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Minnesota

Employee claims harassment? Consider transferring him

03/11/2015

Employees who are forced to work under conditions that leave them little choice but to quit can still sue, alleging they were constructively discharged. You can prevent those suits by transferring the employee who says he is being harassed to another equivalent job.

When terminating public-sector employees, be careful how you announce their departure

03/11/2015

Government workers have more protections than other employees when it comes to termination. For example, if a public employee is falsely charged with some form of misconduct, she may have a l­awsuit. By all means, resist the temptation to make an example out of the fired employee.

Consider extended leave as accommodation if disabled employee is likely to return to work

03/11/2015
Before rejecting a disabled employee’s request for additional time off as a reasonable accommodation, consider whether the time would allow the employee to return. If not, you probably won’t have to provide the additional leave.

Tell bosses: Many subtle–and not so subtle–comments can add up to evidence of age bias

03/11/2015
Remind supervisors that when it comes to age discrimination, what they say matters. They should never comment directly on age, and should avoid references to “generational differences” or anything else that might be construed as code for age discrimination.

Never threaten deductions from exempts’ pay

03/11/2015
A supervisor’s single threat leading to a salary deduction could cost your company millions.

Can we make employees pay for new uniforms?

02/18/2015
Q. We had to provide an employee with a replacement uniform shirt after he lost the one we gave him when he was hired. Can we require him to pay for this replacement by taking it out of his pay?

Must we provide a place where our customers can pray?

02/18/2015
Q. A customer was in our sales showroom in the process of purchasing merchandise when he asked his sales person to provide him with space where he could pray while the sales person finalized the paperwork. Our sales person was surprised by the request but ended up providing the customer with an empty office. Do we need to accommodate a similar request in the future? We would, of course, accommodate a prayer request from one of our employees. But we have concerns with leaving a customer unattended in our office area.

When new employee quits, can we deduct vacation time she took but never earned?

02/18/2015
Q. We permit our employees to take two weeks of advanced vacation before accruing vacation hours. When an employee takes advanced vacation, we typically reduce the employee’s negative vacation balance as the employee later accrues vacation. Unfor­­tu­­nately, we recently had an employee quit before accruing sufficient vacation time to correct her outstanding balance. May we deduct the negative balance from her final paycheck?

Weigh EEOC guidance when considering criminal histories

02/18/2015
In April 2012, the EEOC issued comprehensive guidance addressing the use of an applicants’ criminal history in hiring, which it further clarified in March 2014. The guidance offers details and hypotheticals regarding situations when excluding an applicant based on his or her arrest or conviction record could constitute discrimination based on race or national origin in violation of Title VII.

St. Paul mayor touts paid leave before State of the Union

02/18/2015
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman talked up the city’s paid leave program at the White House just ahead of Presi­­dent Obama’s State of the Union. Effective Jan. 1, city employees may now take paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Birth parents receive four weeks of paid leave.