A jury socked it to a Wisconsin employer last year in a Family and Medical Leave Act case, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed.

Well, I take that back. The Seventh Circuit didn't affirm completely -- no, it ordered the trial court to give the plaintiff more in attorneys' fees than she had already won.

Check it out:

Tracy Wink was a clerical employee for ...

This year is ending with quite a few changes in various federal workplace posters. To ensure that employers, especially federal contractors, have kept up with the required changes, here is a summary:

Federal 6-in-1 Poster 

The U.S. Department of Labor made changes to some of the posters included in what is commonly called the Federal 6-in-1 Poster. The changes ...

In honor of Memorial Day weekend, here's a summary of the rights of employees who take leaves of absence to serve our country, and their family members.

USERRA

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 protects employees who leave their jobs to serve in various military capacities.

Five year (or more) rule. An employee's right of reemployment is good for at ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came out this week with a fact sheet dealing with leaves of absence and the Americans with Disabilities Act. First, I say kudos to the EEOC for again providing good, readable, not-overly-technical "preventive" guidance for employers. Second, let's see what you know about the EEOC's position on leaves and the ADA. (Answers are at the ...

The U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, has issued a new guide for employers on the Family and Medical Leave Act. I've only thumbed through it, but it seems to be pretty nicely done, and has some cute comics about the FMLA request/approval process.

(Seems like Will and Brenda could be a little friendlier, though.)

Here it is.

UPDATE (4/29/16): Here is the new FMLA poster

It's been a hectic week for me (I have a trial coming up), and so here are some links to employment law blog posts and workplace news items that I hope will entertain and edify.

5 Things Your Manager Doesn't Want You to Know. By the great Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas. (Just to whet your appetite, the first is "I can't fire you.")

Can Employee Display a ...

NOTE: On January 15, this post was updated and one correction made (see "Nipped in the bud" and "Jury clobbers Catholic diocese," below). 

Happy New Year, everyone! While I've been out for the holidays, the courts and government agencies have stayed busy with employment law matters. Here are the developments that I thought were especially noteworthy:

WAGE ...

As most of you have heard by now, the U.S. Department of Labor has provided a "sneak preview" of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the definition of "spouse" in the Family and Medical Leave Act. The proposed changes would broaden the definition of "spouse" to include most same-sex married couples.

The proposed changes are intended to reflect (and expand upon) last year's Supreme Court ...

An article by Lauren Weber and Rachel Feintzeig in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal caught a lot of attention -- it was about companies that have made the decision to do without a Human Resources function.

The idea drew some positive response on Twitter:

HR stifles innovation and bogs down businesses with inefficient policies and processes. http://t.co/5cGRIwHaxR

— Mike Brice ...

It has been a long time since we talked about the Family and Medical Leave Act, but a couple of interesting and noteworthy decisions came out this week from Way Out West.

Our first case, from a federal district court in Oregon, answered the following question:

Can an employer require a doctor's note every time an employee takes intermittent FMLA leave?

YES

NO

C'mon! Even if he's an abuser?