by Stephen D. Hans | Jul 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
Author: Stephen D. Hans & Associates As time goes along, New York City employers become subject to more and more regulations. In April, 2014, New York City’s Sick Pay Leave Act for employees went into effect for certain employers. You should know that employees can begin taking sick leave days they have accrued starting on July 30, 2014. Complying with the Sick Pay Leave Act includes the doing the following: If you are an employer with five or more employees who work more than 80 hours per calendar year you must provide these employees with paid sick days If you are an employer with four or less employees, you must provide employees with unpaid sick days Employees working more than 80 calendar days a year, get one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they worked, up to 40 hours in one calendar year (which for many people is one work week) If you employ one or more domestic workers who have worked for you at least a year and worked more than 80 hours per calendar year, you must provide your employees with two days of paid sick leave Employees can use their sick days to care for themselves if they are sick or to care for a sick family member. Family members are considered children, grandchildren, spouses, domestic partners, parents, siblings, or the parent of a spouse or domestic partner. As an employer, you cannot terminate an employee for taking a sick leave day. If you have questions about employment law consult with one of our employment law attorneys at Stephen Hans & Associates....
by Stephen D. Hans | Jun 18, 2014 | Uncategorized
Author: Stephen D. Hans The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against employees with disabilities and requires that employers make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers. Deciding whether your accommodations are reasonable and whether you can terminate an employee who cannot fulfill the job description are matters you should address with an employment law attorney. Within the past year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has pursued a number of disability discrimination lawsuits. A case in point was a lawsuit brought by the EEOC against Beverage Distributors Company (BDC), a company located in Denver, Colorado. Mike Sungala, a legally blind BDC employee had worked more than four years as a driver’s helper. The company eliminated the driver’s helper position because it decided to use contract laborers instead. Sungala subsequently applied for a night warehouse loader position, which consisted of loading kegs and cases of liquor onto trucks. The company offered him the position but required a medical examination prior to finalizing their decision to place him in that position. Subsequent to the medical examination the company withdrew the job offer, stating Sungala would be unable to do the work because of impaired eyesight. The EEOC argued Sungala could perform this work and filed a lawsuit on his behalf. The court found that BDC failed to prove there were no available comparable jobs Sungala was capable of performing and awarded him the following: His entire back pay Interest on the award (approximately $200,000) Compensation for tax consequences Sungala will suffer due to receiving the judgment payment within one year The same seniority and salary as a night warehouse loader holding...
by Stephen D. Hans | Jun 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
Discrimination is a serious issue for employers. It can lead to disputes, lawsuits and even forced business sales. Forced business sale, substantial fines and the disgrace of being ousted from the National Basketball Association (NBA) are the challenges Clippers owner Donald Sterling faced over racial comments he made in a taped conversation with his girlfriend, V. Stiviano. CNN reports this is not the first time discrimination has been a issue for Mr. Sterling. In an earlier lawsuit, Sterling paid millions to settle a federal case where African American and Hispanic claimants accused him of excluding them from his rental properties. Initially, Sterling agreed to have his wife, Shelly Sterling, handle negotiations to sell the Clippers. Various bidders came forward, such as CEOs of Microsoft and Oracle, Oprah Winfrey and film producer, David Geffen. Recently Forbes magazine reported that after negotiations were in progress, Sterling recanted on the agreement to allow Shelly to negotiate the sale. Subsequently, his estranged wife Shelly had Sterling, who is 80 years old, declared mentally incapacitated, which allowed her to control the trust. Recently, she announced the sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion, which is quadruple the highest price ever paid for an NBA team. It has been decades since Sterling bought the Clippers in 1981 for $13.5 million. The family will lose millions of dollars through capital gains taxes from the sale, which would have been avoided by having the team ownership pass through Sterling’s trust to his estate upon his death. A stepped up basis (current market value at time of death, not time of purchase)...
by Stephen D. Hans | May 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
Small businesses often feel like a family. You’re a small group, perhaps you socialize outside of work or have a company baseball team where everybody gets along great. The idea that one of your employees might sue you never enters your mind—until one of them does. And as far as the law is concerned, no matter how much you like your employees, they are still your employees. And the law has ‘protections’ in place for employees. When you run a small business, you need take steps to protect yourself and your company. The ABCs of employee lawsuits Most employee lawsuits stem from behavior on the job and by their very nature they can be difficult to defend. Discrimination, harassment and retaliation make up the lion’s share of suits filed against employers. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) protects employees if they are a member of a “protected class” such as race, religion, gender, age, and disability. And what many employers do not know is that the EEOC can prosecute on behalf of claimants—which means that your employee may not even need to have an attorney in order to file a suit against you. An employee must show four things in order to file a discrimination or harassment complaint with the EEOC: That he/she is a member of a protected class That he/she is qualified and performing in a satisfactory manner That he/she suffered an adverse employment action because he/she was a member of a protected class. The good news is that just because the court allows the suit to proceed doesn’t mean that you have lost. It simply...
by Stephen D. Hans | Apr 29, 2014 | Uncategorized
Author: Stephen D. Hans Although there are thousands of employment discrimination cases filed every year, they are not easy for the plaintiff to win. The plaintiff must persuade juries that their employer made an employment decision based on a personal bias against race, religion, sex, age, etc. However, juries are much more receptive to a claim that a manager, supervisor or employer treated an employee unfairly after he or she made an accusation of discrimination or harassment. Because jurors often see the act of striking back at complaining employees as a natural reaction and human nature, the employer is often the one who suffers in such cases. Employees who file retaliation claims and win are frequently awarded punitive damages—sometimes numbering in the millions. Therefore, a retaliation claim is not something an employer should take lightly. Reduce your exposure to employee retaliation claims While it is unlikely you can completely avoid retaliation claims, there are steps you can take that can reduce your risk of having such claims filed against you. Implement policies against retaliation. You should already have anti-discrimination and harassment policies in place. If your existing policies don’t cover retaliation, then you should update your current policies to include a strong non-retaliation policy. This policy should assure your employees that they will not suffer reprisal for filing complaints. The policy should also contain the process for reporting any retaliation that might occur. Train managers and supervisors. Implementing non-retaliation policies is a good start but you should also provide training to your supervisors and managers. These employees need to understand what non-retaliation means and how to apply the policy...
by Stephen D. Hans | Feb 18, 2014 | Employment Discrimination, Uncategorized
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported it obtained a record $372.1 million in monetary relief for victims of private sector employment discrimination in year ending 2013. This amount is nearly seven million more than was recovered in 2012 and is the highest amount of financial compensation ever recovered in the agency’s history. The EEOC is the federal agency that enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, and obtains monetary and non-monetary compensation for individuals who have been discriminated against by employers through: • Administrative enforcement • Settlements • Conciliations (alternative dispute resolution) What this means for employers While according to its report, the EEOC received 14,000 fewer filings the fact that they recovered the record amounts this past year may not bode well for employers. In our politically correct society, discrimination can be construed by what most people may consider minor incidents. And unfortunately, with each passing day more regulations, laws and rules are passed that make ordinary behavior something sinister or questionable. More than ever, employers must remain ever vigilant in their awareness of and compliance to the new rules. In order to protect your company from unnecessary complaints you should: • Always give honest employee evaluations. Employees with the responsibility of providing evaluations must do so honestly and resist the urge to ‘be nice’ because they do not want to hurt someone’s feelings. If a complaint should arise for poor work performance, the employee evaluations should back that statement up by showing that it was drawn from honest employee evaluations. • Provide anti-discrimination/harassment training. Your anti-discrimination policies must be clearly written and disseminated to all employees. ...
