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Employment Law

OK to pay more for different skills, duties

04/29/2015
Under the Equal Pay Act, men and women performing substantially similar jobs must be paid the same. But what exactly constitutes “substantially similar” jobs?

Pregnancy bias: Supreme Court creates a new legal framework

04/28/2015
The Supreme Court has ruled that a pregnant UPS employee who was denied a light-duty position is entitled to a new trial. The court’s framework for pregnancy discrimination cases allows employees who show that an employer policy that creates a “significant burden” for pregnant employees violates the Preg­­nancy Dis­­crimi­­na­­tion Act.

Sudden quit? Sort out why before panicking

04/28/2015
Good news if an employee isn’t satisfied with whatever you did to try to address a problem she raised: She can’t just quit in frustration and expect to win a lawsuit against you.

Johns Hopkins provides model for lactation rooms

04/27/2015

The Affordable Care Act requires employers of 50 or more to provide lactation rooms so nursing women can feed their babies or express breast milk. The rooms must be clean and private—and importantly, they can’t be restrooms. Johns Hopkins University and Health System decided not only to meet the law’s requirements, but exceed them. The result is a model that other employers may want to copy.

EEOC loses case based on ‘illegal’ claims releases

04/27/2015
The EEOC has lost an important test of a novel theory that could have changed how some severance agreements are structured. It wanted to forbid requiring workers to waive the right to sue if they were converted from employees to independent contractors.

Get the Most Out of Exit Interviews

04/25/2015
Login Email Address Password I forgot my password To continue reading this page, become an HR Specialist Premium Plus member today! Your subscription includes: Ask the Attorney: Answers to your HR legal questions Compliance Guidance: Access to 7,000 HR news articles, updated daily, sorted by state State-by-State: Summaries of HR laws in all 50 states […]

Telecommute not always ADA accommodation

04/24/2015
Employers won a major victory April 10 when that court ruled that telecommuting is not always a reasonable accommodation, even for jobs that can mostly be done from home.

Will nonnegotiable starting pay close the gender gap?

04/23/2015

New Reddit interim CEO Ellen Pao—fresh off losing a high-profile sex discrimination lawsuit against her former employer—has announced that on her watch, the user-generated Web news organization will no longer negotiate starting salaries with new hires. The reason: To make the workplace fairer for women.

What constitutes an essential job function?

04/21/2015
Q. I hand a brochure titled “Job Information and Requirements” to each new hire I bring on board to my construction company. With the addition of new positions, I need to draft new brochures with job descriptions, but am having trouble determining the essential job functions. Is there a specific method that I can use to decide whether a job function is essential?

Could we be liable for accidental bias against those or ‘associated with’ protected groups?

04/21/2015
Q. As a California employer, I realize that I cannot discriminate against employees who belong to protected groups. But what if I mistakenly think that an employee is or is not a member of one of these groups, and accidentally treat him or her in a way that is discriminatory?