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Employment Law

Be alert for retaliation suit if manager reports that a colleague discriminates or harasses

10/18/2011

It’s protected activity if a manager reports to HR that another manager has been treating subordinates who belong to a protected class more harshly than other subordinates. Punishing the reporting manager for doing so could be retaliation.

Workers required to attend ‘voluntary’ training? Be prepared to pay nonexempt employees

10/18/2011

Do you require or strongly rec­ommend that employees attend training sessions outside their regularly scheduled shifts? If training participants are hourly employees, chances are you will have to pay them for their time. Simply calling the training voluntary isn’t good enough …

Chicago bank branch fires low-vision worker after a day

10/18/2011
The EEOC is suing Bank of America, alleging it violated the ADA by firing a visually impaired worker after one day on the job at one of its Chicago locations.

Doubtful disability? Exercise patience anyway

10/18/2011

Occasionally, it may seem like an employee is exaggerating a disability and being difficult just for the sake of being difficult. That’s no reason to reject her claims outright. Instead, focus on following your usual ADA accommodations process.

Take control of your internal complaint process

10/18/2011
Employees can’t be punished for reporting alleged discrimination. That would be retaliation. But with­­in reasonable limits, managers have the right to tell employees how to report alleged discrimination.

Employee gripes on Facebook: Can we draw a line?

10/18/2011
Q. You’ve written that we can’t fire employees for their “concerted activity,” like talking about pay or bosses, and we may have to live with certain complaining via social media. But are there limits?

Personality clash or hostile work environment? It depends on hypothetical ‘reasonable person’

10/17/2011

Overly sensitive employees can interpret anything negative as hostile. But often what is subjectively hostile is just unpleasant from an objective standpoint, the result of an apparent personality conflict. It all depends on how a hypothetical “reasonable person” who finds himself in the same situation would view the matter.

Sometimes it’s OK to fire before parental leave

10/17/2011
Many employees believe that the FMLA and its state counterpart, the Minnesota Parental Leave Act (MPLA), absolutely prevent an employer from terminating someone who asks for or takes parental leave. That’s not the case.

Muslim DA’s bias suit against Youngstown moves on

10/12/2011
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a Youngstown prosecutor’s religious discrimination suit against the city. Basil Ally complained to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and then sued, alleging he had been discriminated against because of his Muslim faith. His lawsuit claims co-workers sometimes teased him, suggesting that he was connected to Islamic terrorists.

Feds offer amnesty for contractor misclassification

10/12/2011
If you’ve been worried that some of your workers may be incorrectly classified as independent contractors, but leery about opening a legal can of worms to fix potential problems, Uncle Sam is offering to cut you a break.