California Employment News: Expanded Workplace Protections Regarding Cannabis Use
#WorkforceWednesday: Employees’ Off-Duty Conduct, Violence at Work Rises, the Election and the Gig Economy - Employment Law This Week®
Many people feel emboldened to publicly share their views on all sorts of controversial topics these days – politics, international relations, religion, culture, or any number of other incendiary areas where there are bound...more
Two of the biggest employment law fallacies we encounter relate to employees’ beliefs about the impact of their off-duty behavior on their careers. First, we see situations where the workers claim that employers have no right...more
Over the past year, employers have had to grapple with seismic social, cultural, and political developments impacting profoundly how they do business. From a worldwide pandemic severely affecting global communities, markets...more
Ernest “Big Daddy” Bux’s daughter Kathy “Kitten” was working for Approval Literary Agency in Blessing, Texas – that is until last month. Kitten, an associate literary agent with Approval Literary was sacked after her boss...more
Recent events in Washington D.C. and elsewhere have heightened tensions across the United States and led to renewed questions from employees and employers regarding how to respond to political speech inside (and outside) the...more
Within days of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, employees who were observed as part of the mob entering the Capitol were discharged by their employers. Some of the individuals involved in the events at the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the most contentious election of our lifetimes fast approaching, we might expect employees to engage in political conduct and share strong, controversial opinions while off duty, especially on social...more
Carr v. PennDOT, 2020 WL 2532232 (Pa. 2020) (Pennsylvania Supreme Court sustains the termination of employment of a public employee for a social media post). Background - The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation...more
In this episode of the “Can My Employees Do That?” series, partner Elise Bloom and associate Michelle Gyves discuss whether employers can lawfully limit an employee’s participation in political activities, protests, and...more
Recent events have underscored the difficulties employers face in managing diverse workforces in which employees hold a wide-range of political perspectives. The mere discussion of the news of the day can create divisive...more
The news is full of stories of employers taking action, or allegedly not taking sufficient action, for employee off duty conduct. The issues are vast and varied, ranging from communicating views about coworkers’ intellectual...more
The recent controversy involving the Google employee fired for challenging his employer’s diversity policies highlights some misconceptions concerning free speech rights in the workplace....more
Beginning with the launch of Myspace and Facebook in the early part of the last decade, social media communication has taken the world by storm. Today, social media networking is the primary means of communicating about one’s...more
Dear Littler: I saw one of my employees on the local news the other night participating in a political rally over the weekend. We try to maintain a tension-free workplace. Can I discipline him for this conduct? Can I at least...more