Just calling a worker an independent contractor doesn’t make that worker an independent contractor. It’s the reality on the ground that counts—that is, how much control the individual has over her time, hours and duties.

Here’s a reason to make sure that your applications include an honesty provision: If an applicant sues for discrimination, she won’t get very far if you catch her being less than honest on the application.

Advances in medical research have resulted in the early detection and treatment of illnesses. One of the most significant advancements is testing that can identify genetic differences that could increase an individual’s chance of developing a particular disease. But there’s a downside to such progress ...

If you hire individual construction contractors to work for you, you have only a few weeks to make sure they are in compliance with a new state law. Beginning on Jan. 1, individual independent contractors working in the construction industry must obtain an Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate.

Employees who claim their employers somehow discriminated against them because they have immigration problems or aren’t U.S. citizens can’t automatically sue for national-origin discrimination under the Minnesota Human Rights Act or Title VII. Instead, they must prove that the underlying discrimination was based on national origin.

The Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities has recognized 11 companies for their innovative approaches to employing developmentally disabled workers. Award recipients include three grocery stores: Coborn’s in Buffalo, Byerly’s in Golden Valley and Culver’s in Stillwater.

It’s important for employers to plan to prevent workplace violence and respond to it if prevention fails. While every employer needs a customized plan that fits its particular workplace, good violence-prevention strategies share common elements.

Q. I recently was talking with another manager at the company who told me that we had hired an independent contractor to work in our records room doing filing and data storage tasks. We also have employees performing that job. Could that cause any problems?

Before you reject a candidate who appears to meet the basic requirements for an open position, make sure you can explain your decision. Then document your rationale in case he or she later claims the real reason for the rejection was some form of discrimination.

If an applicant discloses a disability and says she can’t perform the job’s essential functions even with an accommodation, you can turn her down. You don’t have to second-guess her assessment and look for a reasonable accommodation.

Q. Our company has just made a job offer to a highly qualified man to work in our company’s IT department. During the final stages of our interviewing process, the candidate told us that “she” is transgendered —that she would be transitioning from male to female. We believe employing a transgender employee could be very disruptive and cause a morale problem in the company. Can we rescind the offer based on the candidate’s transgender status?

Luther Spears worked for the Kroger Company for 24 years. During that time, he repeatedly applied for management positions in the produce department, but was never promoted. Meanwhile, Spears, who is black, trained younger white employees who were promoted over him. Spears finally filed a complaint with the EEOC ...

When tax firm KPMG wanted to fill hundreds of positions worldwide, it held an enormous job fair that attracted 20,000 candidates. But nobody showed up in person. The two-day, round-the-clock fair was entirely online. More organizations are tapping the global reach of the Internet to recruit employees who otherwise might not come to a convention center event.

An employee is an employee, regardless of his or her right to be present in the United States and work here. Thus, even illegal immigrants who were hourly employees can sue for back pay if their employers didn’t pay at least minimum wage and overtime.

Q. Our restaurant has a written requirement that waiters be able to lift, transport and carry objects weighing from 25 to 30 pounds up to 20 or more times per shift. An applicant for a server job has informed us on his application that he has a condition that prevents him from lifting more than 10 pounds and that there are no accommodations that could be made so he can perform all of the job duties. Are we going to be in violation of the ADA if we deny a job to this applicant?