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Employment Law

When employee has pregnancy complications, be prepared to consider ADA accommodations

09/21/2011
Pregnant employees have partial protection against discrimination under several state and federal laws, including the Pregnancy Dis­crimi­na­tion Act, Title VII’s sex discrimination provision and the FMLA. But you may not realize that a pregnant employee may also be covered by the ADA.

Snoozing on the job? Discipline OK under ADA

09/21/2011
Under some circumstances, em­­ployees with severe insomnia or sleep apnea may be disabled and entitled to reasonable accommodations. But generally speaking—given that many Americans live sleep-deprived lives—it takes more than a mere sleep-disorder diagnosis to show that someone has a disability that can excuse nodding off at work.

Icelandic firm must turn down Chicago harassment heat

09/21/2011
Promens Plastics has agreed to settle an EEOC sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit stemming from a five-year-old complaint. Four female employees who worked in the plastics-forming company’s Chicago factory will split the $225,000 settlement payment.

Light-duty drudgery isn’t grounds for lawsuit

09/21/2011
If you use light-duty positions to bring injured employees back to work, some of their tasks may end up being fairly characterized as make-work drudgery. That doesn’t mean an employee can successfully sue—as long as in the past all similarly situated employees ended up in the same kinds of positions.

L.A. ‘hostess’ dancers sue for wage violations, harassment

09/20/2011
A group of dancers at a Los Angeles “hostess club” are suing for wage-and-hour violations, claiming the owners of Club 907 also subjected them to “exploitative, substandard and degrading working conditions.”

Does San Francisco car wash soak its Latino workers?

09/20/2011
The city of San Francisco has filed suit against a car wash for overtime and waiting-time violations. City Attorney Dennis Herrera and La Raza Centro Legal allege that Tower Car Wash, which has a contract with San Francisco to wash city-owned vehicles, failed to pay employees for the hours between when they arrive at work and when they’re permitted to clock in.

NUMMI pays $6 million to settle plant-closing suit

09/20/2011
The EEOC and the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) have settled claims that the company denied benefits and locked out disabled workers before a plant shutdown in Fremont.

Display new pro-union poster by Nov. 14

09/19/2011

Make room for another poster on your breakroom wall. The National Labor Relations Board announced last month that most private employers will have to display a new poster in their workplaces that notifies employees of their right to form or join a union. The poster is available now for download on the NLRB website.

Must we grant time off for rehab?

09/16/2011
Q. An employee recently confided to us that he has a drug problem and would like to take several weeks off to check into a rehabilitation program. May we deny his request?

Does the FCRA cover private eyes looking into workers’ comp fraud?

09/16/2011
Q. We suspect that one of our employees has filed a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim. We would like to hire a private investigator to gather information on his activities. By doing so, are we subject to the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act?