News

“Can’t we sue them for this?” That’s the sentiment many employers express after being on the receiving end of a lawsuit that they think is based on untrue facts. Although it is never satisfying to be told “that wouldn’t be a good idea,” this is generally the right answer for various reasons.

Even if you don’t believe you will have to eliminate jobs any time soon, it’s probably a good idea to start formulating preliminary layoff plans now so you can move quickly if the need arises.

The Department of Labor will no longer enforce its 2024 independent contractor rule, issued during the Biden administration, which favored classifying workers as employees. Instead, it will rewind the classification clock, emphasizing an old standard that makes it much easier to consider workers to be contractors.

Intermittent FMLA leave is easy for employees to abuse. Fortunately, the FMLA certification documentation that employees must provide is the key to easing the HR headaches that intermittent leave often causes.

An employee failed to turn in his FMLA certification within the 15-day deadline. What should we do? I’ve heard there is a seven-day grace period. Is there a form for that?

Why aren’t anti-harassment policies more effective at preventing harassment? The answer may lie in ineffective training and the failure of employers to follow their own policies.

If you have employees who work remotely at least some of the time, you know how difficult it is to track exactly what they are doing and when they’re doing it. That can be bad news if those employees are nonexempt. They must be paid for all work they perform—whether you knew they were working or not.

Despite the carefully planned interview questions and hiring rubrics, hiring decisions often hinge on one factor above all others: whether the interviewer simply likes the candidate. This personality-based assessment not only undermines objective hiring practices but perpetuates workplace inequities that follow employees throughout their careers.

Under the rules of “discovery,” employees (and courts) are privy to almost any employment-related document during a dispute. Keep that in mind when you’re preparing in-house documents, formal and informal. Here are a few do’s and don’ts.

The order, issued April 23 and titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” contends that the threat of being sued for disparate-impact discrimination prevents employers from hiring the best-qualified candidates, promoting successful employees and generally running their businesses as they see fit.