Wisconsin Law Journal – WI Legal News & Resources Wisconsin Legal News & Resources

Can an employer be held liable for acts of employment discrimination carried out by another employer? The quick, lawyerly answer is ... it depends.

Recently, the National Labor Relations Board has taken a stance against employer policies that foreclose any possibility of altering the at-will employment relationship.

Consider the following scenario: You are a nonunion employer who has just conducted an internal investigation into a harassment complaint by an employee (let’s call her Monica).

A good friend of mine -- not named Warren -- is around 5-foot-9 with boots on, and over the last few years or so has fluctuated between 185 and 200 pounds.

Some of you may recall my article a few years back entitled “What About Roberta?” about transgenderism in the workplace. In that piece, we followed “Bob,” a long-term employee who came into an office seeking support as he went through the process of transitioning from male to female.

Ordinarily, when you think of a compensable injury for workers’ compensation purposes, you think of an injury that occurs on the worksite while performing services growing out of or incidental to employment.

Contrary to popular belief in some circles, employment contracts are generally not a bad idea. If drafted properly, they give employees extra job security and employers a tool in which to set contractually based standards on employment, such as, but not limited to, setting the duration of employment for highly skilled and sought-after talent.

Imagine that one of your former employees, Bill, filed a Charge of Discrimination against your company with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC" or the "Commission"), alleging sex discrimination in violation of Title VII.

What's really in a name? A bit of family history, a way to distinguish ourselves and perhaps a reflection of trends in popular culture. What about legal liability?

With the advent of pocket-sized recorders, sophisticated cell phones, and other covert recording devices, a growing number of employees — whether disgruntled or not — are secretly recording conversations in and outside the workplace in the hope of catching their employers “in the act.” After all, secret recordings have paid off in the past. You may recall the disgruntled Texaco ...

Last summer, an Internet article on msn.careerbuilder.com offered a list of forty-three remarks made by applicants during an interview which gave pause to human resources. Some of these remarks were an obvious reason to bar employment, including the following: I’ve never heard such a stupid question. Can we wrap this up quickly? I have someplace to go. My old boss ...