While many people serve our veterans voluntarily, there are also many laws to be aware of that protect our veterans.  From an employment aspect, employers are required to make accommodations based on the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”), which was created to protect civilian job rights and benefits for veterans and members of Reserve components.

USERRA establishes that an individual may be absent from work for military duty and retain reemployment rights up to five years.  It also provides protection for disabled veterans, requiring employers to make reasonable efforts to accommodate their disability.  In addition, USERRA affords that returning service-members are reemployed in the job that they would have attained had they not been absent for military service (called the “escalator” principle), with the same seniority, status, and pay, as well as other rights and benefits determined by seniority.

Even though federal law requires employers to make these accommodations, from a humanitarian standpoint, employers would be best served to go the extra mile when it comes to employees serving in the military.  Not only does it benefit the employee, but it is a patriotic gesture which can also create goodwill in the community.

For a check-up on your company’s HR policies, please contact the Employment Law Team at The Foster Group, where you will receive high quality and cost-effective service for all your human resources needs.

Even if a state does not have a specific law requiring a business to offer time off to vote, the state may have laws that prevent an employer from interfering with a person’s right to vote.  This may result in an employer being required to provide employees with time to vote during the work day depending on a variety of factors including the state’s polling hours.

In states with voting leave laws, employers could face criminal charges, fines, and even jail time by refusing to grant time off, discharging, or otherwise penalizing employees for exercising their right to vote under the laws.  In fact, discharging employees for reasonably exercising their voting rights could constitute wrongful termination.

Accommodating and supporting an employee’s right and desire to vote can be a win-win situation for both parties.  It will encourage employees to become more civic-minded and invested in the company’s success within the community, and a company (as well as its employees) that invests both time and money into a community has a greater opportunity to expand its bottom line.

If you are concerned about your company’s policy with regard to voting or other employee activities, please contact the Employment Law Team at The Foster Group, where you will receive high quality and cost-effective service for all your human resources needs.

Unfortunately, there is always the risk of employees having too much fun with their costume choice or selecting something that might be offensive to other employees.  In fact many businesses will avoid allowing costumes to be worn to the office at all for fear of the legal ramifications.  In addition, from a business standpoint alone, a day of dress up may present a negative appearance to the business’ clientele.

In order to avoid trouble but still inspire your employees, the team here at The Foster Group suggests that businesses consider a modification on the traditional company costume party.  Instead, hold a themed desk decorating contest, a fun pitch-in lunch or cookie exchange, and a modified opportunity to dress up by having employees limit their costumes to appropriate headgear such as hats, bows, antennae, simple masks, or funny glasses.  The emphasis for these “costumes” should be that they are easily removable in the case of an unexpected visitor, and they will minimize the risk of someone being offended.  Of course, it is still always good to remind your employees to use common sense and be respectful of others in their costume selection.

The Foster Group is dedicated to serving all of your employment law needs – from day-to-day client counseling to defending lawsuits brought by current or former employees.  Because our focus is to work proactively to prevent problems in the first place, please contact us to receive a personal employment law check-up for your business.

The Foster Group wishes you and your family a happy and safe Halloween!

A whistle-blower is an informant (typically an employee) who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it.  In America, an employer may not fire, demote, harass, or otherwise “retaliate” against an individual who calls attention to violations of law, helps with enforcement proceedings, or refuses to obey unlawful directions from a supervisor.  These protections apply to the so-called “whistle-blower” in a variety of circumstances, including: discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, and disability, as well as wage differences between men and women performing substantially equal work; retaliation against individuals who oppose unlawful discrimination or participate in an employment discrimination proceeding; violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; etc.

Recently making headlines on the national stage is an SEC attorney named Darcy Flynn.  As a federally protected whistle-blower, Flynn presented evidence to the SEC’s inspector general and three congressional committees earlier this summer.  Flynn alleges that SEC investigators found their desire to bring a case against an influential bank thwarted by senior officials in the enforcement division – whose director later accepted a lucrative job from the very same bank they had been prevented from investigating.  In another case, the agency farmed out its inquiry to a private law firm – one hired by the company under investigation.  The outside firm ultimately concluded that no further investigation of its client was necessary.

What can a company do to limit its whistle blower liability?  As always, we are strong advocates for taking proactive, preventive measures.  First, review your employee handbook for compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations.  Second, institute a robust HR reporting policy – where grievances can be dealt with early-on, and issues addressed prior to becoming legal problems.  Third, document, document, document.  Keep very accurate records; and ensure that these records are up to date.  Finally, if an employee does raise a complaint (valid or not), you must take immediate, proactive measures to address the situation.  When in doubt, call your employment attorney to verify that your business is protected.

But, we haven’t heard much about how this might affect employers in the work place. Our HR Resolutions Team is on it, however. As HR folks and employment lawyers, we are always thinking about the worst possible scenario. So imagine this: Your employee has a qualifying disability, but just needs medicine to deal with his condition. His medicine, however, is medical marijuana. What to do?

Your current policies probably don’t cover this scenario, right? As with any potential problem, it is always a good idea to get ahead of the curve. Employers need to update their handbooks, include policies that cover the situation that conforms with the ADA, FMLA, and other laws and regulations.

The Foster Group will be holding a workshop for employers in January 2011. Start the New Year off right and get ahead of this issue. Please contact us to sign up. In any event, please contact your employment counsel to make sure you are on target!