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Employment Law

’40-year-old virgin’ wins right to sexual harassment trial

11/09/2012
Warn supervisors to stay away from demeaning jokes and other offensive, sexually oriented comments.

Beat FMLA suit by showing you would have fired anyway

11/09/2012
Employees who have taken FMLA leave and then been fired often sue. However, all is not lost for ­employers faced with such a case—if they can show they would have fired the em­­ployee anyway. In fact, chances are, they’ll win.

Employee requests new intermittent leave plan? You can request new certification

11/09/2012
Employees with serious medical conditions that require occasional time off are entitled to intermittent FMLA leave. If you grant leave and the employee makes a new request that wasn’t specified in the original medical certification, you can insist on a new certification.

Go ahead and hold holiday celebrations–just be sure to hold the religion, too

11/09/2012

The winter holiday season is ap­­proaching and with it, perhaps some excessively cheerful holiday glee. That may offend some religious individuals from a wide variety of faiths. But as long as employers don’t go overboard on the religious aspects of the season and don’t punish those who want to play Scrooge, a little merriment is fine.

It’s dangerous to let supervisors set ADA accommodations

11/09/2012

Smart employers don’t leave it up to a direct supervisor to manage ADA reasonable accommodation. Instead, they work out a system that requires HR’s oversight. Otherwise, a boss with a grudge could set up a disabled employee to fail—and set the table for a costly ADA lawsuit.

Informal comment to HR? Beware retaliation suit

11/09/2012
An employee’s casual remark to HR can lay the groundwork for a retaliation claim if the comment could be interpreted as objecting to some form of discrimination. That’s good reason to train HR staff to report all comments and consider them as protected activity.

EEOC: Domestic violence victims may be protected from job discrimination

11/07/2012
No federal employment law specifically prohibits job discrimination against domestic violence victims. But the EEOC released a Q&A fact sheet in October 2012 to clarify that Title ViI and the Americans with Disabiilties Act (ADA) “may apply to employment situations involving applicants and employees who experience domestic or dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.” Read the full Q&A here …

More EEOC investigations take the ‘personal’ touch

11/07/2012
The EEOC is increasingly investigating claims of discrimination by visiting employer workplaces, rather than conducting investigations via the phone and mail, according to attorney Neshesba Kittling. The EEOC’s goal: expand investigations of single charges into companywide class actions.

What’s a ‘reasonable’ accommodation? It’s your call, not the disabled employee’s

11/06/2012
Some disabled employees think the ADA lets them demand a specific accommodation for their disabilities. That’s simply not true. As long as the workplace changes are truly “reasonable” and actually accommodate the disability, you have done everything the law requires.

Discipline OK even if employee has complained

11/01/2012
Courts are consistently hesitant to second-guess well-founded employment decisions. Of course, they won’t let you get away with discriminating or retaliating against an employee for filing an EEOC complaint or lawsuit. But that doesn’t mean you can’t discipline an employee if she needs prodding to meet your legitimate expectations.