Employment Law

Employers are always looking for ways to reduce their workers’ compensation costs. Maybe making off-the-books payments to a state official isn’t the best way to go about it ...

It used to be that before an em­­ployee or former employee could get into federal court with a ­benefits-denial case, he had to show that he was a “plan participant.” But following a recent 9th Circuit decision, merely claiming to have been a plan participant is enough.

Recently, the National Labor Relations Board held that class-action waivers violate em­­ployees’ rights to engage in concerted activity. In D.R. Horton, the NLRB said that employers may not compel employees to waive their NLRA rights to collectively pursue litigation of employment claims in all forums, arbitral and judicial. What does that mean for employers?

Employers that leak information re­­lated to employee lawsuits can wind up doing more harm than good if the publicity prompts a jury to jack up awarded damages.

If you need to fire an employee for unethical actions, how you handle the termination may mean the difference between winning and losing a defamation lawsuit. Most important: Share information about the termination only with those who need to know about it.

The EEOC is supposed to engage in a conciliation process before suing employers for alleged employment violations. But sometimes the agency comes out with guns blazing, demanding a huge payment to settle a complaint. Some employers naturally respond negatively—and they may even walk away without further discussions. One employer recently did just that, and then tried to get a federal court to dismiss the EEOC lawsuit.

Q. A recently terminated employee demanded immediate payment of his wages and asked us to directly deposit the check into his bank account. I know that Minnesota law requires us to pay the wages through the employee’s last day of employment within 24 hours of his demand. While this employee was normally paid through direct deposit, we cannot coordinate a direct deposit within 24 hours. Can we just send the employee a check by mail?

Q. We are aware that the Illinois Civil Union Act is in effect. Could you please tell us more about it?

The Court of Appeals of Ohio has let stand a decision that denied unemployment benefits to a woman who quit her job so she could move with her husband to California.

St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Health Care System facility faces 19 health and safety violations after OSHA inspectors found eight repeat safety violations for such hazards as inadequate guardrails, blocked exit routes and failure to protect workers against electrical shocks.