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Employment Law

Employee represents herself? Take lawsuit seriously, anyway

11/28/2011
Employees who lose their jobs these days often have a tough time finding new positions. That’s leading to more discharge lawsuits, simply be­­cause former employees have so few options. Many of those lawsuits are filed pro se. No matter how flimsy such a case seems, never ignore it.

Changing company name doesn’t end legal liability

11/28/2011
Businesses come and go, especially during tough economic times. But sometimes companies just change names and corporate status, while essentially remaining the same entity. That doesn’t mean their legal obligations just disappear.

Minor malady could hinder performance? Always look for easy accommodations

11/28/2011
Be careful before revoking a job offer based on a physical exam. Consider reasonable accommodations instead.

When making promotion decisions, discrimination prohibited, fairness optional

11/28/2011
Here’s something to think about when you agonize over internal staffing moves: As long as you don’t use discrimination as an excuse to deny someone a promotion, your decision doesn’t have to pass some vague fairness test.

Cupid in the workplace: You can terminate supervisor for lying about personal relationship

11/28/2011
What if you suspect a supervisor/subordinate relationship, but the two people deny it? You probably can’t do anything more than reiterate your workplace rule against it. If it turns out the supervisor lied, you can certainly terminate him or her—both for breaking the rule and then lying about it.

General labor doesn’t make manager nonexempt

11/28/2011
Every year, hundreds of retail and restaurant managers sue, claiming they should be classified as nonexempt because they spend almost all their time doing the same kinds of tasks their subordinates do. But that’s not the test. In fact, managers often do double duty, performing manual tasks while also managing their workers.

Warn bosses: Email will be used against you

11/28/2011
You’ve told managers before, now tell ’em again: Email may seem like private communication, but it really isn’t. Anything a manager says in an email may become evidence in a lawsuit.

Delete cryptic notes lurking in your HR files

11/28/2011
Before you toss that handwritten note into the employee’s file today, stop for a second and read it. Years from now, will you remember what that chicken-scratch meant? Many lawsuits have turned on one or two words scrawled by a manager or HR pro after employee meetings and conversations.

New hire running into trouble right away? Document problems early and often

11/25/2011

Once in a while, the honeymoon is barely over before a new em­­ployee starts to struggle. Since every job has a learning curve, you may hesitate to terminate right away. But you can’t ignore the problems, either.

Court: Don’t expect access to past job records

11/25/2011
When a former employee sues, alleging she was terminated because of sex discrimination, the employer often argues that the real reason was poor performance. Don’t expect the court to let you go on a fishing expedition into the employee’s past. As this recent case shows, courts think past performance is no indication of future results.