If an employer disciplines or terminates an employee on the advice of a supervisor, without knowing the supervisor is actually retaliating against the employee, the employer can still be liable, ruled the Oregon Supreme Court. Sometimes, the people with authority to make employment decisions don’t really make decisions alone, but instead rely…
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A drug store pharmacist who had been employed by a company for 34 years was terminated for threatening to use a gun at work, not because of his age or for reporting discrepancies in the store’s drug inventory, ruled a federal district court in California. A coworker reported to HR that the…
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Employers may need to offer leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) even when employees don’t ask, ruled a federal district court in Michigan.
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Question: We require all new hires to pass a pre-employment drug test. Do we have to use the same process we use for our random, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident drug testing and send positive test results to a medical review officer (MRO)? Or, can we simply ask potential new hires for a list of medications they have been prescribed?
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We just lost one of our biggest customers and have decided we need to lay off several employees from multiple departments. It turns out that all of the selected employees are over 40. Do we face potential liability?
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An employer’s award of a bonus based on a percentage of overtime earnings didn’t require any extra overtime payments, ruled a federal district court in California. The decision illustrates how a dispute over 12 cents can literally turn into a federal case. During one particular workweek, an employee earned $4.745 in overtime.…
Read More…Q: What should we do when a fired employee makes a threat on the way out? During a termination meeting with this employee, he promised that “he would get us all for firing him.”
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ADA accommodation may require showing rather than telling An employee in Illinois will move forward to a jury trial on her disability discrimination claim alleging that her employer failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for her learning disability. Although supervisors told her how to complete her timesheets, the employee claims that…
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Question: We recently instituted a no-beard policy to ensure that men can securely wear their required safety masks. However, one of our Muslim employees refused, citing the Prophet Muhammad. I’ve studied the Quran, and I know that it doesn’t require beards. Can we discipline or fire him for not shaving?
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Question: Our company policy prohibits employees from supervising their family members or people with whom they have a romantic relationship. I believe a female supervisor is romantically involved with one of her direct reports. Can I ask both employees about the relationship and require that they disclose the nature of their relationship? And if either or both of the employees refuse to answer, can I take disciplinary action?
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