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 employee handbooks. Before we get to the changes, let’s cover how...

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 forecasts of drought and high hay prices. Neighbor B is a...

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 documentation should build a timeline from when the incident was reported...

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 Session Law. Effective Date: The civil provisions go into...

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, paying for training, or even paying a salary during training.  Employers...

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 you terminated last week.  The employee you fired after his...

“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 and took the $1,000.00 out of his final pay. I’m in...