Below is a review of the posts (on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) from the past week. You can check out the full posts by clicking on the links.
The post on Sunday 10/18/15 talked about a woman fighting a medical marijuana firing. Why should you care? Because (limited) legal marijuana use may be coming to PA. Here, the employee was fired after her first day of work because a drug test showed marijuana use (despite informing the employer of her use during an interview). Of course, she has a doctor’s legal permission to use it for medical reasons and did so at home. The employer alleged that the discharge was based on federal law (which does not permit medical marijuana use) and not state law (which did allow it). Additional details are in the post.
TAKEAWAY: Keep abreast of the news and know what your obligations may be if PA legalizes medical marijuana.
On Monday 10/19/15 the post was about Chipotle workers suing for wage violations. Its motto may be “Food With Integrity”, but employees obviously don’t feel that way about their pay from Chipotle. Hundreds of workers in 6 states have filed suit, alleging that they are forced to work off the clock or are misclassified (to avoid being paid overtime). You guessed it – more details about the allegations are in the post.
TAKEAWAY: Don’t find yourself on the wrong end of a wage suit – classify and pay employees properly from the outset.
In the post on Tuesday 10/20/15, we talked about what to do if you are sued personally. The post lists 3 steps. The first is to contact legal counsel. The other 2 are in the post.
TAKEAWAY: Nobody likes or wants to be sued, especially personally, but it happens – know what to do.
The post on Wednesday 10/21/15 asked if you know what to do when an employee repays a signing bonus? Yeah, I know, it doesn’t happen often. Well first, you need to know how much should be repaid and then what steps to follow. They are in the post.
TAKEAWAY: It doesn’t happen often, but you need to know what to do if a signing (or other unearned) bonus is repaid.
The post on Thursday 10/22/15 talked about indiscreet socmedia posts put jobs on the line (in any country). Remember that a post on Facebook or other social media may have an effect on an employer – and bad effects can result in jobs being terminated.
TAKEAWAY: You’ve heard it before, but if you wouldn’t want to see it in the newspaper, don’t put it on socmedia.
The post on Friday 10/23/15 asked if a situation is illegal discrimination and discharge or merely downsizing. Read the post and tell us what you think.
TAKEAWAY: Things can seem like illegal discrimination to an employee but have a valid legal basis for discharge by the employer – make sure you’re in the latter category before suit is filed.
Finally, the post yesterday 10/24/15 told us that Ruby Tuesday is paying $100,000 to settle a sex discrimination suit. That’s a lot of moolah! So what happened? Ruby Tuesday allegedly would not hire 2 males as servers at a Park City, UT location. Not only that, apparently that was embodied in a written memo. Details are in the post.
TAKEAWAY: Need it be said? If you are going to illegally discriminate, at least don’t put it in writing.
York, Pennsylvania 17403