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Employment Law

Make clear to staff who owns their Twitter followers

01/21/2013
Get an agreement in writing with any employees who use social media under the company’s name. It should clarify who owns those accounts and what will happen to the followers if the employees departs.

NLRB: Don’t fire staff for online gripe sessions

01/21/2013

More employees these days are taking their grumblings about work (and their co-workers) from the office to the virtual watercoolers of Facebook, Twitter and other online outposts. But as a new ruling shows, it’s best to avoid punishing workers for discussing workplace issues online.

Key same-sex marriage ruling: Big impact on benefits

01/18/2013
The U.S. Supreme Court last month agreed to hear a pair of cases challenging state and federal laws that define marriage to include only unions of a man and a woman. Depending on how the court rules, married same-sex couples could become entitled to several federal benefits and legal protections.

Boss gives the ‘cold shoulder’: Discrimination … or just a dis?

01/17/2013
Does it seem like courts keep telling us we have to monitor all juvenile behavior in the workplace? Do we need to hire “conduct cops” for our hallways? A court ruling last month smacked some sense into the laws and said “no”—not all bad-boss behavior is automatically “discrimination.”

If you lose an employment lawsuit, how much will you pay?

01/16/2013
If you’re sued, how much will you have to pay? If your case has just one plaintiff and no “horrible facts” that would make a jury cringe, expect to pay between $0 and $50,000. If you have lots of plaintiffs and super-horrible facts, expect to pay more than $1 million …

Exempt or not? Forget 50% rule for store managers who multitask

01/15/2013
Good news for employers that classify their store managers as exempt from overtime, even though they spend more than half their time doing nonexempt tasks. As the following case shows, store managers can still retain their exempt status if they multitask on exempt and nonexempt duties throughout the day.

Don’t let fear of being sued stop you from disciplining employee

01/14/2013
Don’t let the fear of litigation keep you from making necessary decisions. Sometimes, you have to discipline employees for the good of the organization.

Layoffs looming? Use past reviews to decide who stays and who goes

01/14/2013
Smart employers use past per­­for­­mance rankings as the major criterion for laying off employees during a reduction in force. The reason is obvious: Since the rankings predate the layoff decisions, they’re almost impossible to challenge.

Be sure managers know they can’t discipline employees for using FMLA

01/14/2013
Don’t let an angry manager turn routine FMLA leave into expensive and time-consuming litigation. Make sure all supervisors understand their FMLA obligations—and that they have no choice but to cheerfully allow em­­ployees to exercise their rights.

New DOL guidance on FMLA leave to care for adult children

01/14/2013
It has always been understood that employees are entitled to take FMLA leave to care for minor children with serious health conditions. But it’s been less clear how the FMLA applies to employees who need time off to care for an adult son or daughter. Now the U.S. Department of Labor has weighed in with guidance.