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Employment Law

Your obligation to accommodate religion begins when employee requests it

03/25/2013

If employees don’t ask for religious accommodations, then there’s no need to worry about special schedules. That’s because your obligation to accommodate religious needs begins when an employee asks for accommodation. If he never requests a schedule change, you don’t need to do anything.

Use consistent approach, interview checklists in hiring process

03/25/2013

Hiring gets harder when a dozen or more applicants meet your minimum requirements. How do you pick the best candidate and reduce the chance of unhappy job-seekers filing discrimination lawsuits? The best approach is an organized one.

Golf firm finds hazard of missing paydays

03/25/2013
The DOL has ordered Charlotte’s Carolina Trail Golf Part­­ners to immediately tee up $758,465 in back wages for 347 workers at seven courses who recently went several weeks without getting paid.

Beware discrimination in contract bidding

03/25/2013
Before rejecting the lowest bid for a public project, many government agencies run background checks on the bidders. It’s critical to be fair and even-handed about those checks, making sure you don’t cherry-pick negative information.

Track ADA accommodation discussion and offers

03/25/2013
The ADA accommodations process must also be ongoing—and it doesn’t necessarily end with the first accommodation. But sometimes, a disabled employee can become unreasonable as time passes. You may decide to revoke an accommodation or refuse to modify it. If he sues, clear documentation showing what you did over the years can mean winning the lawsuit.

DOL issues final FMLA regs addressing military leave

03/25/2013
Final regulations issued by the Department of Labor implement the FMLA’s military exigency and caregiver leave provisions and make some additional clarifying changes to the FMLA regs in general.

When do long-term consultants become employees?

03/21/2013
Q. We have some paid consultants who have been working for us for two years. Are there any ramifications if we refer to these consultants as “staff” and enter them in a national database as our staff?

California Supreme Court: ‘Mixed-motive’ applies in FEHA cases

03/20/2013
The California Supreme Court has issued a long-awaited decision on whether the “mixed-motive” de­­fense applies to employment discrimination claims under the California Fair Em­­ployment and Housing Act (FEHA).

NLRB sets date for new Kaiser Permanente election

03/20/2013
Forty-five thousand Kaiser Permanente employees in California will start receiving new union ballots April 5 following a National Labor Relations Board ruling that a 2010 election was invalid.

No duty to accommodate when performance is impossible

03/20/2013
Sometimes, there’s no way for an in­­jured employee to perform the essential functions of a job, despite medical intervention. When that’s the case, it may be time to look for other options.