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Minnesota

How should we handle news that employee previously signed a noncompete agreement?

07/09/2015
Q. We received a letter from a competitor informing us that our new employee used to work for them and is now in violation of noncompetition agreement with the competitor. What should we do?

Failure to call off is employment misconduct

07/09/2015
Employees who don’t call off work as company rules require may be guilty of misconduct. That means they lose the right to unemployment compensation if they are fired.

Review noncompete agreement before hiring

07/09/2015
Before you hire employees from the competition, make sure they don’t have an existing noncompete agreement. When in doubt, consult an attorney.

Of gangs, G-Men and a dogged cop: Careful discipline prevails in court

07/09/2015

Employers that take their time to discipline troublesome employees who refuse to follow the rules often make out well if that employee later sues. That’s because they will have clear and unambiguous evidence that the employee deserved the discipline—not because he was a troublemaker, but because he couldn’t follow the rules others did.

What’s work for unemployment comp purposes?

07/09/2015

Workers who are collecting unemployment compensation benefits and “perform services” for 32 hours or more per week aren’t eligible to receive benefits for that week. If they work for fewer than 32 hours, they do receive benefits. But what about time spent on-call? Do those hours count toward the threshold? A recent court decision says they don’t.

Suit filed? Arbitration pact may still work

07/09/2015
Employers use arbitration agreements to keep employment-related litigation out of the courts. But what if you don’t have an arbitration agreement in place when former employees file a wage-and-hour class action lawsuit against your company? Can you suddenly spring an arbitration agreement on current employees and expect it to work? Surprisingly, yes, according to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Twin Cities rated nation’s 16th best place for jobs

07/09/2015
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area scored well on Glassdoor.com’s recent “Best Cities for Jobs” ranking.

NLRB’s relentless attack on employment policies continues

07/09/2015
In recent years, the National Labor Relations Board has steadily, aggressively increased its scrutiny of employment policies found in almost every employee handbook. Seemingly well-intentioned and generally accepted policies have been found to violate the National Labor Relations Act because they are seen as chilling employee rights to engage in protected, concerted activity.

Franken introduces bill limiting mandatory arbitration

06/18/2015
Sen. Al Franken has co-sponsored a bill with Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) that would limit what issues employers could force employees to arbitrate.

Does FMLA apply to same-sex spouses who don’t live in states that recognize same-sex marriage?

06/18/2015
Q. We have operations in South Dakota, and one of our employees there has requested FMLA leave to care for his same-sex spouse for an FMLA-qualified reason. The couple was married in Minnesota, but South Dakota does not recognize same-sex marriage. Should we grant the FMLA leave request?