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If you’ve had to create lunchroom rules based on what employees are bringing to eat or heating up in the microwave, it’s time to rethink that strategy. An employer recently paid $200,000 to a couple whose discrimination lawsuit began with a co-worker’s complaint about allegedly “pungent” Indian food and deteriorated from there.

The Biden administration nixed the program largely because it allowed employers to avoid penalties and the doubling of unpaid wages the FLSA allows the DOL to assess for violations if only they confessed to their mistakes and told the DOL. PAID is now back and open to employers who want to resolve FLSA problems as well as FMLA issues.

Chances are, at some point an employee is going to come to HR and tell you they believe they have been discriminated against, harassed or otherwise been treated unfairly. How you respond to that complaint can mean the difference between losing a lawsuit and all that entails or resolving the problem early and avoiding liability.

I have an employee who wants to take time off to have an IUD removed to prepare for pregnancy. She is under the impression we must provide a reasonable accommodation of time off for a doctor’s appointment. Is that the case?

Employment and labor disputes continue to rank among the most common and fastest-evolving areas of exposure for U.S. employers, even as overall litigation volumes fluctuate. Risk is not disappearing; it’s changing shape, and policies that once felt settled now require closer scrutiny and tighter execution.

The shift makes it more likely that changes championed by Chair Andrea Lucas will move forward faster than many expected, with less deliberation by other commissioners and agency staff.

But here’s a plan for making sure you have the labor you need, whether you’re a health-care facility, a nursing home, a high-tech enterprise or in the agriculture, hotel and hospitality sectors.

For many years, when DHS issued Employment Authorization Documents, many were valid for a five-year period. But effective Dec. 4, the valid period has changed to just 18 months.

Consider this scenario, another in a long line of examples showcasing why FMLA intermittent leave poses a major headache for employers but is a law with which they must comply.

Late last year, Congressional Democrats introduced the Fair Warning Act. If enacted, it would radically overhaul WARN, covering more employers and smaller layoffs.