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Employment Law

Beware refusing to rehire new mom; it could be sex discrimination under Ohio law

12/02/2011

Employees who need time off for childbirth but who aren’t eligible for FMLA leave aren’t entitled to additional protection under Ohio law. You can terminate the employee if your leave policies don’t provide another way to take time off. But if the former employee is ready to return after childbirth, beware rejecting her if she tries to reapply for an open position.

Leave shameful history in the past: Warn bosses against any reference to nooses

12/02/2011
Objects can become powerful symbols. That’s certainly true of nooses, which black Americans see as infamous reminders of a past in which lynchings were relatively common, especially in the South. That’s why you must instruct supervisors and managers: Any reference to hanging, ropes or nooses is absolutely forbidden in the workplace.

Follow FMLA’s new job-protection timetables

12/02/2011
Do you assign light-duty work to some employees returning from FMLA leave? If so, here’s a warning: You can’t cut off their job-protection rights by counting light-duty work time against their FMLA entitlement, according to the most recent FMLA regulations.

Does your action seem sleazy? Reconsider

12/02/2011
Employers are technically allowed to terminate employees who don’t turn in their paperwork within 15 days of going on FMLA leave. But doing so under all circumstances may be a mistake, especially if the employee had a good reason for the delay.

Keep consistent records of all disciplinary actions

12/01/2011
You must track all disciplinary actions. That way, you can quickly determine whether your discipline has been equitable.

Beware impromptu evaluations to decide RIFs

12/01/2011

If you must cut staff, you naturally want to terminate the least productive workers and keep the most productive ones. You could make the decision on the basis of past performance evaluations. But what if there aren’t any?

Documentation is key to winning bias lawsuits–along with clear policies, thorough investigations

12/01/2011

When terminating several em­­ployees at the same time, make sure you have carefully documented the reasons. That’s especially important if the employees share common protected characteristics such as age. You want to be prepared for a lawsuit if they decide the real reason they lost their jobs was their protected characteristic.

Discipline OK for stonewalling investigation

12/01/2011

Sexual harassment allegations often come down to he said/she said arguments. Without hearing from both sides, there’s no way to figure out what happened. If one of the people involved in the allegations won’t talk, you can discipline him for refusing to co­­operate.

Does our ‘sick leave bonus’ count toward employee’s regular rate of pay?

11/30/2011
Q. We pay a bonus for not using accrued sick leave. Does that count when determining an employee’s regular rate of pay for overtime purposes?

Can we offer more vacation in lieu of OT pay?

11/30/2011
Q. May an employer compensate an employee for overtime work by awarding additional paid vacation time equal to the total accrued overtime?