Temperatures across the United States are starting to heat up. Employers must be cognizant of the impact these rising temps have on employees who work outside.

First things first. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) put together the following list of symptoms of heat illness and first aid solutions:

  • Sunburn: Redness and pain.

Managing FMLA leaves that fall on holidays

Administering the FMLA is difficult. When an FMLA leave falls on a holiday, it becomes even more complicated. Employers must know how to answer three holiday-related questions. First, if a holiday falls during an employee’s FMLA leave, does that holiday count against the employee’s FMLA entitlement? Second, how is the FMLA administered when there is an extended plant, office or school shutdown? Lastly, must an employer provide holiday pay to an employee on FMLA leave?

Does a holiday count against an employee’s FMLA leave entitlement?

While many employers keep track of their employees’ FMLA entitlements in terms of days or even hours, the FMLA and its implementing regulations provide that employees receive 12 workweeks of leave in a one-year period. As a result, leave is calculated in workweek increments. Under 29 C.F.R. § 825.200(h), if an employee is off work for an entire workweek, even if it is a week in which a holiday falls, the employee uses a week of FMLA. Only when an employee is off work for less than an entire workweek will the employee have used a partial week of FMLA. For example:
Continue Reading How FMLA works during holidays

As we enter football season, workforces should prepare for the estimated 25 million fantasy sports enthusiasts who spend at least an hour of work time managing their teams each week during the 13- to 17-week football season. (See more here.)  Distracted employees can reduce productivity, cause workplace accidents, and potentially impact the bottom line. As such, employers that are concerned with such productivity issues should put proper procedures in place to address these issues head on.

The first question of course, however, is are fantasy football leagues even legal? On the federal level, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (“UIGEA”) provides that “no person engaged in the business of betting or wagering may knowingly accept” funds “in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling.” It does, however, exempt fantasy sports so long as the outcome of any contest reflects the relative knowledge or skill of the participants rather than chance, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, but not solely on a single performance of an individual athlete. In addition, for the exemption to apply, all prizes and awards must be established and made known before the start of the contest.
Continue Reading Fantasy sport issues in the workplace

Summertime brings company picnics, charity walks and softball leagues. Great moments for increasing employee morale, but these activities may lead to employer liability if an employee is injured while participating in such activities.

In Ohio, employees injured while engaged in an employer-sponsored recreational or fitness activity are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits unless the employee

It is summer, and you know what that means: teenagers, everywhere. And they are not just hanging out at the mall, they are working at the mall, at the local pool, and in other entry-level positions. Unlike other workers, however, teenagers come with their own special set of complications. Generational issues aside, the real concern for employers with employment of minors is complying with federal and state laws specific to employment of minors.

Hiring

Before hiring minors, each employer should verify whether it can hire minor employees in the industry in which the employer operates and the state in which the business is located. Many states, including Ohio, require that an employer first obtain some type of work permit before hiring minors. Under Ohio law, every minor 14 through 17 years of age must have a working permit unless otherwise exempted, e.g., 16 and 17 year olds who only work during the summer in nonagricultural and nonhazardous employment. R.C. § 4109.02.

There are, however, some occupations deemed too hazardous for minors. In Ohio, they include the following:
Continue Reading Hiring minors: Not my teenage dream

For many, summer is a more laid-back time of year and rightfully so. There are summer holidays for people to enjoy, vacations, long weekends, lazy days outside taking advantage of the nice weather and, in the employment law area, many law-making and law-enforcing bodies are less active or not in session. Sometimes this laid-back attitude seeps into the workplace. Specifically, during these hot, sticky summer months, employers often notice employees start taking a relaxed approach the office dress code. It makes sense; the rising temperatures make some people reach for shorter hemlines or lighter-weight fabrics. Many times this can be done while complying with the office dress code, but almost every employer has that one employee who shows up at work wearing something that runs afoul. Sometimes it is an employee in flip flops … an employee opting for a higher-than-allowed hemline … or an employee who takes the lighter-fabric idea a little too far and ends up flashing the office in a see-through ensemble.

Whatever the case, most workplaces have at least one employee who skates along the edges of the employer’s dress code policy. The questions become: (1) what can an employer include in an office dress code, and (2) how can employers ensure employees comply with it. The answer to the first question is, yes, employers can implement dress code policies that prohibit employees from wearing too-casual attire such as jeans, shorts, or flip flops.
Continue Reading Summer dress codes: The long and skorts of it

Federal and state laws prohibit discrimination and/or harassment on the basis of religion. This means that an employer cannot treat persons of different religions differently or appear to favor one religion over another. As such, employers should be mindful of varying cultural differences among their employees. While their are not as many religious holidays during

One issue that comes up for many employers in the summer is hiring seasonal workers. Hiring temporary seasonal employees presents some substantial legal traps for the unwary. Employers should assess their seasonal hiring practices to ensure compliance with various state and federal laws. In other posts, we advised you on the issues in hiring interns

Many employers hire seasonal workers during the holidays to help keep up with increased consumer demand. However, hiring temporary seasonal employees presents some substantial legal traps for the unwary. Employers should assess their seasonal hiring practices to ensure compliance with various state and federal laws. In other posts, we advised you on the issues in