labor lawAdivision of labor law center

A number of states have laws that prohibit the employer from terminating an employee when an official quarantine is implemented by state or federal public health officials.

The Center for Disease Control says that H1N1 is widespread in 48 states plus Puerto Rico and Guam at this time. Only Louisiana, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia are not seriously affected.

In Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Kansas, New Mexico and New Jersey, the employee’s job is protected if the employee is subject to an official quarantine order by a public agency. In addition, Kansas and Maine protect the employee’s job if he or she must remain at home to provide childcare when the schools are closed under a public quarantine order.

In most states plus the District of Columbia, the “public policy” exception to employment-at-will may protect an employee who is under a quarantine order. This would include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, new Mexico, north Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, (more…)

With layoffs and wage reductions mounting, many employers are besieged by pleas from help from employees and former employees. It is enough to touch the heart of even the most hard-nosed small business owner. Employer’s resources are strained to the limit, and often Human Resource pros just don’t have any more to offer.

As severance packages shrink, employees are increasingly demanding more from their former employers.

That’s why it is important for Human Resource professionals to know about a new resource they can direct workers to.

The federal government recently expanded GovBenefits, a program to provide information about government assistance and benefit programs.

GovBenefits is available at www.govbenefits.gov. The website is an excellent source on a number of resources for employees including: 

• Expanded unemployment insurance
• Continued health benefits
• COBRA premium reductions
• Federal training programs
• Disaster relief funds
• Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF)
• Food stamps
• Affordable housing
• Career Development 

GovBenefits recently launched a Twitter account to provide continuous updates about government resources available to workers and their families. The tweets will address new site content, and new government benefits programs. (more…)

In a rare ruling in support of employers, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently found that employers can discipline and even terminate an employee based on problems discovered while the employee is on unpaid leave under FMLA, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.  

The U.S. Department of Labor has long held that an employee on FMLA leave must be returned to his or her job, when the leave ends. However, the department has also repeatedly ruled that an employer can take any action against an employee, that the employer would have taken anyway, had the employee not be on FMLA leave. For example, the employer can terminate an employee for gross misconduct even if the employee happens to be on FMLA leave at the time the investigation is concluded.

In short, the employer cannot take any negative job action against an employee solely because the employee uses FMLA leave. However, simply taking FMLA leave does not make the employee immune from lay offs, or from being fired for just cause. This is true, even if the employer discovers the misconduct because the employee is on FMLA.

That decision was upheld in the case of Cracco v. Vitran Express, Inc. In this case, Kevin Cracco was a service center manager for Vitran Express, (more…)

With gas prices increasing, revenue declining and profit margins dwindling, many employers are taking a hard look at 2009 staffing. This may include combining positions, reducing staff by attrition, or laying workers off.

According to Sozeen Mondlin, associate general counsel with MITRE Corp, HR managers and employers should give careful consideration to choosing which employees to lay off.

“Given today’s economic climate, we all have to expect more activity in this area,” she said at the Association of Corporate Counsel annual conference in Seattle on October 19 to 21, 2008.

Mondlin said that employers are often sued by workers who (more…)