• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly
Connection failed: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory

Minnesota

Could we have refused to hire waitress who now refuses to sing ‘Happy Birthday’?

01/13/2010

Q. One of the waitresses working in our restaurant claims her religion forbids her from singing “Happy Birthday” to customers. If, during her interview, we had identified this requirement as an essential job function, and if she said she couldn’t sing the song for religious reasons, would we have been within our rights to refuse to hire her?

Do we need new record-retention rules now that the Ledbetter law has been enacted?

01/13/2010

Q. I keep hearing that the Ledbetter Act means we may need to hold onto documents about employees beyond our current retention policies. What do we need to do to make sure our document-retention policies comply with the law?

Legal compliance starts at the very beginning—with hiring

01/05/2010

Protecting yourself and your organization from lawsuits starts the minute you decide to hire someone. Potential lawsuit land mines line your path. To stay out of court, build your hiring process around these principles:

Discovered poor work while employee was on military leave? Go ahead and discipline

01/04/2010

Employees returning from military service are entitled to come back to their old jobs, and they have other limited job protections, too. But those protections don’t mean employers can never discipline or demote employees who have been serving in the armed forces. Just make sure you’re doing so for legitimate business reasons, such as documented poor performance.

Keep the faith: You can accommodate religions in the workplace

12/15/2009

Two employees ask their boss to ax the company Christmas tree. A worker refuses to trim his dreadlocks, saying they are essential to his practice of Rastafari. A cashier insists she has a right to tell customers, “Have a blessed day.” Those cases have all wound up being tried in court. Employers can’t treat employees differently because of their religion, but that doesn’t mean religious accommodation is easy.

What’s up, doc? How to collect medical info under FMLA rules

12/10/2009
To determine whether an employee or family member has a condition that meets the FMLA’s definition of “serious health condition,” employers should review the medical certification they receive from the employee’s health care provider. One key section of the updated FMLA regulations clarifies who may request additional information about an employee’s FMLA certification—and how it should be sought.

Do you need a ‘no forwarding’ e-mail policy?

12/09/2009

Here’s a potential electronic communications problem you may not have considered. An employee who forwards e-mail from a company computer and e-mail account to his personal address may end up using those e-mails later in litigation against the company. That’s one reason it makes sense to prohibit employees from forwarding e-mails to their personal e-mail accounts.

Downsizing? Transfers cut unemployment claims

12/09/2009

These are tough economic times and lots of employers find themselves having to make difficult financial decisions. When those decisions include shutting down a store or branch location, employees who lose their jobs may be eligible for unemployment. But when former employees collect unemployment, unemployment insurance costs go up for employers. One way to cut your potential unemployment comp liability is to offer the employees a transfer to another location.

This winter’s forecast: ICE

12/09/2009

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be conducting I-9 audits of employers performing work on “critical infrastructure” over the winter months. About 1,000 employers—mainly in defense- and law enforcement-related industries—are being targeted for the audits. The new audit crackdown may be a sign of things to come.

State unemployment fund running deeply in red

12/09/2009

The best estimates are expected to show that Minnesota’s unemployment insurance fund spent about twice what it took in during 2009. With state unemployment running at about 7.6%, the state has paid out approximately $1.6 billion in benefits in 2009, but only taken in about $850 million.