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Minnesota

Rescinded job offer amounted to pregnancy discrimination

01/12/2016

A Saint Louis Park, Minn., orthodontist has learned the hard way that you can’t offer a job but then rescind it when you learn your new hire is pregnant.

No benefits if there is no cooperation with investigation

01/12/2016
Employees who claim they quit be-cause their employer wouldn’t address harassment or discrimination are eligible for unemployment compensation benefits—if they gave the employer a chance to remedy the situation.

For unemployment purposes, your degree of control determines worker’s status

01/12/2016
Under Minnesota unemployment compensation law, individuals aren’t independent contractors just because the company that uses their labor says they are.

Counter years of good reviews by documenting legit reasons for discipline

12/22/2015
Generally, if an employer gives an employee consistently good reviews, courts will view that as evidence that the employer was satisfied with the worker’s job performance. An employee who alleges discrimination or retaliation can then use those good reviews to show that something else must have been the reason for a sudden discharge.

OSHA launches violence prevention in health care site

12/22/2015
Noting that health care workers are more than four times more likely than other employees to experience workplace violence, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a new website to help health care providers curtail violence at work.

Sensitive job, angry worker? OK to discipline

12/17/2015
Some workers think that anytime their employer criticizes an emotional state or suggests therapy, the employer is “regarding” them as disabled. Thus, goes the argument, the employer violates the ADA when it tries to intervene.

Reprimand may be sufficient if harassment was mild and unlikely to occur again

12/16/2015
You don’t necessarily have to fire someone who committed a single act of sexual harassment—as long as the conduct wasn’t truly outrageous or continuous. Sometimes, it’s fine to issue a reprimand and then monitor the employee to ensure the situation doesn’t recur.

Age-discrimination worry: Is it legal to ask 63-year-old about his retirement plans?

12/16/2015
Q. We have a long-time employee who will accumulate the necessary points under our retirement program to become fully vested in his retirement benefit on his next birthday, which is in April. At that time, the employee will be 63 years old. He has not talked about how long he intends to continue working or his plan for retirement with our management team, which is concerned about having enough time to transition the employee’s work in the event that he abruptly retires. Can we ask this employee about his retirement plans without creating a claim of age discrimination? (Of course, the employee is also having performance issues, and management would prefer that he retire upon vesting in the retirement program.)

Can we fire employees we just learned are registered sex offenders?

12/16/2015
Q. Management wants to implement a zero-tolerance policy with respect to employing registered sex offenders. Recently, we conducted an internal investigation and determined that three current employees are registered sex offenders. Management wants to terminate those employees immediately. Is that legal?

Workers’ comp reinstatement must fit physical restrictions

12/16/2015
Under workers’ comp rules, people who are injured at work are entitled to reinstatement into open jobs for which they are qualified and which fit any physical restrictions. The penalty for not placing a worker in such a job is one year’s wages.