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Employment Law

Can we prohibit texting at work based on the Supreme Court’s recent Quon decision?

12/09/2010
Q. What lessons should employers take from the Supreme Court’s decision in City of Ontario v. Quon? That’s the case about the texting police officer. We want to ban personal texting at work.

Does USERRA cover part-time employees?

12/09/2010
Q. Are part-time employees covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act? We have a part-time employee who frequently takes time off for National Guard training and was even called to active duty in Iraq last year. He wanted his job back plus the raise others got while he was gone.

What’s the Illinois law on voting leave?

12/09/2010
Q. Looking ahead to the next elections, what are an employer’s requirements to give voting leave to employees in Illinois?

Pestering employees about retirement may backfire badly

12/09/2010
A federal district court recently addressed the issue of pretext in an age discrimination case. In Goodpaster v. Materials Handling Equipment (No. 09-0059, ND IN, 2010) the court held that management’s repeated and coercive inquiries about retirement to a 59-year-old employee may imply age discrimination.

St. Louis Metro workers settle pre-, post-work OT suit

12/09/2010
Reservation clerks and dispatchers for the St. Louis Metro mass transit system have settled an overtime dispute for $175,000. The money will be split among approximately 100 workers. The St. Louis Metro serves the city and suburbs in Missouri and Illinois.

Union says Honeywell’s lockout costs more than concessions

12/09/2010
United Steel Workers union members picketing Honeywell’s Metropolis uranium-enrichment facility claim the company is spending more to lock out workers than it would cost to wrap up contract negotiations.

Court: Business burden won’t be allowed to stall EEOC case

12/09/2010

In a sign that courts will give the EEOC great latitude in investigating systemic discrimination charges, media giant Kable News Company has been ordered to provide the commission with a comprehensive employee list. The message for employers: Obstructionist legal strategies probably won’t work in EEOC cases.

EEOC: Harassment all in the family at Alton restaurant

12/09/2010
Tony’s Restaurant, a venerable eatery in Alton, Ill., outside St. Louis, has agreed to settle sexual harassment charges brought by the EEOC on behalf of three teenage girls who claimed they were victimized by a member of the family that has owned the restaurant for more than 50 years.

Calls during FMLA leave lead to emotional-distress lawsuit

12/09/2010
Teach this simple lesson to supervisors who have employees out on FMLA leave: Leave them alone unless there’s a good reason to contact them. Calls and visits can lead to lawsuits claiming emotional distress.

Track discipline by type, punish everyone fairly

12/09/2010

Employers that mete out similar discipline for similar kinds of misconduct rarely lose subsequent lawsuits, even if the court considering the case thinks the punishment was excessive or a poor business decision. What matters is evenhanded application of the rules, not whether the rule is good or bad.