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

Employment Law

Don’t block transfer as reasonable accommodation

10/29/2013
If they’re qualified, disabled employees may be entitled to transfer to an open position as an accommodation. Blocking a transfer may violate the ADA, unless you can show that the transfer would impose an undue hardship.

One negative move after complaint can be retaliation

10/29/2013
After an employee files an inter­­nal complaint, HR should review every reassignment or other significant job change. Even one negative move can support a retaliation lawsuit.

FMLA leave: Intermittent or all at once? Document what employee requested

10/29/2013
Employees who are eligible for FMLA leave may not need a big block of time off, but instead want to take intermittent leave. Unfortunately, which one they do take isn’t up to the employer.

EEOC: Even Guardian Angel must honor settlement

10/29/2013
Pittsburgh’s Guardian Angel Ambu­­lance Service faces an EEOC lawsuit alleging it breached a previous settlement agreement with a now-deceased former employee.

Series of slights can add up to adverse action

10/29/2013
Ordinarily, it takes a discharge, demotion or other serious decision to support a ­discrimination law­­suit. Being fired, demoted or not promoted are so-called adverse employment actions. But even a series of minor employment actions can amount to an adverse action under the right circumstances.

One slur won’t create a hostile environment

10/29/2013
Courts don’t expect workplaces to be places of complete harmony—but they do expect employers to take complaints seriously. They want to see that bosses are disciplined when they make offensive comments.

Employer restrictions on guns in California workplaces

10/29/2013
This month, we’ll examine several questions about how far employers can go toward prohibiting employees from bringing guns to work.

Two new California laws will cost employers in two ways

10/29/2013
California has two new laws affecting employers in the state. The first, signed into law in Au­­gust, applies to employers that prevail in wage-related lawsuits. It limits their ability to obtain attorneys’ fee awards. The second, signed in September, raises California’s minimum wage to $10 per hour by January 2016.

9th Circuit upholds CDIR’s apprenticeship crackdown

10/29/2013
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the California Department of Industrial Relations (CDIR) did not violate U.S. Department of Labor apprenticeship rules when it ordered three contractors to remove from public works projects apprentices who were enrolled in a federally run program.

Farmers Insurance sued for race discrimination in Fresno

10/29/2013
The EEOC claims managers at a Farmers Insurance Exchange office in Fresno scapegoated two Asian-American adjusters after an improper coding scandal came to light. It also asserts a white adjuster was fired in retaliation for cooperating with the EEOC’s investigation.