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Louisiana

OK to discipline worker who has complained, but be sure you can justify your decision

12/17/2013
Courts don’t want to tie management’s hands; they just want to protect employees from genuine retaliation. That’s why the standard for retaliation is anything that would dissuade a reasonable worker from complaining in the first place. Most minor discipline doesn’t reach that level.

5th Circuit adds confusion to OT in misclassification cases

12/02/2013
It just got more complicated to calculate the overtime pay you owe a misclassified employee. In Black v. SettlePou P.C., the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court’s ruling concerning the proper methodology for calculating damages when an employee is misclassified as exempt.

Avoid needless reference to culture differences

12/02/2013
There is a fine line between a rational discussion of cultural differences and stereotyping. If you are tempted to educate employees on appropriate workplace behavior, stick with a straightforward description of what behaviors you want to see, not how they differ from other cultural norms.

Document efforts to get FMLA certification

12/02/2013
There’s a right way and a wrong way to terminate an employee who isn’t returning from FMLA leave. The right way: Offer every opportunity to ask for an extension—and document that you did so. The wrong way: Just fire her when she doesn’t show up on the day she was supposed to return.

Consult lawyer before firing returning service member

10/31/2013
Members of the armed forces are protected from discharge for being called to duty. That includes those who must take short training leaves. Once released from brief active-duty periods, they must get their jobs back. Firing a returning service member without a solid reason may spark a lawsuit.

Vague or nonexistent harassment policy? In same-sex cases, prepare to pay

10/31/2013
Judges don’t have much patience with employers that don’t understand their obligations to prevent or stop sexual harassment, including same-sex harassment.

Good faith is good enough for discipline

10/10/2013
When you are investigating em­­ployee wrongdoing and deciding on discipline, you don’t have to get everything exactly right—as long as you act in good faith and aren’t trying to set up someone or use the disciplinary process as a pretext for discrimination.

Interview performance can be the hiring tiebreaker

10/02/2013
When several qualified candidates are in the running for a job, you can use interview performance as the deciding factor. Just make sure interviewers note their specific reasons why one applicant seemed better than the others.

Be alert for hidden–or overt–bias when hiring manager rejects qualified candidate

10/02/2013
Do some of your supervisors gripe about having to follow anti-discrimination laws? Rein them in. Otherwise, you’ll wind up in court if a job candidate gets rejected for obviously illegal reasons.

Even if not job-related, consider granting easy disability accommodations

10/02/2013
Some accommodations requests aren’t directly related to the disabled employee’s job functions. Take, for example, simple accommodations like changing arrival and departure times so a disabled employee can take a specific bus or providing a reserved parking spot next to the entrance. Those accommodations fall within the scope of the ADA.