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Employment Law

First suggestion needn’t be last word: You’re free to choose reasonable accommodation

07/23/2010

When an employee asks for a reasonable ADA accommodation for a disability, you don’t have to accept her first suggestion. You are under no obligation to provide the employee’s preferred accommodation if you have another one that’s also reasonable.

School’s out for summer! But the FMLA doesn’t cover day care

07/23/2010

Believe it or not, some employees are under the impression they can use FMLA leave during the summer months to care for their minor children instead of sending them to summer camp or day care. That’s not true unless the child has a serious health condition that prevents participation in camp or day care. Otherwise, parents are expected to make conventional child care arrangements during the summer.

Ban vulgar jokes, comments on breastfeeding

07/23/2010

The new health care reform law gives mothers the legal right to express breast milk at work. But that’s brought a new problem to the fore: co-workers—or even supervisors—making jokes or inappropriate comments about the practice. Remind everyone that lactation is no joking matter. Otherwise, you could have a sexual harassment case on your hands.

Suspect employee crime? Call the cops already!

07/23/2010

Managers may be reluctant to report potential employee theft to the police, assuming that if they are wrong, they could be sued. But chances are that, if an employer acts in good faith, it won’t be liable—even if it turns out the employee is innocent.

You don’t always have to be right–as long as you act in good faith

07/23/2010
Here’s good news for supervisors who are afraid of making the wrong disciplinary decision: Employers don’t have to be right every time about the underlying reasons for disciplinary action. Instead, what counts is acting in good faith.

When investigating sexual harassment, consider all the evidence–including nonsexual threats

07/23/2010

You no doubt take sexual harassment complaints seriously and promptly try to learn the facts. But which facts should you consider when deciding whether the conduct creates a hostile work environment? Look at the totality of the circumstances. For example, comments that aren’t directly sexual can still contribute to a hostile environment if the context indicates that the comments are related to others that are sexual.

Beware bias claims when accommodations differ

07/23/2010
Overlapping issues often make it even harder for HR pros to deal with difficult situations. For example, addressing the needs of two disabled employees can turn into a discrimination lawsuit if they belong to different protected classes and you come up with different accommodations.

First lawsuit filed under new genetic discrimination law

07/23/2010
Employers will be closely watching the first lawsuit filed under the federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which makes it illegal to discriminate based on employees’ or applicants’ genetic information.

Can we discipline exempt workers for attendance?

07/22/2010
Q. We require all employees to be in by 9 a.m. One of our exempt employees is constantly late. Can we discipline exempt employees for poor attendance?

Here’s intel on how the other side approaches union elections

07/20/2010
The Department of Labor has launched a new web-based employment law guide on how to conduct union elections. The purpose: walking union members and officials through the steps necessary to comply with labor-relations law. If you have union workers, you owe it to yourself to learn how they’ll probably conduct their next election.