Changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Increase pay or limit hours is the choice for many employers effective December 1st under a new Department of Labor rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employers are under more stringent standards concerning over-time pay for non-exempt employees. Most court employees are, and will remain, classified as non-exempt but courts should be aware [...]

Are you paying court employees a salary or not?

Two salary issues have been vexing a number of courts: 1) must court employees be paid for every hour worked when they are “salaried” and 2) may court reporters work during the regular work hours when the reporter is preparing a transcript?
Both state statutes and case law frequently refer to the salaries of public employees [...]

Protecting What You’ve Got: Preserving Knowledge

Judge Steady, I won the lottery!,” exclaimed Court Reporter Sue Lucky.  Yea for twenty-year employee Sue, who is celebrating by resigning that very day to find a new winter home near her grandchildren in Arizona.
An employer is lucky to get a week’s notice.  All courts are “at will” employers and employees are free to resign [...]

Employee Medical Leave Rights: It’s Complicated

Once upon a time, the employer determined medical leave. Whether an employee had the ability to stay home when ill without risk of termination depended on the boss.
After a nine-year legislative battle, in 1993 Congress enacted the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA). For many workers, FMLA proved to be a great boon. [...]

Americans with Disabilities Act and the Code of Judicial Conduct

The focus of this article is on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the obligations of judges to all persons who use court services and who need accommodation to do so.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) for many years has made enforcement of the ADA a major priority. A significant part of [...]

What Indiana Trial Judges Need to Know about the Affordable Care Act

County contracts and programs govern health care benefits for trial court employees. However, trial court judges in their roles as employers should still know some key things about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-148 § 5505, or “Obamacare,” but most commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act [...]

Dealing with the Difficult Employee

Martin has been working as a probation officer for seventeen years during which time he provided good to commendable service to the court. He and Judge Edwards have seen a lot together and are very comfortable with each other. However, lately all is not well with Martin, and no one knows exactly what [...]

Should You Have an Employee Handbook?

If a court employee sues regarding a condition of employment, the proper defendant can be the judge of the court, the state, the county or any combination of these depending upon the cause of action. There are counties with excellent employee handbooks and counties whose handbooks are deficient. Even if the court’s county [...]

When the Honorable Judge Has Been Served…Send it to me!

The unpleasant day might arrive when a summons or a notice arrives that names a judge as a defendant. Do not fret, just send it to me! There are four primary types of notices or summons that may land on a judge’s desk: unemployment claims, discrimination charges, notice of tort claims and [...]

When Only the Best Will Do (Part Two)

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part article by the author about hiring new employees. The first part appeared in the Court Times JULY/AUGUST issue.
Ah, what a joy it is to write about hiring a good employee, rather than disciplining an employee for poor performance. Time spent hiring the right employee is [...]

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