• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Beware the latest HR legal danger: Stockholder lawsuits

02/21/2023
There’s a new HR danger out there: Shareholders can now sue corporate officers—including the professionals who head up HR departments—for breach of fiduciary duty.

Read the EEOC’s new rules on hearing disabilities

02/21/2023
The EEOC has issued new technical assistance for employers on accommodating applicants and employees with hearing disabilities. It’s timely guidance; the EEOC has filed or settled several cases involving deafness in the past year alone.

Revise handbook to address remote harassment

02/21/2023
If you haven’t reviewed your employee handbook in the last year or so and updated it to reflect new laws and important HR trends, you should do so soon. Otherwise, you’re probably working with an outdated and legally risky document that may do more harm than good. Here are some proactive handbook changes to consider making now to address harassment issues that can arise when employees work remotely.

Keep it Legal: Train managers on military service

02/17/2023
Employees who are current or past military members are protected from discrimination based on their past, present or future service under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. Including information on USERRA in management and supervisor training is essential.

No retaliation ever for invoking FMLA rights—even if employee may be ineligible

02/16/2023
The 6th Circuit revived the FMLA retaliation claim of an attorney fired immediately after she requested unpaid leave to care for her two-year-old child at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alcoholism: Be prepared to accommodate it under both the ADA and the FMLA

02/16/2023
Responding to the latest federal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, more than half of U.S. adults reported drinking alcohol in the previous 30 days. One study placed the overall cost of alcohol abuse at more than $249 billion per year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says employers bear 72% of that cost because of lost productivity.

Offer equal access to high-quality training

02/16/2023
A federal appeals court has ruled that unequal or inadequate training may be an adverse employment action that can justify a discrimination lawsuit—just like demotion, failure to promote and termination.

Consider single process for accommodations

02/16/2023
Now might be the right time to standardize your processes for handling reasonable accommodations. Two new laws requiring accommodations just went on the books.

Decided to terminate? Don’t wait to act

02/13/2023
Once you have made the decision to fire a worker, try to carry out the firing promptly. Delaying can backfire. If you must wait, write a memo memorializing when and why you made the discharge decision. That documentation can help you later if the terminated worker files a lawsuit.

DOL: Fresh guidance on remote worker rights, FMLA vs. ADA

02/10/2023
The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division on Feb. 9 issued two new guidance documents affecting employers with remote workers and FMLA-eligible employees who must work reduced schedules to manage their serious health conditions.