Insights

Avoiding Retaliation Liability – The Difference Between What and Why
Retaliatory discharge is a claim that an employee was fired, not for a legitimate business reason, but rather in retaliation for the employee taking some legally protected action such as: making a workers’ compensation claim, taking FMLA leave; or reporting harassment, unsafe working conditions, ...Read More

The NLRB goes after handbooks . . . again.
With the return of Democrat control of the National Labor Relations Board, the pendulum is swinging back so fast, it might hit some employers on the chin. In particular, the NLRB is undoing many of the changes made by the Trump NLRB as to ...Read More

General Partnership: The Catch- All Relationship To Avoid
Here’s a common story: Farmer A gets a good deal on a neighboring farm that includes 16 acres of marginal hay ground in a low, wet area. Farmer A has no use for hay and no haying equipment. It’s been a dry spring with ...Read More

Mitigating Employer Risk Through Documentation
Documentation is one of the easiest ways for an employer to preserve evidence in a case. Ideally, employers should document every action and decision taken concerning incidents, complaints and disciplinary actions in the workplace, no matter how small the issue may seem. An employer’s ...Read More

Communication on Families First Coronavirus Response Act
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law on March 18, 2020, and takes effect on April 1, 2020. Employers across the nation will be obligated under the Act to provide expansive leave to employees. Below are key points from the Act ...Read More

Protective Measures for Employers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Instructing Employees to Stay Home or Leave Work
It is important that employees with obvious symptoms of illness and disease, including all forms of the flu, should be encouraged to stay home or if they are at work when symptoms develop, to go home. Employers ...Read More

New Minnesota Wage Theft Law
The following is an update from Gislason & Hunter LLP’s Employment, Labor and Benefits Practice Group regarding legislation passed by the State of Minnesota at the end of the 2019 Legislative Session.
The Act:
The laws discussed below were passed as Chapter 7 of the 2019 ...Read More

Recouping Employee Incentive Payments
The shortage of qualified workers in rural Minnesota has many employers looking for unique ways to attract, train, and keep the right people in important positions. Many of these solutions include a large, up-front, monetary investment by the employer such as a signing bonus, ...Read More

When the Big Bad Wolf is at the Door
It’s 10:30 on a Tuesday morning. You’ve finished the morning Staff Meeting, answered twenty seven emails, checked Facebook and are now sitting down to write some employee reviews.
Then you get it. A letter from an attorney. Not your attorney. An attorney representing the employee ...Read More

Unauthorized Payroll Deductions Don’t Pay
\"I\'m being sued by a former employee. He came back drunk from lunch, crashed his forklift, and destroyed $1,000.00 of product. Our security cameras caught it all and it was clearly his gross negligence that caused the accident. I fired him on the spot ...Read More