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Willful violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act carry much harsher, more costly penalties than inadvertent violations. Employers can avoid being labelled a willful violator by showing they made a good-faith effort to comply with the law.

No law specifically prohibits a workplace rule requiring employees to only speak English on the job. However, the EEOC is aggressively challenging English-only rules under Title VII, which bars national-origin discrimination.

Once the employer realizes leave might be FMLA-covered, it must send the employee an FMLA eligibility notice. That way, the employee knows how to formally request leave. Failing to send the notice after suspecting the employee is eligible is a separate FMLA violation.

Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, it’s illegal to offer different benefits to workers ages 40 and older than you offer to younger employees. That’s true even if it costs you more to provide the same benefits to older workers.

Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period. According to the regulations, employers are permitted to choose from among four methods for measuring the “12-month period” in which the 12 weeks of leave entitlement occurs.

Enforce your dress and grooming code too rigidly and you could find yourself on the losing end of a failure-to-accommodate lawsuit. Here’s a case showing that common medical problems may require employers to bend their dress-code rules to accommodate employee disabilities.

An employee who is taking FMLA leave had the certification paperwork filled out by their chiropractor. They call off several times per week when their spine hurts and claim it as FMLA leave. The documentation they provided specifically mentions that they might be out a couple times per month to attend chiropractic appointments. What is the correct course of action for this individual?

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC and the courts recognize two forms.

The good news is it’s generally easier to terminate probationary employees than regular employees. Here’s how to pull it off without triggering a lawsuit.

It’s increasingly difficult for employers to keep employees from finding out how much their co-workers are paid. However, a new study shows the unintended consequences when employers tell employees where they stand on pay.