Legal Briefs.

Heed lesson of Walmart's $125M disability-bias ruling

For years, Marlo, who has Down syndrome, worked from noon to 4:00pm at a Walmart. When the company required her to work more hours and later at night, she struggled. Walmart refused her request to return to her previous schedule, and then it fired her. The EEOC sued and a court said Walmart failed to accommodate her disability, handing down a $125 million verdict. (EEOC v. Walmart, E.D. Wis.)

The lesson: Ask your lawyer before altering the working conditions of disabled employees. Courts rarely tolerate reneging on accommodations that have a proven record of success.

Working multiple locations won't erase OT liability

Due to the labor shortage, servers at a Denny's franchise in Texas had to work at three restaurants in a week. Rather than adding up their hours on one paycheck, the workers received a separate check for each location. That meant no servers hit the 40-hour overtime threshold, even though many worked more than that. The U.S. Department of Labor ordered the franchise to cough up $474k in back pay.

The lesson: Don't...

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