• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

BellSouth ‘managers’ win class certification

09/13/2011

A federal judge has allowed an FLSA class-action lawsuit against BellSouth Telecommunications to move forward. The class consists of “level-one” managers who claim they have been misclassified so the company won’t have to give them overtime pay.

Quitting for sex harassment warrants unemployment comp

09/13/2011
Employees who can show they quit their jobs because of unresolved complaints about sexual harassment are entitled to unemployment benefits.

Court: Isolated risqué comments aren’t enough to create a hostile work environment

09/13/2011
Not every inappropriate comment in the workplace is grounds for a lawsuit. Even several isolated comments don’t necessarily make the workplace hostile, especially if they aren’t directed at the complaining employee.

Does your organization rely on federal funding? Beware False Claims Act lawsuits

09/13/2011
There’s a new legal worry for organizations that receive federal funding contingent on complying with performance conditions. Under the federal False Claims Act (FCA), employees reporting wrongdoing may receive a whistle-blower award worth up to 25% of funds wrongly received by their employer.

Know the FMLA rules: You must allow intermittent leave before women give birth

09/13/2011

Some employers mistakenly believe that women who want to use FMLA leave when they become pregnant can’t demand intermittent leave. Managers may be confusing FMLA provisions that apply to the time leading up to the birth of a child with those that apply to the time after the child is born (or adopted).

Restore returning soldiers to equivalent jobs

09/13/2011

With more veterans returning from active duty service in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, employers are facing more reemployment claims. Under USERRA, service members are entitled to reinstatement as if they never left for deployment. That right includes seniority and allowance for promotions that would have occurred if they had not been deployed.

FMLA leave doesn’t mean you can’t discipline

09/13/2011

The FMLA was enacted to let workers briefly put their careers on hold to tend to pressing personal matters like illness, childbirth and adoption, eldercare and other covered events. It was not designed to enable them to avoid discipline. That’s why the law specifically states that employers don’t have to give returning employees benefits they would not have received if they hadn’t taken FMLA leave.

Following up: The most important, yet most overlooked, part of HR investigations

09/13/2011

When employees complain about alleged discrimination or harassment, smart HR pros make it a point to check back regularly with the employee who voiced the complaint. Then, they document those conversations and address any problems reported by the employee. This simple step carries two important benefits.

HHS bans co-pays for birth control, other services

09/12/2011
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidelines in August that require health insurance plans to cover eight different kinds of women’s preventive serv­ices without charging a co-payment or deductible.

New health plan summaries required in 2012

09/12/2011
The Obama administration proposed new rules in August that require employers and health insurers to give health plan participants a clearer picture of their benefits in plain English. The rules propose a new template for the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC).