 |
LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT UPDATE By:
R. Ian Hunter
New Hire Reporting.
Employers now must report to the government personnel information
about newly hired employees. Federal law requires each state to establish an automated directory
of new hires to assist in the identification of individuals who are
delinquent in child support. Michigan
employers must report all employees who are hired or return to work
following a separation of employment on or after October 1, 1997.
Within twenty days of employment, the employer must report the
employee’s name, address and Social Security number, as well as
the employer’s name, address and federal ID number on Michigan
Form W-4 or on the Michigan New Hire Reporting form, and send to:
Michigan New Hire Operations Center, P.O. Box 85010, Lansing,
MI 48908-5010. Requests
for a new hire reporting guide or questions about the reporting requirements
should be directed to the Operations Center at (800) 524-9846.
Same-Sex Sexual Harassment.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided that sex discrimination
based on same-sex sexual harassment is actionable under Title VII.
Discrimination "because of ... sex" protects men as
well as women, and a sex discrimination claim cannot be dismissed merely
because the parties involved are of the same sex.
The court likewise rejected prior precedent that claims are actionable
only if the alleged victim can prove the harasser is homosexual (and
thus presumably motivated by sexual desire).
One example of same-sex harassment is when a female employee
is harassed in sex-specific and derogatory terms by another woman so
as to make it clear that the harasser is motivated by general hostility
to women in the workplace. The
employee could also offer comparative evidence about how the harasser
treated members of both sexes in a mixed workplace (for instance, if
the harasser referred to men by their first names, but referred to the
women using derogatory terms).
The alleged victim must prove that the conduct actually constituted
discrimination because of the person’s sex and that the behavior
was so offensive that it altered the conditions of employment.
Supervisors May Be Subject to FMLA Liability.
Recent court decisions have found that supervisors whose conduct
violates the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") may be
held individually liable. In
one case, an employee underwent two surgeries, and during his absence
his supervisors allegedly committed violations of the FMLA which included
terminating him. The employee
sued both the employer and his supervisors in their individual capacity.
The supervisors wanted to dismiss the lawsuit against them, arguing
there was no individual liability under the FMLA.
The court rejected their contentions. The
FMLA has a remedial scheme similar to the Fair Labor Standards Act which
has historically provided for individual liability. For this reason, the court found that if the supervisors’
conduct violated the FMLA, they may be personally liable for compensatory
and punitive damages.
Supervisory employees should be made aware of the potential liability
arising from their application of the FMLA.
Employers may want to consider advanced training of supervisory
employees to identify the requirements of the FMLA to minimize future
violations. Public Sector Alert. Public sector employers should be careful with discussions held on taped telephone lines, a common practice among police departments, because these tapes can be considered public record under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. Public employers should be cautious about the type of conversations they conduct on taped lines since information regarding the affairs of the public body or the conduct of officials is subject to disclosure to all persons, including employees and their labor unions. |
|
