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Employment Law

Mentioning pregnancy during discipline doesn’t prove bias

09/14/2015

Rest easy: You can talk about an employee’s pregnancy while also discussing discipline against her. As long as you make it clear that you are disciplining the employee because of issues that have nothing to do with her pending childbirth, mentioning pregnancy while discussing potential penalties won’t make you lose a discrimination suit.

$17 million EEOC verdict for Florida farm workers who were raped

09/12/2015
A federal jury has returned a unanimous verdict awarding a total of $17,425,000 to five former female employees of Moreno Farms, a Florida produce packing operation, who the EEOC claimed endured regular harassment and eventual rape at the hands of two supervisors.

Federal contractors must report employment law violations

09/11/2015
Federal contractors will have to report all violations of employment laws and federal regulations once a new White House executive order takes effect.

2nd degree burn: Order to fire can be retaliation

09/11/2015
Retaliation can be anything that would dissuade a reasonable employee from reporting alleged wrongdoing—such as harassment or discrimination—in the first place. And it doesn’t just apply to direct punishment against an employee. It can even be an employer’s action that targets an employee’s co-workers or associates.

Craft noncompete agreements to protect your business interests

09/11/2015

Employers often require key employees to sign noncompete agreements ensuring that the employee will not use information or customer contacts gained during the course of employment to benefit a competitor. In return, the employer offers the employee “consideration”—maybe extra pay or, more commonly, access to the protected information, which enables the employee to succeed on the job. Each state has a unique set of laws governing noncompete agreements.

EEOC says Title VII prohibits sexual orientation discrimination

09/10/2015
The EEOC has come out with a declaration that federal legislation explicitly prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation is unnecessary because it is already prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This is a new and important development in the ongoing efforts of activists to get discrimination protection for all workers, regardless of sexual orientation, preference or other characteristics based on sexuality.

NLRB supports free expression, condemns lying about it

09/10/2015
An employee at Fresenius Manu-facturing in Chester, N.Y., was fired for writing comments on union newsletters and then lying about doing so during a company investigation.

Volunteers at seasonal events don’t get FLSA protection

09/10/2015

The Fair Labor Standards Act carves out several special circumstances under which the FLSA does not apply. One of these applies to seasonal amusement establishments. As the following case shows, that includes an annual baseball “fanfest,” that relies on volunteers for success.

Lower pay on FMLA return? That’s an automatic violation

09/10/2015

Employees who take FMLA leave are entitled to the same or an equivalent job when they return. That means that the job must be virtually identical in all aspects, including pay. If you change the pay, the reason is irrelevant—it’s an FMLA violation.

Employee out on FMLA leave: OK to contact for info on urgent matters

09/10/2015
Employers aren’t allowed to pester employees to work during FMLA leave. Requiring the employee to work from home to complete assignments, for example, may amount to interference with the right to take FMLA leave. But not every contact or request is enough to support a lawsuit.