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Employment Law

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.

Watch out for rivalry that could spawn lawsuit

11/13/2014
In highly competitive fields, it’s not unusual for bosses and subordinates to distrust one another. But when that distrust leads to one party badmouthing the other, that can spawn a lawsuit.

No touching required to support lawsuit alleging supervisor harassment

11/13/2014

There’s flirting and then there’s sexual harassment. If the flirter is a supervisor, it’s probably sexual harassment whether or not there was any physical contact. Set a strict no-fraternization rule for supervisors and subordinates.

When ‘manager’ doesn’t manage, title doesn’t determine exempt status

11/13/2014
Just because an employee is called a supervisor and sometimes tells others what tasks to perform, that doesn’t mean she’s an exempt admin­­istrative or executive employee. It’s the actual duties performed day to day that count.