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Hiring

4 supervisors arrested after ICE raids S.C. poultry plant

07/25/2008
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested four supervisors at the House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Greenville, S.C. …

Changing hiring criteria in midstream: Legal, if done right

07/24/2008
Sometimes, employers receive a far greater number of qualified applicants for an open position than they expected. If that happens, you can narrow the applicants down by a new set of more specific requirements. Applicants who sue because they met the first set of requirements but not the second probably won’t win a discrimination lawsuit …

Contractor decision costs FedEx $319 million as class action grows

07/24/2008
Official class notices were sent out in June to 27,165 present and former FedEx delivery drivers in the multidistrict lawsuit challenging the company’s independent contractor model. The court certified class-action status for drivers from 19 states, including Pennsylvania …

House votes to make misclassifying independent contractors a third-Degree felony

07/24/2008
A bill approved by the state House in June—the Construction Industry Independent Contractor Act—would make intentionally misclassifying workers as independent contractors a third-degree felony for employers in residential or commercial construction. Cases of negligence would constitute a summary offense …

Must we give rejected applicant a copy of a negative reference letter?

07/22/2008
Q. We request references from applicants’ former or current employers. Recently, an applicant (who was not hired) requested a copy of his former employer’s reference letter, which indicated that the applicant was difficult to work with and performed poorly. The letter was one of the factors considered when we decided not to hire him. Must we turn over the letter (or any other part of our file on the applicant)? …

I-9 enforcement focuses on criminal arrests, smaller firms

07/22/2008
In the past few years, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has focused its enforcement efforts mainly at large-scale immigration raids at big companies. Now that ICE has more trained officers and better coordination with other federal and state agencies, it’s targeting more small businesses, too …

Pre-Employment tests

07/22/2008
Q. Our company operates a distribution warehouse. Our application process used to be very simple—applicants would come into the warehouse and voice their interest. We would do a quick interview on the spot and usually hire the person. Since then our company has grown significantly and we want to make sure we are in compliance with current regulations. In order to work in the warehouse, employees must be able to lift at least 75 pounds. During an interview, can we ask what disabilities, if any, an applicant may have? We just want to make sure our employees are able to lift the boxes. …

Think twice before posting, withdrawing job

07/21/2008
Paula Casamento had worked for years in a variety of functions for Boston’s mass transit agency, but wanted to be promoted. When the agency posted a new supervisory position, she applied. A male employee had been performing most of the new job’s functions for several years …

Employer liability for defamation claims based on a reference

07/21/2008
Q. Our company constantly receives calls from prospective employers requesting references for our former employees. Recently, one of our receptionists told an inquiring employer that a former employee was terminated for falsifying his expense reports. The former employee now has threatened to file a lawsuit against us for defamation. Do we have any exposure? …

Would an employee’s signed release protect us against reference liability?

07/21/2008

Q. What can we do to protect our company from being sued by former employees when we give references? Should we require that the prospective employer provide us with a release or consent from the former employee? …