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Employment Law

California Supreme Court limits liability for independent contractor’s injuries

07/20/2010
The California Supreme Court has issued a decision in a closely watched construction liability case that involved an independent contractor’s injury. It concluded that true independent contractors working in construction are responsible for making sure the workplace is safe and can’t claim that the hiring contractor or owner was liable for any resulting injuries.

Case settled with EEOC? Don’t cave when employee tries to revive parts of the deal

07/20/2010
When the EEOC decides that a discrimination claim is valid and orders a remedy, that should signal that the case is about to be put to bed. If you pay up what the agency says you owe, the employee can’t turn around and sue for additional money unless he also rejects the rest of the settlement.

Check backgrounds to cut harassment liability

07/20/2010
Employers that do background checks that come back negative should be able to rely on their good-faith efforts to prevent harm to employees and others. After all, employers should only be liable for harm they reasonably could expect would happen.

Quash workplace rumors once and for all

07/20/2010

Sometimes, a workplace rumor takes on a life of its own. And despite denials, it continues to resurface. If that happens in your organization and the rumor affects an employee’s ability to work, she might be able to sue—even if the original rumor started years before. That’s one reason to crack down on rumor mongers.

Privacy concern: Are ‘group’ time sheets legal?

07/19/2010
Q. Currently, we require each individual employee to fill out his or her own time sheet. But we’re considering a new format that lists all employees on one time sheet. Is this legal? Or should each employee’s time sheet be kept confidential?

The HR I.Q. Test: July ’10

07/16/2010
Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

What’s the word on the kind of work high school students are allowed to perform?

07/15/2010
Q. Our company owns a number of hardware stores and we plan to hire some high school students this fall. Are there certain limitations under child labor laws that restrict the types of duties that minors can be allowed to perform?

In our company, sleeping on the job is OK, but do we have to pay employees for it?

07/15/2010
Q. We operate a home health care business. Our employees frequently are on duty for more than 24 hours. If employees are able to sleep during shifts that are 24 hours or more, do we have to pay them for those hours?

When making termination decisions, beware the cat’s paw

07/15/2010
Managers and HR professionals are often pulled in many directions at once and don’t always have time to independently review the personnel decisions that line supervisors make. Under what’s commonly referred to as the “cat’s paw” theory, an employee can win a discrimination claim even if the employer successfully proves that the actual decision-maker didn’t intend to discriminate—or even knew that the employee was a member of a protected class.

Former St. Cloud officer sues for sexual-orientation bias

07/15/2010
According to a complaint by former St. Cloud Police Officer Sean Lathrop, he was a rising star in the department until his supervisors found out he was gay. Then his career prospects suddenly dimmed. Now he’s suing.