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Employment Law

After light bulb goes on, power company settles

01/27/2012
Winston-Salem based Salem Electric Co. has settled charges it discriminated against a black worker when it accused him of being responsible for breaking a number of light fixtures the company was supposed to install.

In Thomasville, prospective principal pockets $25,000

01/27/2012
Thomasville City Schools will pay $25,000 and provide age discrimination training to key personnel under a settlement agreement with a would-be school principal and the EEOC.

President proposes new pay rules for home health workers

01/27/2012
In an attempt to right what he ­­per­­ceives to be a wrong-headed Supreme Court decision, Presi­dent Obama is asking the DOL to change Fair Labor Stand­­ards Act regulations covering home health care workers.

You never have to tolerate fights in the workplace

01/27/2012
Violence in the workplace is a harsh reality, but employers must provide a safe work environment. That may mean terminating employees who threaten other employees or get into fights.

Don’t expect losing employee to pay your legal fees

01/27/2012
Typically, employers that lose discrimination lawsuits have to pay the employee’s attorneys’ fees in addition to any jury award. But the opposite isn’t true—employees almost never have to pay their employer’s lawyers unless the case was frivolous.

How to ward off some class-action pay-bias suits: Grant managers limited discretion to set pay

01/27/2012

Do your managers have limited discretion in setting pay? If so, you may have a built-in way to prevent large class-action lawsuits over equal pay. It’s all because of last summer’s big Supreme Court decision in Wal-Mart, Inc. v. Dukes.

Take notes on all reference-check calls

01/27/2012

Sometimes, it’s a close call to decide who will be the best fit for a job or promotion. There may be several candidates with the relevant education, training and experience. If that’s the case, the decision may come down to who has the best “soft” skills—subjective qualities indicating a good fit. Checking applicants’ references can break that tie.

What to do if disability emerges after offer

01/27/2012

Job applicants aren’t required to reveal dis­­abilities during the hiring process. That means you may occasionally find yourself making a job offer to someone you don’t realize is disabled. At that point, what you say and what you do may mean the difference between smoothly integrating a new employee into the workforce and a costly, drawn-out lawsuit.

May we ask applicants about their religion?

01/25/2012
Q. When, if ever, can our company legally ask an applicant about his or her religious affiliation?

What should we do? The law and our union rules are on a collision course over harassment

01/25/2012
Q. Our union agreement says we must give 48 hours’ notice before dismissing a regular employee. But we have proof that two employees have been har­­assing—and continue to harass—black and gay em­­ployees. In fact, their har­ass­ment just caused us to lose a good em­­ployee who couldn’t take it any ­longer. What trumps what?