How'd that happen? An employer who terminated an employee after he took intermittent FMLA leave for diabetes won its case, and recently won again on appeal. According to both courts, the employee appeared to be trying to...more
9/20/2024
/ Clearance ,
Commercial Driving Licenses ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Family Medical Leave ,
FMCSA ,
Honest Belief Defense ,
Interference Claims ,
Intermittent Leave ,
Medical Certification Requests ,
Performance Reviews ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Wage and Hour
Employer's DEI mandate scores a win. A white guy refused to take his employer's mandatory "unconscious bias" training, and he was fired. He sued the employer for retaliation, his lawsuit was dismissed, and this week an...more
7/12/2024
/ Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity ,
Employee Training ,
Insubordination Policy ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Termination ,
Title VI ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
Don't shoot from the hip.
Let's say you have an employee who is in Week Six of "employee's own serious health condition" leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Her co-worker comes to you and tells you that the...more
These six will get the EEOC's attention in 2024-28.
Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released its Strategic Enforcement Plan for 2024-28. Strategic Enforcement Plans provide a helpful preview of...more
9/29/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Pregnancy ,
Retaliation ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Vulnerable Victims
Morals based on a real court decision.
My law partner Jon Yarbrough alerted me to a recent court decision that is full of little gems for employers. I thought I'd break the decision down into "true fables," each with a...more
4/28/2023
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Disability ,
Employment Contract ,
Good Faith ,
Honest Belief Defense ,
Morals Clauses ,
Protected Activity ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Termination ,
Title IX ,
Wage and Hour
Mental illness can cause problems at work, and keep employees from getting help.
If my experience is typical (and it may not be), it seems that a significant percentage of employers’ legal and Human Resources problems come...more
3/31/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Attendance ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Mental Health ,
Performance Reviews ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Social Media ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
Even if the employee doesn't qualify.
Picture this. You ask your boss whether you can take leave under the FMLA. Your boss asks why you want the leave, and you say your cat is sick.* It's your favorite cat. Your boss...more
The right to bore, and not to be bored.
These two cases are not from the U.S.A. But they have some good lessons for U.S. employers.
Case One: "C'est cool d'être ringard." (English translation: "It's hip to be square.") A...more
Employers, don't be too rigid about employee notice requirements.
Weird case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Imagine this: You're the HR manager at a manufacturing facility. An hourly employee has...more
Probably. Employers, get ready.
Will EEOC lawyers do an end run around the EEOC commissioners? If so, employers are likely to see more lawsuits with the EEOC as a plaintiff, which is never a good thing....more
Just about every state or federal employment law has an anti-retaliation provision. Very simply put, anti-retaliation provisions are intended to protect individuals who either pursue their rights under the law, who assist...more
Employers, don't get played.
"This is an employment-at-will state, and I can fire you for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all."
Oh, yeah?...
...more
5/28/2021
/ At-Will Employment ,
Discrimination ,
Documentation ,
Due Process ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
There's a new sheriff in town . . . . . .
so y'all better straighten up.
You probably know by now that the Biden Administration fired Sharon Fast Gustafson, the Trump-appointed General Counsel of the Equal Employment...more
3/12/2021
/ Age Discrimination ,
Biden Administration ,
EEO ,
EEOC General Counsel ,
Employee Training ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Joe Biden ,
Mediation ,
Medical Leave ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wrongful Termination
Should the employer force the issue?
You Human Resources professionals are familiar with this scenario.
You are present while a supervisor is disciplining an employee. The supervisor has a write-up, pre-approved by you, and...more
Don't take "don't guess" too literally.
One bit of very standard advice that all attorneys give to their clients before they testify in a deposition or in court is "Don't speculate." If you don't know something, don't try...more
HR people, you know what I'm talking about.
Sharks, vampires, tornadoes, heights, and evil clowns are scary. But sometimes the scariest thing to a management-side lawyer is what employers themselves say. Here are 10 things...more
Or almost everything.
Employers, has this ever happened to you?
You have a lousy employee, whom we'll call "Igor." You've been meaning to do something about Igor for a while but just haven't gotten around to it....more
And you thought you had problems!
A medical clinic in the St. Louis area had two employees (among others, I presume). "Rose" was African-American. "Daisy" (race unknown) had a disability. ...more
A tough situation. Could it have been handled better?
The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance will be going to trial in a retaliation case involving reference information it provided for a former employee....more
Take care of yourself!
In medicine, sometimes the practices that get people in trouble are pretty simple. Too many nachos, and not enough leafy greens. You'd rather binge-watch Seasons 1-3 of Stranger Things than go for a...more
How much do you know about the rights of dads in the workplace? Take our quiz and find out! As always, the answers appear immediately after the questions, so you can cheat all you want, as long as your cheating doesn't...more
What the Supreme Court's decision in Fort Bend really means.
As you may have heard, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed a plaintiff to proceed with a Title VII religious discrimination lawsuit even though she didn't file a...more
6/7/2019
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Amended Complaints ,
Appeals ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Forfeiture ,
Fort Bend County Texas v Davis ,
Jurisdictional Requirements ,
Mandatory Claim-Processing Rules ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Title VII ,
Waiver Rule ,
Wrongful Termination
Court says no, in one of the weirdest cases ever.
In January, I blogged about the very strange case of O'Brien v. Industrial Service Solutions.
The plaintiff was a Human Resources Manager who saw a transgender woman in the...more
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) signed into law last month legislation that bans nondisclosure agreements in cases alleging discrimination, retaliation, or harassment.
More precisely, what the law does is say that...more
And ready to answer all of your workplace romance questions.
NOTE FROM ROBIN: Last year, in honor of Valentine's Day, we had a guest post by advice columnist Dr. Loveless. I am delighted to announce that the "Doctor is in...more