The Employer Handbook Blog

Another employer learns the hard way that it’s better to hire slow and fire fast

September 1, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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A company fired one of its employees just ten days after learning about his disability. Although the proximity between the two doesn’t confirm that the employee’s disability motivated the employer’s decision, some other vital factors led a federal appellate court to overrule a lower court’s decision in favor of the employer, thus setting the stage for a jury trial on the plaintiff’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims.

I’ll explain why. Continue reading

This is not a drill. A new, federal overtime proposal will cost employers $1.2 billion.

August 31, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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For the first time in four years, the U.S. Department of Labor plans to increase the minimum salary level to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime requirements. Continue reading

What is (and is not) considered retaliation?

August 30, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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A director for a major transit authority applied for two internal promotions. She didn’t get either. Feeling that she was more qualified than either successful candidate, the director reported discrimination internally and later filed a Charge of Discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Among other things, she alleged in the EEOC Charge that, after her internal report of discrimination, she experienced retaliation. For example, she alleged that he performance review scores went down, her workload increased, and some analysts no longer reported to her.

That’s not great. But, is it what the law considers “retaliation”?

The feds are trying to make unionizing your workplace easier than draining a two-foot putt.

August 28, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC that it claims in this press release will “effectuate employees’ right to bargain through representatives of their choosing and improve the fairness and integrity of Board-conducted elections.”

That’s one way of putting it. Continue reading

I may have located the blueprint showing when regular, in-person attendance is an ADA essential job function

August 24, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Earlier this month, a federal appellate court had to decide whether a hospital employee could perform her job remotely or whether the job’s essential functions required her to come to work in person.

Spoiler alert: The plaintiff lost the failure-to-accommodate claim she asserted under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But stick around because the Seventh Circuit’s thoughtful analysis may help you decide whether regular work attendance is essential for the job. Continue reading

An employer asked an employee for a doctor’s note with every intermittent FMLA absence. Here’s how it turned out…

August 23, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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All you Family Medical Leave Act savants know about the 30-day rule, right? Continue reading

There’s a deadline to file discrimination charges with the EEOC. An employee learned that courts rarely excuse late filings.

August 22, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Employees who want to bring federal anti-discrimination claims in court can’t just file the lawsuit. Instead, they must first file a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

There are time limits to filing with the EEOC. Continue reading

Does Title VII only cover ultimate employment decisions? Another federal appellate court doesn’t think so.

August 21, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Imagine a business that gives its employees two days off each week. There’s nothing abnormal about that.

However, the company uses a sex-based policy to determine which two days an employee can pick. Only men can select full weekends off—women cannot. Instead, female employees can pick either two weekdays off or one weekend day plus one weekday; they never get an entire weekend off.

Is that discriminatory? Yes, But does this system violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it unlawful to discriminate at work based on sex? Continue reading

If your company rounds employee start and stop times, you may want to read this. (Also, if you like Ratt.)

August 18, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

Dijares, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Two wage and hour posts in a row! And this one has an 80’s hair metal track (with a Milton Berle cameo) to back it.

So, cut off your sleeves and sing along as we talk about rounding time under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Why might the Phillie Phanatic get paid for the time it takes to get into costume at the ballpark?

August 17, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Terry Foote – I took this photograph while attending a Spring Training game, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Because who is going to click if I had titled this post, “The Third Circuit clarifies when compensable work is the ‘integral and indispensable.'”

But, now that you’re here, you might as well stick around for this wage-and-hour lesson. Continue reading