The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Monday that “a human resources outsource provider will pay $1 million in back overtime wages and damages combined to hundreds of employees after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation that found widespread Fair Labor Standards Act violations.”
So what did a human resources provider do wrong?
Reading yesterday’s post about religious accommodations and Flying Spaghetti Monsters may have had you rolling your eyes like — who is that old guy? Tony Danza?
Just kidding, I know my 80s TV. It’s Corbin Bernsen.
Hey there, dateless and lonely.
Are you a wait-in-line-after-a-SHRM-event-so-you-can-ask-the-speaker-your-random-FMLA-question-“for a friend”-fanboy/fangirl?
Then, step right up and head on over to Thompson’s HR Compliance Expert for the latest edition of “Opposing Counsel,” where employee-rights attorney, Donna Ballman, and I spike your HR-compliance dork punch with a splash of FMLA. Actually, it’s a double shot of Louis the XIII situations in which HR has to make a tough call about whether an employee is FMLA-eligible.
Pennsylvania is about to become the second Commonwealth in the United States to legalize medical marijuana. (23 states — la di da, states — plus DC currently allow it)
Does this mean that employees with migraines can puff vape pens and eat Cheetos in your break rooms at work? Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.
Let’s say that one of your employees forms a corporation. The sole purpose of the corporation is to accept direct payment of wages for the employee. In other words, this arrangement does not affect the employee’s duties or your control over the employee at work. Indeed, maybe you provide the employee with business cards with both your company name and the employee’s name.
Just suppose…
Right around the time that email subscribers to this blog — you can become one too, you know — receive today’s post, I’ll be sitting on an “Ask the Expert” legal panel at the Lehigh Valley Chapter of SHRM saying lawyerly stuff like…
“It depends.” and “I’ll get back to you on that.” and “Are you serious? Or just asking for a friend.“
One of the questions I know that we’ll get is about employee handbook acknowledgments. Specifically, what should they look like?
That’s why I kick so much butt with Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations. As a lawyer, I always have to have the last word. LOL!
(Or say stuff like, “It depends.”)
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodation to an individual with a disability, if doing so will allow that person to perform the essential functions of the job.
Temporary light duty? Yep, that’s a reasonable accommodation.
But, what about permanent light duty?
A received a number of emails following yesterday’s blog post, “Can you refuse to hire a person whom you fear may have a future disability?” Most were nice. Although, I didn’t appreciate one reader’s virtual flaming bag of virtual dog poop left in my inbox. That person can go to virtual hell. Or actual hell.
But, one of the more substantive emails was worthy of setting the table for today’s post:
The Employer Handbook Blog