The University of Minnesota at Duluth is still reeling from discrimination charges after it failed to renew hockey coach Shannon Miller’s contract. Miller and three of her coaches, all of whom are openly gay, were terminated.