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Employment Law

Austin settles with UAW local, ending drawn-out negotiation

08/20/2013
The city of Austin has settled a long-running labor dispute with its street, wastewater treatment, and parks and recreation workers represented by the United Auto Workers union. For three years, the two sides clashed over payday schedules, overtime and alleged salary structure inequities.

Not all FMLA mistakes will cost you in court

08/20/2013
What if your mistaken belief that an employee has a serious health condition prompts you to grant FMLA leave? Does she have any legal basis to sue? Probably not.

Rules against off-the-clock work don’t end OT claims

08/20/2013
Most employers have strict rules against working overtime without authorization. They use time clocks or other tracking systems to keep accurate records. But what if supervisors tell employees to work before they clock in or after they clock out?

Beware schedule changes when employee returns after FMLA leave

08/20/2013
When an employee takes FMLA leave, she is supposed to return to her old job or an equivalent one in terms of pay, responsibilities and other benefits. Something as minor as a change in starting time can sometimes support an FMLA-interference claim.

Worker doesn’t have to be minority to complain about racial harassment

08/20/2013
Here’s an important reminder that employees don’t have to be black to complain about racial harassment in the workplace and win a large jury award.

Court: Minneapolis woman can invoke Norwegian law

08/20/2013
A Minnesota woman who lived in Norway for 20 years before returning to the states to take a job with the Norwegian consulate in Minneapolis will be allowed to apply Norwegian law in a pay discrimination lawsuit.

Stray comments won’t cost age bias lawsuit

08/20/2013
Stray co-worker comments about an employee’s age can be embarrassing, but they don’t turn an ordinary discharge into a winning age discrimination case. While you don’t want to encourage teasing or joking about age, don’t panic just because of an occasional insensitive word.

Top 10 states for EEOC claims

08/16/2013
Ten states accounted for 46.5% of all EEOC charges filed in fiscal year 2012, led by Texas at 9%.

What should we do? Employee says he’s allergic to co-worker’s service dog

08/13/2013
Q. After making several accommodations for an em­­ployee who was recently diagnosed with epilepsy and assigned a service dog, another employee is now claiming he is allergic. Can we ask for medical documentation to confirm his allergy? And aside from moving him farther away from the dog, are there other accommodations we are required to make for him?

Supreme Court rejects EEOC’s broad definition of ‘supervisor’

08/13/2013
In a major victory for employers, the Supreme Court in June ruled that, in Title VII cases, only someone with the power to take “tangible employment action” can be considered a supervisor. The Court’s decision in Vance v. Ball State will make it harder for employees to sue for supervisor bias, a claim that carries strict employer liability.