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Employment Law

Manager ‘smirks’ about employee’s situation? That’s not enough to justify a lawsuit

05/20/2013
Here’s some good news: An employee’s interpretation of a manager’s facial expressions isn’t enough for a successful lawsuit. A smirk isn’t evidence.

OK to terminate disabled employee if effort to accommodate is unsuccessful

05/20/2013
Employers are supposed to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability so he or she can perform the essential functions of the job. Some workers take that as a guarantee that—should they develop a disability—their employer must find a position the employee can do. That’s simply not the case.

Central Valley fast food firm forks over $100K for bias

05/20/2013
Merced-based Alia Corp., which owns 20 McDonald’s franchises in the Cen­­­­tral Valley, will pay $100,000 to settle a former supervisor’s disability discrimination suit. The man claimed Alia illegally demoted him because of his intellectual disability.

Leave arbitration agreement out of handbook

05/20/2013

Like most employers, your em­­ployee handbook probably in­­cludes a disclaimer informing employees that nothing in the document creates a contract. But what if your handbook also includes a clause that says employee disputes must go to arbitration instead of state or federal court, where a run­­away jury might bankrupt the company? Bad idea.

Wage-and-hour lawsuits up sharply

05/20/2013
Employees filed a record 7,764 federal wage-and-hour lawsuits between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013, a 10% jump over the previous year, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Last year, FLSA lawsuits rose only 1%.

Court: Employers don’t have to display NLRB union poster

05/20/2013
A federal appeals court on May 7 struck down a two-year-old National Labor Relations Board rule that would have required private-sector employers to post a notice informing employees of their rights to join or form a union.

Workers treated ‘like property’: EEOC wins largest-ever jury verdict

05/17/2013
An Iowa jury has awarded 32 men with intellectual disabilities the largest verdict in EEOC history—$240 million for 20 years of disability discrimination and abuse.

Does bankruptcy mean employees won’t get paid?

05/17/2013
Q. Can an employer that files for bankruptcy refuse to pay employees for their work and blame the bankruptcy court for not allowing them to?

Strive for harmony, plan for a lawsuit: Document every complaint

05/16/2013

Of course you have an anti-­discrimination and anti-harassment policy. You make sure employees know about it. You even make it easy for employees to use the policy. But all that can be for naught if you’re unable to track those complaints.

Can you require workers be paid via direct deposit?

05/15/2013
While some state wage payment laws say employers can make direct deposit of employees pay mandatory, most states generally prohibit you from requiring workers to participate in direct deposit or paycard programs.