October, 2016

Getting Back To FMLA Basics: Don’t mess with the pay of an employee on leave

October 17, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

With all those notice requirements and certifications and such, it’s easy to get bogged down in the minutia associated with an employee’s request for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

But, a recent case is a good reminder not to overlook a basic FMLA tenet: an employee returning from leave should be restored to the same position (or an equivalent position with equivalent benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment).

I’m training the U.S. Army South on social media at work, and other news…

October 14, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Yep, if you need me this morning, I’ll be at Fort Sam Houston, giving my spiel to U.S. Army South and some folks from Guantanamo Bay on social media and the workplace. How cool is that!

(In a dorky lawyer kinda way).

While that’s going down, let me catch you up with some other recent HR-compliance nuggets:

And speaking of LGBT rights at work, here are two more recent victories for HR to ponder

October 13, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

As a corollary to yesterday’s post about David Lopez stepping down as EEOC General Counsel —

*** Googles “corollary” — swish! ***

— I bring you news of two recent court decisions advancing LGBT rights at work.

The EEOC has some hella-big general counsel shoes to fill

October 12, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

lopez_11-11

Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced (here) that its General Counsel, David Lopez, would be leaving the agency in December.

A new SHRM study should have employers reexamining their policies on parental leave

October 11, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

On average, organizations gave mothers 41 paid days of maternity leave, compared with 22 paid days of paternity leave for fathers. That statistic comes from 2016 Paid Leave in the Workplace, a survey recently conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Does this disparity demonstrate discrimination against men?

3d Cir: Employers cannot use paid meal breaks to offset unpaid overtime

October 10, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

A few weeks ago, I blogged here about a federal agency — one that rhymes with EEOB — reaching a 7-figure settlement with its workers of alleged Fair Labor Standards Act overtime violations involving comp time.

Last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion, in which it addressed another tricky situation involving overtime offsets.