Employees' family issues sometimes flare up into domestic violence. About a dozen states have laws that allow employees to take job-protected leave from work to deal with domestic violence issues. But take note: Even if your state doesn’t have a specific law, you may need to grant such rights as a matter of “public policy.” A recent court ruling from Washington state shows the legal risks ...

October is breast cancer awareness month. And he statistical chances of having female employees with breast cancer (or who are survivors of breast cancer) are high. One court says you’d better not discriminate against women with breast cancer or get ready to write a check with a pink pen …

Say you’re just about to terminate an employee but he throws down an EEO trump card, like a request for FMLA leave. Ugg!  If only you could have beat him by a few seconds. Then the firing wouldn’t look like retaliation for his FMLA leave. But a new court ruling says not to worry. If you have a very legitimate reason for firing an employee, even after he requests FMLA leave, you can safely crumble up his trump card and toss it in the shredder …

I thought we’d all learned our lessons from misguided politicians and CEOs to quit exchanging e-mails that are loaded with evidence of discrimination. Apparently for some, the lesson isn’t over until it’s learned the hard way …

Do some of your employees have medical conditions that require them to sit while others have to stand? Co-workers may gripe about unfair treatment if you provide a stool or chair for that worker. But a new court ruling shows why “unfair” actions are better than illegal ones …

Maybe a long, long time ago, in a far, far away place, folks used to tell women, “Oh, you can’t do that … it’s a man’s job.” And for whatever reason, it was acceptable. Maybe the work was too heavy, muddy or risky? But welcome to 2008, where jobs are no longer classified by gender. Better check to make sure your hiring managers understand that, too …

Doesn’t it seem like once an employee complains about harassment or discrimination they enter some kind of “employee protection program,” much like the witness protection program? They become practically untouchable because employers are so afraid of being hit with retaliation lawsuits. You may have legitimate business reasons—such a restructuring—to eliminate a complainer’s job, just first sit back and think how it will look to a jury ...

Your FMLA policy tells employees they can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave each year. But does your policy define “year”? If not, a court may do it for you—in the employee’s favor, of course …

Every workplace has managers who love to hand out nicknames to employees and co-workers. That’s all good fun until an employee in a protected class—age, sex, race, religion, disability, etc.—takes offense to his or her special nickname. As this new court ruling shows, nicknames are dangerous and can be used as part of a “mosaic” to prove discrimination …

There’s nothing like a thorough, prompt and impartial investigation to save a company in court. So it’s time to think: Are you (and your HR staff) prepared and trained to handle investigations the correct way? As this new ruling shows, good investigations and an independent review of those investigations can be a true “get out of court free” card …

Question: Employers often feel cornered when poor-performing employees take job-protected FMLA leave. Can you terminate such employees while they’re out on leave? It often comes down to one question: How well have you documented the poor performance? …

You’re a tolerant, open-minded person. You’ve hired people of all races and religions, including a woman who wears a head scarf (hijab) in accordance with her religion. But what do say when that woman seeks a promotion to a more visible position? A few unwise words coupled with foot-dragging on the promotion and you’ll be wrapping your head around a religious discrimination lawsuit …

When one of your employees confides in her manager that she’s being harassed by a co-worker, what will that manager say? Hopefully, it’ll be something more constructive than “Go along with it,”...

Do you have employees who look like they just crawled out of a suitcase? Maybe they need a closer shave or to run an iron on their clothes. One court recently addressed this question: If an employee is fired for ignoring his boss’ demands to get a shave, does that count as “misconduct” that disqualifies him from unemployment benefits? …

Migraine headaches can be serious business—sometimes requiring FMLA leave. But what if you discover that your migraine-suffering employee used her FMLA time to cut lawns at her side job? An Indiana employer facing that situation recently handled that situation aggressively—and legally …

When was the last time you read your organization’s Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) policy? As a new case shows, it could be creating a contract for employees to gain FMLA-like protection even if they normally wouldn’t be eligible for FMLA under the law. If it does, get ready to stand by your promise …

When the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) surveyed employers about their biggest FMLA administrative challenges, dealing with leave for employees’ own chronic conditions ranked number one. But, surprisingly, not far behind was FMLA leave taken for “caring for a sick parent." With more “sandwich generation” employees taking care of children and parents at the same time, it’s wise to be consistent about requesting certification for all types of FMLA leave, including care for elderly parents.

Asking your administrative assistant to fetch you coffee may be old-school, but is it sex discrimination? In a recent case, a female employee got in such a froth about her bosses’ demands for coffee that she said, “Get your own coffee and see you in court!” ...

Do some of your employees work in hot conditions? If those workers have heart conditions, they may be entitled to air conditioning as a “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) …

Have you ever approved FMLA leave for an employee but had a sneaking suspicion that the time off would be used for much more than bed rest? In this new ruling, the company actually videotaped a supposedly injured FMLA-leave taker building a porch on his house. But be careful not to pull out the “You’re Fired!” finger too quickly or you may find yourself in the center of an FMLA retaliation suit....

Do you ever fear that employees’ physical problems could create a danger to themselves or others around them? Think it would be best to change their duties to keep everyone safe? A new court ruling shows why such a well-intentioned deed could backfire into a “regarded as disabled” lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act...

Judges and juries bring a mental stopwatch to every discrimination and retaliation case. They use it to compare the time between when employees exercise their legal rights (using FMLA, voice harassment complaint, etc.) and when you took action against them. Tick, tick, tick … if you can hear it, don’t do it!

You may trust your employees to not harass female colleagues. But do you trust Howard Stern? The growth of XM and Sirius radios have brought uncensored programming into cubicles, warehouses and breakrooms. And as a new court ruling proves, employees who overhear such sexual banter—even if it’s not directed at them—can sue for harassment…

It’s nearly futile to try to deflect Cupid’s arrows. Still, many organizations do set policies to minimize the potential legal fallout from co-workers’ romantic relationships. UPS recently got sued over its policy that bans supervisors from dating ANY hourly employee—regardless whether the employee is a direct report. So, do love relationships trump house rules? In this case, the court sighed, “Love and marriage are the losers; something doesn’t seem quite right about that.”

What should employers do if an employee’s work performance suffers while he or she is taking FMLA intermittent leave? Can you terminate employees when their work falters because of those absences? One court last month sent a clear message: “Don’t go there!”...