Human Resources

The Texas Supreme Court has dealt a blow to attorneys representing employees in Texas. While employers that lose a lawsuit are supposed to pay the employee’s attorneys’ fees, there are limits to how high those fees can go.

Some employees believe that any sexual comment equals sexual harassment. That’s not true, especially when it involves so-called same-sex harassment. While you shouldn’t ignore such conduct for morale and productivity reasons, rest assured that it generally won’t make your organization liable for a big jury award.

Some employees assume that complaining about harassment or discrimination will protect them from being disciplined. They may have heard or read that the fear of a retaliation lawsuit will make employers so gun-shy that they won’t crack down on misbehavior. Don’t let employees handcuff you like that.

Under Title VII, religious institutions that employ workers to engage in religious activities are exempt from complying with anti-discrimination laws under the so-called ministerial exception. But what about minimum wage and overtime? Are ministerial employees entitled to protection under the FLSA?

Once an employee has used up FMLA and other leave, requiring employees to show up and get their work done is a reasonable expectation. In the following case, the court reasoned that the employer could consider attendance when deciding personnel cuts, as long as it didn’t use FMLA leave as a factor.

Employees who learn they’re being terminated don’t have much time to file an EEOC complaint—in New York, no more than 300 days. But some employees think they have 300 days from their last day at work. That’s incorrect. Instead, the clock starts ticking when the employee is first informed that she was losing her job.

When a St. Paul construction company hired members of the Crookston High School hockey team in 2010 to install drain pipes under the ice rinks at the Crookston Sports Center, it probably seemed like a great community project. In fact, Arena Systems committed the employment law equivalent of three coincidental major penalties.

Is it protected activity that can’t be punished if an employee who is not yet eligible asks to take FMLA leave? Put another way, can an employer fire an employee who requests FMLA leave before the employee is actually eligible? A federal court has said, “No!” That’s illegal retaliation.

The Texas Supreme Court has just made it much easier for employers to avoid age discrimination claims. In what the court calls a “true replacement case” under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, an older worker must show that she was replaced by a younger worker.

Officers and owners of Columbus-based Clark Graphics must pay back more than half a million dollars to the company’s two pension plans after federal investigators found that the money went missing because of lax oversight.