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Employment Law

Supervisor deserves termination? Fire away–even if he’s a member of a protected class

10/22/2012
Hey, it happens: Sometimes, supervisors screw up. Go ahead and discipline them for their mistakes, even if you’re afraid your actions might trigger a discrimination or harassment lawsuit.

Don’t feel compelled to permanently reassign essential job functions to satisfy FEHA

10/22/2012

While the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) requires employers to reasonably accommodate disabled employees, there are limits. One involves the permanent reassignment of essential functions to other employees.

New state law limits access to employee social media info

10/22/2012
Starting Jan. 1, California employers may no longer require or request employees or job applicants to reveal their social media user names, passwords or other account information.

Beware FEHA suit when terminating new mother

10/22/2012
If a woman who has been fired sues for pregnancy discrimination, she doesn’t have to prove that her pregnancy was the sole reason for the termination. She merely has to show that it was a motivating factor.

ADA: You choose which accommodation to use

10/22/2012
Disabled employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations. But that doesn’t mean they get to select the one accommodation they prefer. As long as the accommodation is reasonable, the employer gets to choose which one best fits the situation.

How do we pay hourly staff for out-of-town travel?

10/19/2012

Q. I need to send a nonexempt employee to training for two days out of town. We’ll pay his mileage, hotel, meals and training costs. We plan to pay him for a normal eight-hour workday for both days … Do we have to pay for off-duty hours since the employee needs to stay at the training venue?

What to do? Breastfeeding breaks have turned into major workplace interruptions

10/18/2012

Q. As required, we provide milk-expression breaks. However, a new mother on our staff is having her mother, who cares for the newborn, bring in the baby twice a day to nurse. It would be OK if she just nursed and then sent grandma and baby home. But these breaks are taking 30 minutes or more as co-workers admire and play with the baby. Can we just tell her to express and refrigerate the milk?

Is this asking for trouble? Our sick policy requires a doctor’s note containing a diagnosis

10/18/2012
Q. Our policy states employees must provide a doctor’s note if they take sick leave of three or more days. Are we violating any laws by demanding the doctor’s note, which includes a diagnosis?

Must we employ someone with allergies?

10/18/2012

Q. We recently hired someone we didn’t know has a severe allergy to peanuts. If she even smells peanut butter, she has a severe allergic reaction, requiring her to use an EpiPen and head to the emergency room. Could we have refused to hire her if we had known about her allergies?

Looking back at Wal-Mart decision, 7th Circuit limits class actions

10/18/2012
If a recent 7th Circuit case is an indication, courts are taking a close look at whether groups of plaintiffs have enough in common to constitute a valid class. It may mean that em­­ployers will face fewer large class-action lawsuits.