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Employment Law

Did Elmhurst firm raid pensions? EBSA, SEC want to know

04/14/2011
Elmhurst-based Results One Finan­cial and its co-founder Steve Salutric face charges of diverting more than $1 million from pension funds it managed.

Chicago contractor settles bias charge for $700,000

04/14/2011
InterCall, the world’s largest provider of teleconferencing services, will pay $700,000 to 151 minority job applicants after a DOL investigation concluded the company systematically excluded minority candidates from sales associate positions at its Chicago office in 2006 and 2007.

EEOC suit says school system made teacher choose: faith or job

04/14/2011

Safoorah Kahn was a middle school math coach in the tiny Chicago suburb of Berkeley. As a devout Muslim, she looked forward to making the hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca, something Muslims are expected to do once during their lifetimes. Kahn asked the school district for three weeks of unpaid leave to make the journey. The school district refused the request …

Neutral comment doesn’t prove pregnancy discrimination

04/14/2011

When an em­­ployee announces she is pregnant, the only appropriate re­sponse is “Con­grat­ulations!” Then give her the information she needs so she can take any leave to which she is entitled. Negative comments can be used to prove pregnancy discrimination, but neutral ones cannot.

Work with your attorney to preserve evidence

04/14/2011

These days, much of the evidence used in employment litigation is electronic—such as attendance records. Courts require employers to preserve such evidence when employers reasonably know that a lawsuit could arise. If evidence is destroyed, courts can impose heavy financial sanctions and even hand a win to the other side without a trial.

The best reason to retain personnel documents: Employees–and courts–have long memories

04/14/2011
Employees are often only too happy to go back years to come up with circumstantial evidence that their employers are biased, citing incidents that on their own could not be the basis for a lawsuit.

How not to handle FMLA leave: Do what Chicago did to a seriously ill employee

04/14/2011
Here’s a chance to learn from an employer’s FMLA mistakes. Don’t make the same ones yourself.

The labor law waiting to trip you up–even if you’re not unionized!

04/12/2011

Even if your employees don’t belong to a union, the National Labor Relations Act applies to you. For example, the National Labor Relations Board recently announced that a nonunionized employer will pay $900,000 to two fired employees to settle charges that it violated the NLRA. Here’s a compliance primer.

How to ensure your employee handbook supports FMLA compliance

04/12/2011
Employers are free to develop their own policies, but many laws have an absolute mandate—you must ensure employees receive proper notice of your policies. That’s why the FMLA section of your handbook is so important. Here’s your roadmap to full compliance with the FMLA’s notification requirements.

It’s a man’s world? Be ready to ‘man up’ in court

04/11/2011
Reductions in force (RIFs) are fertile ground for employee lawsuits to sprout up. But as this ruling last month shows, even when a company conducts a perfectly good RIF procedure, it can be torpedoed in court by a manager’s untimely comments …