Did I ever tell you about the one in college we called “The Mad Pooper”? (Actually, we didn’t use the word “Pooper.” We used another word that better expressed our distaste for this individual). It was during my freshman year of college. More often than not after a night of…
Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment
Is reducing workplace stress a reasonable accommodation under the ADA?
Isn’t the Americans with Disabilities Act fun? Oh, right, it’s the federal employment law that y’all voted the one that keeps you up most at night. ADA garnered 30% of the votes in yesterday’s hella-lazy blog post of a poll. FMLA and FLSA tied for second with 23% of the…
When might firing a medicinal marijuana user be discriminatory?
Ok. Let’s assume that I’m looking to fill another Blogprentice position here at the Bloggerdome. [FYI – The Blogprentice’s job is to massage my scalp during those brief periods of writer’s block or when I get the vapors, rub my feet at all other times, plus whatever tasks, reasonable or…
“My religion or my job?” That’s a bad workplace question.
It’s not that often that you come across a case where an employee alleges a hostile work environment based on religion. Sex? Sure. Race? Yep. But religion? Not so much. Yet, when your employees are faced with the choice “My religion or my job,” it’s time to call the lawyers. Cause, I…
Protected conduct “can be as simple as telling a supervisor to stop.”
When I think about retaliation, I think about that time I plastic-wrapped the judicial toilets after losing a motion to compel an employee who gets fired after complaining about discrimination to an HR Manager or the EEOC. These actions epitomize the “opposition” and the “participation” clauses of Title VII of the…
EEOC scores a major victory for transgender rights
Last September, for the first time ever, the EEOC sued two private employers for discriminating against employees who had transitioned from one gender to another. One of those cases settled last week for $150K. Yesterday, the other action survived the employer’s motion to dismiss the case. Now, the federal court deciding…
For ADA and accommodating employee disabilities, think ‘Burger King’
ADA and Burger King?!? Has someone been eating too many Whoppers? No. But I did spend a 20 minute Uber ride yesterday sucking down mustard packets. Actually, the inspiration for this post comes from Seattle Attorney, Michael Harrington, who presented “The Wild, the Weird and the Wonderful FMLA/ADAAA Cases…And the Lessons…
Revealed! The EEOC’s new proposed wellness program rules.
More eagerly anticipated that the premiere of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, yesterday, the EEOC released its new proposed rules on wellness programs. Although, based on the Paul Blart reviews, hemorrhoids too may be more eagerly anticipated. No strikethrough on the last sentence. Weird. But, if you want to have an employee…
Dude, you were fired for fellatio jokes, not your disability.
Geez! What’s gotten into me this week? Even by The Employer Handbook editorial standards, which are lower than Title VII’s religious accommodation undue hardship test. [I’ll be here all week. Sorry.] First, a 1000+ word blog post on ADA telework, followed by two cheeky posts on bad interview questions and the…
Burn these job interview questions. Send ’em to hell!
Kinda like this, but different. According to a recent survey from CareerBuilder.com, 1 out of 5 employers failed to read my 2011 blog post about interview questions to avoid, have asked a question in a job interview only to find out later that it was illegal to ask. Indeed, the poll…