The Employer Handbook

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3D Judges Gavel

By Chris Potter (Flickr: 3D Judges Gavel) [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday, I blogged here about the most important employment law decision of 2018. It’s a case called Minarsky v. Susquehanna County (opinion here).

If you missed my post, well, it was long. 1,888 words long. So, here’s the super-condensed version: The Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that a plaintiff might not complain about sexual harassment at work for several years but still have a viable hostile work environment claim if she genuinely believed — and the record supported — that it would be pointless to do so. Continue reading

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MeToo hashtag digital text on RGB screen 2017-12-09 version 11

By Wolfmann [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

Minarsky v. Susquehanna County (opinion here) is a sexual harassment case. And there’s a lot to discuss. But the biggest takeaway is that any subsequent employer-defendant asserting a Faragher/Ellerth defense in the Third Circuit will find it very difficult to obtain summary judgment on any hostile work environment claim. Continue reading

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Judge Brett Kavanaugh

By U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Respect to the employment law bloggers, reporters, and others who wasted no time trying to read the tea leaves to predict what Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record as a jurist would foreshadow should he ascend to the U.S. Supreme Court.

*Cracks knuckles in preparation for lots of cutting and pasting*** Continue reading

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eeocbanner

Source: https://eeotraining.eeoc.gov

Yep, it’s that time of year.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Training Institute is hosting its Examining Conflicts in Employment Laws (EXCEL) Training Conference in Washington, DC.  Continue reading

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mail-1454731_640

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/mail-message-email-send-message-1454731/)

In 2014, the National Labor Relations Board ruled here in a case called Purple Communications that employees can use company email to try to form a union. Specifically, the Board held that “employee use of email for statutorily protected communication on nonworking time must presumptively be permitted by employers who have chosen to give employees access to their email systems.”

Yeah, I like my plain English better too.

Fast forward to 2018, and of all the places in the world, a federal appellate court in California — yes California — may be the one to change this. Continue reading

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Presidential motorcade

By dbking (Presidential Motorcade, PA Ave NW) [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

Remember the woman who…

Whatever happened to that lawsuit? Continue reading

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Trileptal tablets.jpg

Image Credit: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trileptal_tablets.jpg) CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

During this July 4th holiday week, I don’t expect many of you to read this blog. So, thank you to those who do stick around. And, come mid-week, I’ll set off some legal backyard fireworks in your honor.

***Updates shopping list***

And I’ll bring my A-game. B-plus, at least. For the rest of the week, you can expect nothing less from me than Russia’s performance against Spain in the World Cup.

We’re going to start off by revisiting an issue, the surface of which we began to scratch a few months ago: opioids and the workplace.

Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”