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Employment Law

Make good-faith effort to root out racism

10/29/2013
There’s only so much you can do to prevent a racially hostile work environment. Fortunately, courts understand those limitations and won’t hold it against you—provided you acted in good faith to stop harassment.

Workers abusing FMLA? Here’s how to cure 5 common symptoms

10/25/2013
As the holiday season draws near, employers are likely to see an increase in employee requests for time off. It’s wise to carefully monitor employees who are on or seeking leave under the FMLA to make sure they aren’t misusing the generous protections offered under the statute.

Feel free to reprimand for substandard work

10/24/2013
Does fear of being sued keep you from reprimanding slipshod em­­ployees? If you can document their shortcomings, don’t worry.

Planning to fire expectant mom? Prove problems predated pregnancy

10/24/2013
Ordinarily, if an employer can show it decided to terminate an employee before she announced her pregnancy, a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit won’t succeed. But employers that try to make a better case for termination by whipping up a new performance appraisal that emphasizes poor performance can wind up handing the employee an easy lawsuit victory.

Final paychecks: Know your state law

10/24/2013
When it comes to the timing of final paychecks, employees and employers have different expectations. No federal law exists, but many states do require you to distribute final paychecks immediately or within a certain number of days.

Supreme Court to decide: Does severance count as wages?

10/23/2013
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that will determine whether money paid to terminated employees as part of a severance package should be subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Discovered a wage-and-hour mistake? Fix it fast to avoid extra liability

10/15/2013
If you or a supervisor realize that a payroll mistake was made—especially if an hourly employee wasn’t paid for all hours worked—the best policy is to fix those errors as soon as you can. Doing so will reduce your liability down the line.

DOL conducting more on-site FMLA investigations

10/11/2013
This fall is a good time for a top-to-bottom review of your FMLA procedures. Why? The U.S. Department of Labor announced that it intends to do more FMLA investigations at workplaces.

Are we allowed to ask questions about an applicant’s family medical history?

10/10/2013
Q. We make offers to applicants contingent on passing a physical examination. As a part of the examination the doctor asks for a medical history, including questions about the applicant’s family medical history. We have heard that we should not ask about the applicant’s family medical history, but we aren’t sure if that’s true. Should we not ask for this information?

Don’t let response to domestic violence & sexual assault land you in court

10/10/2013
Most of the time, employers that learn that someone is experiencing some form of domestic violence try to do what they can to help the em­­ployee manage the situation. Some­­times, however, employers aren’t exactly supportive. The EEOC has taken the position that, on occasion, employer missteps in these situations may be a form of discrimination under federal law.