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

Employment Law

No private ‘do-over’ if applicant flunks test

01/28/2011
Do you use standardized tests to determine if applicants meet the minimum requirements for a job? If so, remember this: An applicant who fails a fairly administered test (after receiving a conditional offer of employment) can’t go out and take the test privately and then demand reconsideration.

Give managers a refresher on retaliation risks

01/27/2011
Employee claims of job discrimination to the EEOC spiked above 99,000 last year, the highest total ever. On Jan. 11, the EEOC released more details, and those numbers yield three important lessons for employers:

Do we owe STD benefits to employee who has been terminated after FMLA leave expires?

01/26/2011
Q. Our policy is to run FMLA leave and short-term disability (STD) concurrently. The FMLA is for 12 weeks of job-protected leave. STD is for 26 weeks, with proper medical documentation. Can we terminate an employee at the end of 12 weeks, when FMLA leave is exhausted? And, if so, do we end STD payments, since the employee has been terminated?

What are Pennsylvania’s breaks rules?

01/26/2011
Q. Is it mandatory for a nonexempt employee to take at least a 20-minute meal break after working a certain number of hours?

NLRB to decide: Are Facebook posts protected discussions?

01/26/2011
Let’s say one of your union employees has used her own computer to make negative comments about her supervisor on her personal Facebook page. Co-workers—Facebook friends of the employee—see the posts and start chiming in with further smears. Can you lawfully terminate these employees for violating your social media policy? Probably not.

Crothall Healthcare settles pregnancy discrimination claim

01/26/2011
Wayne-based Crothall Healthcare will pay more than $88,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination claim brought on behalf of an employee working in Arkansas.

PHA head is gone, but trail of lawsuits lingers on

01/26/2011
When the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s board of directors fired Executive Director Carl Greene, board members probably thought the move would end the serial litigation that marked his tenure. Wrong. Press reports last year linked Greene to a series of sexual harassment cases that—along with allegations of mismanagement—led to his firing last year …

Sick employee riffed? Beware ERISA lawsuit

01/26/2011
Employees fired because they might drive up health care costs can probably sue under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which governs many employee benefits.

Threat of suicide justifies medical exam

01/26/2011

Employers are sometimes nervous about demanding that an employee undergo a medical exam. They fear doing so somehow violates the ADA. If an employee threatens suicide or some other violent act, it’s legal for an employer to order a fitness-for-duty exam.

Supreme Court: Fiancé of complaining worker has retaliation protection

01/25/2011
The Supreme Court on Jan. 24 ruled that the fiancé of a woman who filed an EEOC discrimination complaint was protected from retaliation by their mutual employer and can now sue for retaliation. The case has important implications for all employers: It’s more important than ever to make sure your discipline policies pass the no-retaliation test.