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Employment Law

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 …

He said/she said: Gauging credibility in harassment cases

04/08/2011
Most employers understand the importance of doing a fair and thorough in-house investigation when they receive complaints of on-the-job harassment. But many investigators falsely believe they can’t conclude that harassment occurred unless they have independent witnesses to the allegations. So what should you do when confronted with conflicting stories?

More firms increase D&O liability coverage limits

04/07/2011
A new Towers Watson study says that 21% of employers increased their liability limits for their directors & officers liability coverage last year, compared with only 12% who did so in 2008.

2011’s biggest wage-and-hour issues–and what to do about them

04/06/2011

This year is shaping up to be a tough one for organizations worried about employment law issues. So far, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided three big employment law cases—and every time, ruled in favor of employees. The latest expanded employer retaliation liability under the FLSA. But that’s not this year’s only press­ing wage-and-hour problem. Pay atten­tion to these other issues:

Amityville Fire Department settles age bias lawsuit

04/06/2011
A group of volunteer firefighters for the Amityville Fire Department will share $209,280 after they settled a lawsuit alleging discrimination in the way cash bonuses were handed out.

Don’t ignore lawsuit! It won’t go away

04/06/2011

Pass along this reminder to supervisors: Any legal documents they receive must be forwarded right away to HR and your attorney. Other­wise, you could miss important deadlines. Worse, you could automatically lose the case, even if it has little merit.

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.