Employers that support pregnant and working mothers fare better if they do get sued by someone who believes she suffered pregnancy discrimination. That’s because courts are reluctant to believe that an organization would suddenly become biased after demonstrating a history of progressive policies for pregnant women and working mothers.

Disabled employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations that allow them to perform the essential functions of their jobs. If those accommodations turn out to be unreasonable—that is, they prove to be an undue burden on the employer—then they can be withdrawn. What it means: There’s no harm in trying an accommodation.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an employee who was passed over for a promotion can’t later use the poor performance of the person who got the job to prove the decision was discriminatory. The case shows that courts are willing to let employers make mistakes; they won’t micromanage hiring and promotion decisions.

A recent federal court decision means you’ll now have to go the extra mile to prove that your worker is an independent contractor, not an employee. Advice: Take steps to document exactly why you believe someone is an independent contractor when you begin using his or her services.

Employees who are disabled after an injury on the job often apply for workers’ compensation. Receiving those benefits, however, isn’t a bar to asserting ADA and state disability claims, as a federal court hearing a New York case recently concluded.

Managers of the massive federally funded Starrett City housing complex in Brooklyn have settled with the EEOC, bringing a halt to a lawsuit that accused the management company of disability discrimination after it allegedly failed to promote an employee because he suffers from attention deficit disorder.

In a Brookings Institution report titled “Job Sprawl Revisited: The Changing Geography of Metropolitan Employment,” the New York/Long Island/Northern New Jersey metropolitan area ranked second in the country (just behind Virginia Beach, Va.) with 34.8% of its jobs located within three miles of the city center.

A survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt indicates more employers are loosening the compensation purse strings, even as employees will probably bear higher health benefits costs.

If you have to terminate employees during a reorganization, you can expect some of them to sue you. If that happens, don’t assume the court will blithely accept a general reorg as the reason why a particular employee lost her job. Be ready with a specific explanation why you terminated each one.

Think your performance evaluations are tough? Try being an NFL quarterback. Bizjournals ranked all 36 NFL quarterbacks who threw at least 160 passes during the 2008 season to see who delivered the most bang for the buck. Last season’s New York Jets QB Brett Favre placed 34th out the 36 signal callers rated.

The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has reached global pandemic levels. Your best HR defense is a good offensive plan to handle the logistical and employment law issues ...

If bosses question employees about sexual relationships, you could wind up facing a sexual harassment complaint. And it may not be a simple case of quid pro quo harassment, but rather a hard-to-defend hostile environment claim.

According to a survey by accounting firm Grant Thornton, 29% of companies have reduced or intend to otherwise modify their contributions to employees’ 401(k) accounts. Of those employers, two-thirds have eliminated matching contributions altogether.

The parent corporation of several New York City area car washes has agreed to settle overtime claims from 1,187 current and former employees for $3.4 million. Coupled with a previous settlement with 200 workers for more than $1.3 million, Lage Management has paid out more than $4.7 million in back pay and liquidated damages.

Here’s one easy way to cut down on lawsuits when you have to fire an employee: Have the same person who hired or last promoted the employee also make the final decision on termination. Reason: Courts often conclude that it would make no sense for those who hired or promoted someone to turn around and fire that same person for discriminatory reasons.

Recently, courts have begun to fine pro se litigants who file lawsuits that have no chance of success. That should discourage some former employees from suing without the help of an attorney.

In a perfect world, no one would ever utter a slur or make a derogatory comment. But this isn’t a perfect world, and employees come to work with emotional and cultural baggage. It’s up HR to make sure that baggage doesn’t turn into a discrimination lawsuit. 

Government employees are protected from retaliation for speaking out on matters of public importance. That doesn’t mean, however, that every letter to the editor is an exercise in freedom of speech. Indeed, if the letter is about a specific workplace problem between the employee and a supervisor, chances are a court won’t find that to be a First Amendment issue.

When an employee threatens litigation, take your time building the case against him. Make sure you base your decision on solid facts. Double-check to see that there’s no way the employee can claim you singled him out for unfair or inequitable treatment. Then rest easy, knowing that if you’re sued, you can counter the allegations with facts and get the case dismissed quickly.

Courts take retaliation seriously. In fact, they may hesitate to say an employer discriminated against an employee based on race, sex, age, disability or some other protected characteristic, but they’ll clamp down hard if they have the slightest suspicion that the employer punished the employee for merely alleging discrimination.

An arbitrator has awarded $1.2 million in back pay and damages to 19 former employees of Wurld Media, Inc. The Saratoga Springs-based Internet startup, which marketed a product similar to iTunes, began having trouble making payroll in 2006.

The state legislature is considering a bill that would require all employers to provide up to 12 weeks of paid time off so employees can tend to very ill family members or take care of newborns or newly adopted children.

Congress will be taking a fresh look at the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) this fall, now that a Capitol Hill compromise has stripped out the bill’s controversial “card check” provision, which would have required union certification with a majority of employee signatures.

Before you decide to throw out old evaluations and files, consider this: An employee may sue and refer back to those evaluations from memory. If she remembers nothing but positive performance reviews until a recent poor appraisal (engineered, she believes, to get her fired), you’ll need to be able to show her employment history wasn’t as rosy as she remembers.