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Employment Law

Don’t let pettiness fuel years of litigation

09/09/2015
Here’s an important lesson to impart to supervisors and managers: Petty fights and anger over perceived injustices that lead to resignations or termination may spur multiyear litigation and cost hundreds of thousands in legal fees, lost time and damage awards.

Smoke but no fire on employment law bills

09/09/2015
The U.S. Senate returned from its annual summer recess on Sept. 8 to face a legislative calendar dominated by debate about the nuclear arms treaty with Iran and passing a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1. That has pushed a robust employment law agenda onto the back burner.

HR orgs pan DOL’s proposed overtime rule

09/09/2015
Fewer opportunities to work overtime, less workplace flexibility for employers and employees alike: That’s the likely result of the Department of Labor’s proposed rule to more than double the salary threshold that makes white-collar managers eligible for overtime pay, according to comments submitted to the DOL by the Society for Human Resource Management and WorldatWork, two prominent HR organizations.

Worker worships on Saturday: What to do

09/08/2015
Business is booming, so you’re adding hours. That’s great news for everyone—except Joe, one of your top employees. He says he can’t work the company’s new mandated Saturday shift. His religion won’t allow it, he says, and he wants an accommodation.

Harassment: Avoid these 8 common mistakes

09/07/2015

The EEOC handled 6,862 charges of sexual harassment in fiscal year 2014, collecting $35 million on behalf of victims. Almost all those cases could have been prevented—here’s how.

Repeat after me: Never fire anyone for wearing a religious headscarf!

09/03/2015
Rotten Ralph’s, a popular Philadelphia restaurant, has been sued by the EEOC, which alleges that the eatery violated federal law when it refused to allow a Muslim server to wear a religious headscarf as a reasonable accommodation of her religious beliefs and instead fired her.

Business, employment lawyers react to Browning-Ferris decision

09/02/2015
The National Labor Relations Board’s Aug. 27 decision in Browning-Ferris, which redefined the concept of “joint employer,” sparked lots of buzz in the legal and business worlds. Here’s a sampling.

Who’s the boss? NLRB rules on joint employers

09/01/2015
The National Labor Relations Board on Aug. 27 scrapped decades of precedent with a decision that greatly expanded the definition of a “joint employer” to include entities that exert even indirect control over another organization’s employees.

Boss beat-down: What’s our liability?

09/01/2015
Q. We recently had an incident in which a supervisor hit one of our employees. Are we liable? And what types of workplace violence is a company responsible for preventing?

Are posters required at every worksite?

09/01/2015
Q. Must a company post mandatory notices at every worksite? What are the penalties for failing to put up the mandatory posters?