Archives

DOL Misclassification Initiative Focuses on Drug Reps, Farm Hands and Home Nurses

Whether an employee is exempt from the FLSA has been a turbulent topic this year, as both DOL and Congress have been issuing proposals and bills regarding exempt jobs. DOL has been involved with the status of pharmaceutical representatives, in-home caregivers and children working on farms. Although no changes have yet been made to the […]

Conducting an Exemption Audit in California: Complying With Overtime and Other Wage-Hour Laws

By Allen Kato, Fenwick & West LLP Why should you conduct an exemption audit in California? Employee claims alleging they are misclassified as exempt from overtime (brought as individual claims or class-action lawsuits) are the lawsuit of the day. For example, in March 2012, a California court approved a $35 million settlement by Oracle involving […]

Exceptions to the Reinstatement Obligation

Yesterday, we looked at a case involving a returning military service member who was terminated upon coming back to work. While that particular employee lost his case against his supervisor, the general rule is that you must reinstate returning service members. Today, we’ll look at some exceptions to this rule.

How Not to Fire Your Canadian Employee

By Sean McGurran and Marisa Victor The recent decision in Drake v. Blach in the Ontario Superior Court provides a good example of how not to go about firing an employee. It provides a good lesson on how employment law in Canada will come to the rescue of a wronged employee. Background The case involves […]

Performance Evaluation

When It Comes to Job Performance, Is Everyone Extraordinary?

Recently, we had an interesting discussion in our weekly executive meeting. At our company, we’re just wrapping up our annual performance evaluations. We were talking about how the process went this year and what we could do to improve it. One of our senior team members  said our evaluation system can actually hurt morale. Here’s […]

Five Factors for Establishing RFOA

Yesterday’s Advisor offered details about EEOC’s new final rule on Reasonable Factors Other than Age (RFOA). Today, three more “considerations,” plus an introduction to a unique program just for small or even one-person HR [Go here for Considerations 1 and 2.] Consideration #3—Employer Limited Supervisor’s Discretion This considers the extent to which the employer limited […]

EEOC’s Five Factors for Establishing RFOA

[Go here for Considerations 1 and 2.] Consideration #3—Employer Limited Supervisor’s Discretion This considers the extent to which the employer limited supervisors’ discretion to assess employees subjectively, particularly where the criteria that the supervisors were asked to evaluate are known to be subject to negative age-based stereotypes. EEOC recognizes that in many cases to it […]

Watch Out for Military-Leave Bias

When you think of employment discrimination, you probably think of protected traits like gender, race, disabilities, age, or religion, among others. But the country’s involvement in two hot wars over the past decade has put another type of discrimination on the radar screen: discrimination based on military service.

Business Necessity Out, RFOA In (Age Discrimination)

The old “business necessity” rule is no more; in disparate impact age discrimination cases, employers can now defend under the easier standard of “Reasonable Factor Other Than Age” thanks to a new final rule from EEOC. EEOC released its Final Rule on Disparate Impact and “Reasonable Factors Other Than Age” Under the Age Discrimination in […]