A reader emailed me yesterday. “Hey Eric, Clients are wondering about value of settlement NDAs after ex-Fox News HWE victims go public despite contracts. Your reaction?” Wait! You mean employees actually violate confidentiality provisions? I know, right? By way of brief background, in late July, New York ran a story by Gabriel…
Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment
Yes, your company may get nailed for a hostile work environment created by your customer
Just when you thought it was tough enough to keep your own workforce in line. Mack the Knife (except without the murder). The plaintiff in this case worked as a van driver — no, not that van driver — for a senior center for a little over six years. To say…
Yes, we get it already. Permanent light duty is not an ADA reasonable accommodation.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee with a disability, when doing so will permit that employee to perform the essential functions of the job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include reassigning non-essential job functions to other employees, a transfer to another open…
Sexual harassment — same as it ever was
On Tuesday, the EEOC announced here that it had resolved a sexual harassment lawsuit with a Dunkin Donuts franchise for $150,000. What’s so blog-worthy about that? Well, two reasons: It gives me an excuse to highlight this excellent post from Jon Hyman at the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog. Focusing on recent comments…
A white guy threatened to kill co-workers, got fired, and claimed discrimination. How’d that turn out?
If you were thinking, “Not well,” well, give yourself a gold star and a pat on the back. Then, register here for a free interactive webinar, “How to Navigate Alcoholism and Substance Abuse under the FMLA/ADA,” that I’m presenting with Cigna’s Robyn Marino, Esq. on Wednesday, August 24, 2016 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET. Did I mention that it’s…
“A person can be married on Saturday and then fired on Monday for just that act.”
The lede comes directly from last Thursday’s much anticipated decision, in which the Seventh Circuit concluded in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College (opinion here) that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal workplace anti-discrimination statute, does not protect workers from discrimination based on LGBT status. Title VII…
Join me for a free webinar on 8/24: “How to Navigate Alcoholism and Substance Abuse under the FMLA/ADA”
Are you prepared to address drug- and alcohol-related disabilities and leave issues under the FMLA and ADA? At some time in their lives, millions of Americans have abused drugs and alcohol. While many are in recovery, others continue their struggle. Inevitably, your workforce will feel the impact. Join this new…
What ADA protections exist for mental health episodes at work? Not many. Maybe none.
My skin crawls thinking about the Google search terms that will land some HR professionals on this post, which involves a failed suicide attempt. Hopefully, this is not a practice tip upon which you’ll need to draw in the course of your HR career. But, just in case… In a recent…
Got young employees? They pray to different gods? Then, you need this EEOC fact sheet.
Less colloquially, last Friday, the EEOC released this one-page fact sheet “designed to help young workers better understand their rights and responsibilities under the federal employment anti-discrimination laws prohibiting religious discrimination.” You can read the EEOC press release here. In less than a page, what’s on the one-page fact sheet? “Oh Homer,…
What HR can learn from those hella-dumb DNC leadership emails.
About a year ago, I had a post entitled, The “E” in E-Mail stands for Exhibit. As in Exhibit A. Here’s a snippet: As part of my respect-in-the-workplace training, I tell employees and managers that bad e-mails are like dirty diapers: they stink and they never go away. Yeah, about…