Roundup: Employee medical privacy; States taking up labor relations issues; Termination issues and strategy; Anti-American bias and national origin discrimination; New paid leave laws
Salary.com Compensation and Pay Equity Law Review
Welcome to Salary.com's Compensation and Pay Equity Law Review.
Our editor, employment lawyer Heather Bussing, is tracking legislation, cases, and analysis to give you the latest critical HR topics. She and Kent Plunkett, CEO of Salary.com, also have a new book out on Pay Equity, Get Pay Right: How to Achieve Pay Equity that Works!
This week we're asking these questions and even answering most of them:
- What laws apply to keep employee medical information private?
- What are states doing when the federal government won't act on employment law issues?
- What are some practical strategies for terminating employees?
- What is Anti-American bias and isn't that already covered by national origin discrimination law?
- What are the latest state laws on paid leave and why do they matter?
Privacy and Medical Information
Employee medical information is private. It's illegal to disclose it under a bunch of different laws including the ADA, FMLA, and the state version of those laws. Some states also have more general rights to privacy. And this is not about HIPAA because it usually doesn't apply.
Routing Around Inaction
Most of us are trying to make decisions in a quickly changing environment of increasing uncertainty. When the rules are muddy, it's impossible to evaluate risk. But we can't wait until things get clear to act. We have to keep going.
We're going to see a lot more moves by organizations and state and local governments to step up and keep going. Here's more on states addressing labor union issues.
How You Fire Someone Matters
When firing someone is the right decision, make it happen as soon as you know, don't blame the employee, own your part in it, and pay severance.
What is "Anti-American Hiring Bias"?
How to navigate the new enforcement of "anti-American bias", especially if you sponsor foreign national employees.
What's Up With Paid Leave?
State and local laws on paid leave can vary and are changing all the time. Here are some of the latest ones.
