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Employment Law

Sick-day details on company calendar: Too risky?

11/20/2012

Disclosing on a company calendar that an employee is out because of sickness or FMLA leave is problematic. An employer should never disclose that absences are due to medical or health reasons. You must maintain the confidentiality of such information.

Fire if necessary: Complaining about bias doesn’t earn free pass to terrorize co-workers

11/19/2012
Don’t let past discrimination complaints by an obviously troubled employee keep you from ensuring workplace safety. Even vague threats can justify firing a potentially dangerous employee. Few judges will see that as retaliation.

Contractor or employee? 5 steps to keep you out of harm’s way

11/19/2012

How can you ensure that the IRS or state authorities won’t challenge the status of workers you call contractors? And how can you avoid being sued by a contractor who claims he’s an em­­ployee entitled to benefits? Follow these five steps.

Should we be paying overtime to employee who receives after-hours phone calls?

11/16/2012

Q. One of our office managers regularly receives after-hours calls from our landlord about building management issues. Are we required to pay her overtime compensation for the resulting hours she works over eight in one day or over 40 in one week?

DOL sues to gain access to Forever 21’s vendor records

11/16/2012
The U.S. Department of Labor’s new crackdown on alleged wage-and-hour abuses in the Southern California garment industry has resulted in its first legal action.

Of mice and Muslims: EEOC sues UPS for bias

11/16/2012
The EEOC is suing UPS for race and religious discrimination and retaliation, alleging a Muslim of Jordanian descent working at the company’s San Bruno hub was subjected to physical and verbal harassment, including being called “Dr. Bomb,” “al-Qaida” and “Taliban.”

$1 million settlement ends bias suit at Delano hospital

11/16/2012
Delano Regional Medical Center has agreed to pay almost $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the EEOC and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center on behalf of a group of Filipino-American workers.

Contractor arbitration pact doesn’t always preclude court

11/16/2012

Employers that engage independent contractors sometimes require them to sign an agreement stipulating that any disputes over the contract must be settled through arbitration, not in court. However, having such an agreement doesn’t mean a court can’t decide whether those workers are, in fact, independent contractors or employees.

Appeals court: Calling someone a ‘contractor’ doesn’t necessarily mean he is one

11/16/2012
A group of newspaper delivery people has won the right to take to court as a class action their dispute over whether they are independent contractors or employees.

Track the training you offer, who qualified–and which employees took advantage of it

11/16/2012

If you offer training to some, you must offer it to everyone else in the same classification who qualifies. Refusing to train some employees may be grounds for a discrimination lawsuit. Prevent such lawsuits by carefully documenting all training offers and how employees respond.