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Employment Law

Overtime suit takes big slice out of pizzeria

04/06/2011

Mama’s Pizzeria in Copiage will be serving up $780,000 in back pay and liquidated damages to its 40 employees to settle a federal lawsuit. An investigation by Wage and Hour officials found that many of Mama’s employees were forced to work 70 to 80 hours a week without receiving overtime pay.

Quick self-audit may allay discrimination fears

04/06/2011
When an employee complains about some form of discrimination, review the record to help you assess the claim. For example, if the employee says he didn’t get a promotion because his fe­male supervisor favors women, looking over her promotion practices won’t take long and can reassure you that the employee has no case.

Firing for poor work or rule breaking? Clear business reason will beat lawsuit

04/06/2011
Most workers are at-will employees, who can be fired for any reason or no reason at all, as long as your actions don’t violate anti-discrimination laws. That can tempt some supervisors to get lazy and fire a difficult employee without documenting exactly why. That’s a big mistake.

Courts to serial litigants: Enough is enough! Lawsuit-happy employees may face fines

04/06/2011

Some employees and applicants think that if they sue often enough, they’ll eventually end up collecting the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Fortunately, judges don’t like wasting valuable courtroom time on meritless cases. More and more, they are blocking efforts to file additional lawsuits by employees acting as their own lawyers.

Be prepared to root out hidden harassment: EEOC files a whopper against Burger King

04/06/2011
When a former Burger King employee complained to the EEOC that she had been sex­ually harassed at one of the chain’s restaurants in Glens Falls, N.Y., the EEOC sprang into action. As part of its efforts to stop sexual harassment against teenage employees, the agency began looking at more than 350 Burger King restaurants in 16 states. The agency eventually sued.

Offer FMLA, but still enforce attendance rules

04/06/2011

Employees occasionally have to step in on short notice to help care for a family member and may legitimately need FMLA leave to handle those responsibilities. Go ahead and suggest FMLA time off. However, until the employee takes you up on the offer, you can hold her to your regular attendance policy.

Quick action cuts sexual harassment liability

04/06/2011
You can’t prevent every vulgar act an employee may commit. But you can and should act fast when you learn about misbehavior. Doing so can keep a minor problem from growing into a major one.

Former Historical Commission worker files bias suit

04/06/2011
A white woman who once worked for the Texas Historical Commission has filed a lawsuit claiming the commission discriminated against her on the basis of race, gender, age and in retaliation for making a complaint.

East Texas college president’s secretary sues for age bias

04/06/2011
The former executive secretary to the president of Jarvis Christian College has filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the East Texas college.

FLSA violations cost Houston grocer $2 million

04/06/2011
A Houston-based grocery chain, Hong Kong Group Inc., has paid $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging wage-and-hour violations that involved phony payroll records and attempts to coerce employees into returning pay they had already received.