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Employment Law

Worker in car accident during break: Are you liable?

11/02/2010
Q. Our company lets employees take two 15-minute paid breaks during their eight-hour shifts. One employee usually leaves the premises during her break and drives to a convenience store. If she were involved in a car accident on the way, would the company have any liability since she is still on the clock?

What’s the Texas law on voting leave?

11/01/2010
Q. We have had a hard time determining whether we must allow employees to miss work so they can vote? So this isn’t a problem in 2012, what rules must we follow?

Establish clear performance expectations so courts can judge if employee was meeting them

11/01/2010

Courts often hesitate to second-guess employers when they fire employees for what seem like honest reasons. And employers that set out clear performance expectations and then show how the terminated employee fell short rarely lose a lawsuit. That’s because, absent smoking-gun evidence of discrimination, fired employees have to prove they were meeting their employer’s legitimate expectations.

4 phrases that can sabotage job reviews

11/01/2010

When supervisors talk with employees about job performance, they must beware using common phrases that can unintentionally communicate the wrong message, or come across as too negative … or even legally dangerous. Feel free to share this “Memo to Managers” article with everyone in your organization who conducts performance reviews. Bonus: They’ll also learn the two phrases virtually guaranteed to spark a lawsuit.

What kind of information are we required to give participants in our health insurance plan?

11/01/2010
Q. We just received a letter from an employee who has requested a copy of our medical plan. Are we required to provide this information to her?

How responsible is a parent company for an action filed against a subsidiary company?

11/01/2010
Q. A former employee has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against one of my company’s subsidiaries. The suit names both the subsidiary and us—the parent company—as the responsible employers. Isn’t this charge just the subsidiary’s problem and not ours?

Supremes at work: 8 key employment law cases on docket

11/01/2010

Can the federal government require contract employees to disclose their use of illegal drugs? Can states sanction employers that knowingly hire unauthorized aliens? The U.S. Supreme Court will decide these and other issues in its new term, which began in October.

Former Bells bank worker files age discrimination suit

11/01/2010
A former employee of First Bells Bankshares in Bells, north of Dallas, has filed a discrimination lawsuit alleging that the Texas bank fired her after she refused to be demoted.

EEOC puts the bite on Burleson dental office

11/01/2010

The EEOC has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit claiming that a Burleson dentist subjected two employees to unwanted sexual conduct and a sexually hostile work environment. David Mikitka is the lead dentist at the practice, known as Smile Brands of Texas.

If absenteeism not disability-related, feel free to discipline

11/01/2010

You should hold disabled employees to the same behavioral standards as other employees, unless there is a good disability-related reason to deviate from the rules. For example, if you set strict time limits for lunches and authorized breaks, there is no reason to give disabled employees more time unless allowing more time is a legitimate reasonable accommodation.