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Employment Law

Pregnant employee? Better know the law

10/24/2014
When an employee tells you she’s pregnant, it may bring on mixed emotions for supervisors. While you’re happy for the employee, you’re anxious about the impact on scheduling, productivity—and whether she will quit after the birth.

Push for more paid leave gets boost from federal funding

10/24/2014
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau and Employment and Training Administration have awarded $500,000 to help four states pay for feasibility studies on paid leave.

Disability bias charges up 64% since 2000

10/20/2014
The EEOC handled 25,957 charges of disability discrimination in fiscal year 2013, up from 15,864 in 2000.

Is an easier commute a disability accommodation?

10/17/2014
A New Jersey woman is suing her former employer, contending she was fired after requesting different hours so she could avoid rush-hour traffic.

In pay case, Supreme Court asks: What is work?

10/16/2014
Does standing in line count as work? That was at the core of the Justice’s questions on Oct. 7 as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk (No. 13-433, U.S. Supreme Court, 2014).

Is mandatory retirement ever legal?

10/15/2014

Say you’ve got some older employees and you’re now wondering if they’re ever going to, you know, call it quits. Of course, you can’t give older workers a hard time so as to pressure them into leaving. That’s against the law. But could you maybe suggest—or even require—that they retire at a given age, say, 65 or 70?

What do we need to consider before offering extra pay for weekend work?

10/14/2014
Q. We have a short-term project coming up that is going to require some of our hourly, nonexempt employees to work some extra weekend hours. We are thinking we might pay them a higher rate to work on the weekends to encourage employees to volunteer and to reward them. Is there anything we should be keeping in mind before we do that?

How should we handle worker’s upcoming transgender transformation?

10/14/2014
Q. We have a male employee in our accounting department. He recently told us that he plans to start presenting himself as female and is thinking of undergoing surgery to transform to a female. We think we will have employees who are really uncomfortable with this situation, so we are wondering if we can terminate our accounting employee or if this might get us into trouble?

EEOC says medical inquiry violated ADA, GINA

10/14/2014
Shoreview, Minn.-based Cummins Power Generation faces a suit from the EEOC after it fired an employee who had missed work for refusing to provide medical information in conjunction with a fitness-for-duty examination. According to the suit, the company sought medical information that wasn’t related to the reason for the employee’s absence.

DSW agrees to pay $900,000 to settle age bias complaints

10/14/2014
Ohio-based shoe retailer DSW has agreed to pay $900,000 to seven former managers who were let go during the recession. The settlement covers DSW activities at its home office and throughout its Midwest region, which includes Minnesota.