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Employment Law

Investigate, separate the parties when employee alleges co-worker harassment

11/17/2014
When an employee claims a co-worker sexually harassed her, employers have to investigate the claim, even if there aren’t any witnesses. Getting to the truth requires a timely investigation, as well as immediately separating the co-workers.

Warn your supervisors: Oral promises can be binding

11/17/2014
Make sure managers know that promises don’t necessarily have to be in writing to be binding. The more specific the promise, the more likely a court could hold you to it.

Court: Assaulting passenger wasn’t part of cabby’s job

11/16/2014
A Pennsylvania man recently lost both rounds of a fight that began when he tried to skip out on his taxi fare.

HIPAA: Compliance Rules

11/15/2014

HR Law 101: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 made changes to three areas of the continuing-coverage rules that apply to group health plans under COBRA …

Bullying alone is not legitimate grounds for lawsuit–yet

11/14/2014

Employers should, of course, always discourage bullying. It crushes employee morale and spikes turnover. But unless employees can prove they were targeted for bullying and harassment based on a protected characteristic (sex, race, age, etc.), they typically won’t have a case against an equal-opportunity screamer boss.

Employee testifies in lawsuit: That’s protected activity

11/14/2014
Goodwill Industries will pay $100,000 to settle a long-standing lawsuit for retaliation filed by the EEOC.

Focus on transgender discrimination as EEOC brings first cases

11/13/2014
Just before the launch of Amazon’s new TV series about a 70-year-old divorced father who announces to his children that he intends to transition from a man to a woman, the EEOC filed its first-ever lawsuits alleging sex discrimination against transgender individuals.

Choir director hires top attorney for gay-bias suit

11/13/2014
A gay man who directs the choir at St. Victoria Catholic Church in Vic­­­­toria has retained the attorney who represented Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe after the athlete alleged that the team was intolerant of gays.

EEOC sues FedEx for bias against hearing-impaired staff

11/13/2014
Shipping giant FedEx faces an EEOC lawsuit alleging that it systematically fails to accommodate deaf and hearing-impaired employees.

FMLA may cover some independent contractors

11/13/2014
A federal appeals court has cast doubt on the longstanding belief that independent contractors are never “employees” under the FMLA.