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Employment Law

Treating some minorities well doesn’t excuse bias against others

09/21/2011
By now, every employer understands that Title VII prohibits discriminating against employees because of their race. A recent 7th Circuit case makes clear a subtle but important point about race bias: Employers can’t de­­fend discrimination against some members of a protected class by claiming they don’t discriminate against all members of that class.

Temp agency faces ADA suit over on-the-job seizure

09/21/2011
Genie Temporary Services faces EEOC disability discrimination charges after it fired a temp em­­ployee who had an epileptic seizure at a client site in LaSalle.

Illinois workers’ comp reform rules now in effect

09/21/2011
The state of Illinois has taken a series of steps to cut employers’ workers’ compensation costs. Employers should consult with their workers’ comp carriers to ensure workplace injury reporting procedures and posted notices are up-to-date and comply with the new law. The following reforms took effect Sept. 1:

Equality also applies to return-to-work situations

09/21/2011
Equal treatment is the rule when dealing with similarly situated employees who quit and then try to return to work, as the following case shows.

Stop harassment lawsuits by requiring bosses to log employees’ performance problems

09/21/2011
Here’s a great reason for insisting that all supervisors document their subordinates’ performance problems: If an employee later claims her manager behaved abusively, good documentation will support any discipline for poor performance. That could block a harassment lawsuit.

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.”