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Employment Law

Cantor Fitzgerald hit with race discrimination suit

10/09/2012
Cantor Fitzgerald faces a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by a black former employee who claims he was fired for complaining about race bias at the Manhattan-headquartered investment banking firm.

EEOC can’t be sued for negligent investigation

10/09/2012
Don’t like how the EEOC handled a case? Too bad. It turns out, you can’t sue the EEOC.

Adjust deadlines, help reassign projects before employee goes out on FMLA leave

10/09/2012
Employees who take FMLA leave can’t be disciplined for work that goes undone while they are out. To avoid confusion, always adjust schedules or find backup to meet inflexible deadlines while the employee who is usually responsible for the work is away.

Beware excessive monitoring of employees who raise discrimination concerns

10/09/2012
Everyone knows it’s retaliation to demote or fire an employee after he complains about discrimination or cooperates in an investigation. But what about less drastic actions? They might be retaliation, too, under the right circumstances. That can even include excessive monitoring after the employee has complained.

Document business realities, performance ­criteria that led to job-cutting decisions

10/09/2012
During tough economic times, businesses often have to cut labor budgets and eliminate positions. Smart employers make sure they document that process with facts and figures—just in case an affected employee decides to sue and tries to parlay a few stray, insensitive comments into the “real” reason she lost her job.

OSHA pops Champagne Demolition for retaliation

10/09/2012
Champagne Demolition in Albany faces an OSHA lawsuit claiming that it illegally fired an employee for reporting improper asbestos removal practices at a company worksite.

Control what you can: You can’t stop all hostility

10/09/2012
Good news for employers that try their best to maintain a harassment-free workplace, but sometimes fail: Courts understand there are limits to what employers can do when it comes to limiting all racially hostile comments and acts.

Tell bosses: Careless comments cause lawsuits

10/09/2012
The only appropriate response to a pregnancy announcement is “Congratulations.” No smart aleck comments, no questions about family size, no wondering aloud how long the employee expects to be out. If the pregnant employee asks about leave, her boss should refer her to HR.

Can ‘casual chat’ with employee put you on FMLA notice?

10/09/2012
Say you’re sitting with employees at lunch and one of them casually mentions that her parents are aging and in poor health. Does that informal chatter officially put your company on notice that the employee’s leave to visit her sick parents is protected under the FMLA?

Nursing rights law: Can we limit baby distraction?

10/09/2012

Q. I know we have to provide milk-expression breaks for new moms, and we do. But now a new mother is having her mother bring the baby in twice a day to nurse. These breaks go more than 30 minutes as the baby is passed around, etc. Can we just tell her to express and refrigerate the milk?