In 2011, New Jersey passed a law banning discrimination against the unemployed. Will PA follow suit in 2013?
The ball is rolling….
The PA House introduced its own unemployment-discrimination bill on January 22, 2013, and you can view a copy of it here.
I’ll give you a hint.
The lede from this KTVK report is: “A single sentence posted on Facebook changed Amy McClenathan’s life forever.”
According to KTVK, Ms. McClenathan made the Facebook post because she was having a rough day near the one-year anniversary of her mother’s death. So, I won’t pretend to judge Ms. McClenathan for what she was going through that day. And even assuming the post precipitated the firing, I won’t critique the propriety of her employer’s response — she was fired, and in case you hadn’t figured that out, I’ll send Tommy back back there and hit you on the head with a tack hammer.
Kudos to this blog for the drop in discrimination claims. Yeah, I’m giving this blog credit, and so is my mother — probably.
{Mom couldn’t be reached for comment and, strangely, the EEOC press release touting the new FY12 charge statistics is silent about this blog}
The year-end data shows that retaliation (37,836), race (33,512) and sex discrimination (30,356), which includes allegations of sexual harassment and pregnancy were, respectively, still the most frequently filed charges. However, the total number of claims in FY12 dipped below FY10 levels.
An employer must accommodate the sincerely-held religious beliefs of its employees unless the employer demonstrates that doing so would cause undue hardship for the business.
Undue hardship?!? What the heck is that? And how can you make sure that your managers are prepared to address — let alone spot — these issues when they arise.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down. I’ve got your back, after the jump…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled today that President Obama lacked the power to make three recess appointments last year to the National Labor Relations Board.
You can read a copy of the opinion here.
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, a two-member Board is powerless to exercise any authority. At the time of the three recess appointments, the Board only had two members.Therefore, by ruling that Obama’s three recess appointments are unconstitutional, today’s appellate-court ruling effectively moots every decision from the Board subsequent to the recess appointments, most of which went against employers.
From my perspective, Glassdoor.com’s Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions For 2013 is one lobbed softball after another. Then again, I’m the guy who, as the interviewer, used to ask law students to name their favorite Supreme Court Justice of all-time.
{Totally a trick question. The only acceptable response is, “Judge Elihu Smails.” Never happened. Coincidentally, my tenure on the Hiring Committee was brief.}
But, before we call it a day, I’m sure you’re all dying to know how I would have answered four of the oddball questions:
- The self-congratulatory comments I left below the picture of my awesome seven-story beeramid.
- My candid review of Cinemax’s After Dark lineup from Arbor Day 2011.
- My plea to George Carlin to go beyond the self-imposed boundaries of seven dirty words.
That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.”
Your new employee at local pizzeria has what we’ll call a “facial deformity.” So, rather than having him work the cash register, or otherwise emerge from the kitchen, you mandate that he work in the back so that no customers will ever see him.
Have you violated the Americans with Disabilities Act?
What makes retaliation the most common discrimination claim in America?
I suspect it’s because other forms of discrimination (e.g., race, gender, disability) are more difficult to prove and don’t always result in an adverse employment action, such as termination of employment. And since most people like to keep their jobs, they’re more reluctant to rock the boat.
Conversely, retaliation always includes adverse action — quite often a firing — and follows what the law terms a “protected activity” (opposition to discrimination or participation in the statutory complaint process). So, you have a situation where an employee suspects discrimination is afoot, complains about it, and then gets fired.
I know. I know. Seems more like a “Tuesday” post.
Earlier in the week, I read this article on The Smoking Gun about a man who got busted giving wedgies to movie patrons outside of a Florida theater.
So, it got me thinking.
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