Employers need to be very mindful of ADA requirements when they ask their employees medical questions or seek medical records. But that doesn’t mean such requests are never justified. In a recent case, a federal appeals court said a railway company permissibly asked an engineer to provide medical records. The company terminated the engineer’s employer […]
Santander Bank is set to pay $4.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit. The suit accused it of violating Fair Labor Standards Act provisions relating to the payment of overtime. The suit was filed in a New Jersey federal court. It said Santander did not pay branch operation managers in seven states for overtime […]
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it raised the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $15.00 per hour on Jan. 30, 2022 – an average increase for workers of $5,228 a year. That means construction workers, childcare, health care, and building and other service workers employed on federal contracts will receive a long […]
There’s always going to be some conflicts at work. And when an employee criticizes their supervisor, things can get sticky. One employee didn’t like how their supervisor did their job. When the employee complained, they were reprimanded and later fired. The worker tried to claim their free speech rights had been violated, but a court […]
A job candidate looks great on paper. That doesn’t mean you have to take them — but you better be ready to have a good explanation if they claim illegal bias. A 66-year-old former justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court applied for a job as a county public defender. The county hired a 27-year-old applicant […]
Back in 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that sex discrimination protections under the Civil Rights Act extended to sexual orientation and gender identity. And a recent district court ruling reiterated that. Here’s a breakdown of the case. Purposely misgendering Vivian Fulwood, a transgender woman, began working at a Georgia Walmart store post-transition. She dressed and […]
Benefits pros need to keep an eye on the federal minimum wage in your area to maintain a competitive compensation plan. Thanks to the pandemic, the focus on federal minimum wage has increased. As we’ve said in previous posts, employees who are financially stressed aren’t as focused or productive as those who aren’t financially stressed. […]
There was evidence to support both sides. Here’s why the scales tipped in favor of an employee seeking long-term disability benefits. A maintenance supervisor had long-term disability insurance. His employer provided the insurance. The policy provided two years of benefits for claimants who could not perform their current jobs. Benefits continued beyond two years for […]
Workers’ compensation or not? A worker suffered serious injuries when a dead tree fell near a portable restroom he was using. The worker had been painting the exterior of a house, and it was a windy day. His employer did not put the restroom there. At workers’ compensation proceedings, neither the employer nor the worker […]
In what may be the first of many similar suits to follow, a group of workers from the candle factory that was leveled by a devastating Kentucky tornado have sued their employer. The group says the employer illegally subjected the workers to unsafe working conditions. According to the suit, the first tornado warnings sounded at […]
It’s common sense, really: Employers accused of taking action against an employee for an illegal reason must be prepared to say what the real reason was – and that it was perfectly legitimate. In a typical case, articulating a nondiscriminatory reason volleys the burden to the plaintiff to show that the proffered reason is not […]
It may seem like firing a poorly performing employee would be cut and dried. But when that employee belongs to a protected class and feels they were discriminated against, things get tricky. One company recently landed in court because of that. Here’s a breakdown of the case. Refused to follow directions Hilary Grubbs worked as […]
Showing a preference for younger employees can violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and land a company in court — something coffee giant Starbucks is facing right now. A nationwide class action lawsuit has been filed, claiming the company was not only biased toward young workers, but it showed a “blatant campaign of […]
What do you think: If news gets out that a new employee was once a man but is now a woman, are co-workers likely to hassle her? An Illinois federal judge said yes. The judge refused to dismiss her claims that a state transit company and others violated the employee’s rights. The employee says the […]
A new ruling from a federal appeals court favors employers who seek to steer employees toward arbitration and away from a courtroom in the event of an employment-related claim or dispute. The ruling makes it relatively easy for employers within this court’s jurisdiction to show they provided fair notice of a new arbitration rule – […]
With OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) in place and going into effect in Jan. 2022, many employees have begun to push back against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Most recently, a religious group petitioned the 5th Circuit to put a stop to OSHA’s ETS, saying imposing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate would violate religious workers’ beliefs. Here’s […]
