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Employment Law

Illinois EEOC discrimination complaints up sharply in 2011

06/25/2012
Although Illinois accounts for just 4.1% of the nation’s population, 6.1% of all EEOC discrimination charges originated in Illinois in fiscal year 2011.

Sound policy beats post-firing lawsuits

06/25/2012
You just terminated an employee for misconduct or poor performance. A few weeks later, you receive an EEOC complaint alleging that the employee suffered years of harassment and discrimination. If you didn’t have clear rules in place for reporting such conduct, you may be facing years of litigation.

No Title VII protection for illegal immigrants

06/25/2012

Employers can’t discriminate against someone based on her  national origin. But what about discrimination based on whether someone is in the country illegally? Is that also national-origin discrimination? The answer is a resounding “No!” according to a recent 7th Circuit Court of Appeals case.

How to handle partial-day absences under FMLA

06/25/2012

Sometimes, an employee needs just a few hours of FMLA leave to make a doctor’s appointment or to drive a relative to treatment. What if the employee wants to take the whole day off? Does the FMLA re­­quire you to extend the extra time?

Can you explain California’s alphabet soup of paid family leave laws?

06/20/2012
Q. What are the differences between FMLA leave, CFRA leave and PFL?

How far must we go to accommodate employees’ unusual religious beliefs?

06/20/2012
Q. We have an employee who claims to be a witch. She contends that witchcraft is her religion and has asked for certain holidays off. Are we required to accommodate this employee’s request?

When computing employee pay, are we allowed to round off employee working hours?

06/20/2012
Q. My company uses a time clock to track the hours of nonexempt employees. When we determine the wages to be paid to employees, can we round up or down to the nearest five-minute increment?

Court strikes down embattled NLRB’s ‘ambush election’ rule

06/20/2012

In recent months, the National Labor Relations Board has been busy. So have courts that oversee its activities. Two courts handed down employer-friendly decisions invalidating or at least delaying the implementation of new rules instituted by the NLRB.

Overtime violations cost Downey nursing firm $654,082

06/20/2012
A lawsuit prompted by a DOL investigation has resulted in a court order requiring Extended Health Care Inc. of Downey to pay $654,082 to 108 nurses who alleged they missed out on overtime pay in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Security firm lets down guard on San Jose harassment

06/20/2012
Guardsmark Security will pay $25,000 to settle a national-origin and age-­harassment complaint filed by an employee working in San Jose.