What I'm reading this week #33

The Delaware Employment Law Blog has been posting at a voracious clip. My favorite post of theirs from this week is The 5 Medical Conditions That Employers Don’t Want to See in a Candidate. For those that are too lazy to click over, the post talks about an article from Philly Burbs, which writes that employers avoid hiring anyone with obesity, depression, hypertension, high cholesterol, or musculoskeletal disorders. Let me put this as gently as possible -- unless you want to get sued, DO NOT consider any of the latter four, and tread very lightly if you are going to consider obesity, as a criteria for employability.

Meanwhile, Dan Schwartz at the Connecticut Employment Law Blog gives some useful information on how to properly draft severance agreements for releases of federal age discrimination claims.

The Pennsylvania Labor & Employment Blog asks whether companies can fire employees for personal postings on-line (personal blogs, MySpace pages, etc.). For my thoughts on this topic from late last year, take a look at Can employers base employment decisions on employees' personal internet activities?.

BLR's HR Daily Advisor gives some pros and cons for written job descriptions.

The aptly named Labor and Employment Law Blog lists 10 tips for avoiding IRS problems with independent contractors. I've also written before on some of the special consideration that companies must take into account when retaining independent contractors, in Court confirms that independent contractors can be discriminated against.