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Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

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Employee asks court to stop company from making her work Saturdays

Sounds like someone’s taken a page out of the Lionel Hutz playbook. Patrice Williams is a Seventh-Day Adventist. Seventh-Day Adventists believe that the Sabbath runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Because of her sincerely-held religious beliefs, Ms. Williams requested that her employer not require her to work during the…

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Court ok’s firing EAP employee upset with company’s workplace investigation

J. Neil DeMasters worked as an EAP counselor for Carilion Clinic. During the course of his employment, a co-worker came to him complaining to have been a victim of sexual harassment. Mr. DeMasters relayed his co-worker’s complaint to HR. Then he was fired. Does Mr. DeMasters have a possible retaliation…

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How ordering cheesesteaks can help employers with disability-accommodation requests

  In Philadelphia, we’re known for certain things, such as cheesesteaks. Ordering the cheesesteak is a bit of an art form. For example, I could order a “Cheese steak, with Cheez Whiz and fried onions.” Or, I could simply say, “Cheese wit.” As most anyone around her knows that Cheez…

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EEOC Commissioner Feldblum provides answers on obesity as an ADA disability

About two years ago, the EEOC sued a Texas company, alleging that the company engaged in disability discrimination, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, when it fired a 680-pound worker because he was morbidly obese. The EEOC alleged that the employee’s immense weight interfered with his ability to…

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Waitress suspended for posting racist customer receipt on Facebook

It’s a story that first made news over the weekend and is quickly picking up steam, ironically, because of social media. A customer at a Tennessee Red Lobster restaurant allegedly left a racist message on a receipt. An African American waitress subsequently posted the receipt to Facebook with the message: “This…

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A supervisor’s swine flu death wish on an older employee leads to an age bias claim

Yesterday, our guest blogger offered three tips for successful onboarding.  Unable to match that, today, I have a less than successful way to encourage attrition — unless of course you like defending age discrimination claims. A federal court has permitted a plaintiff’s claims that his ex-employer created a age-based hostile…

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Under the ADA, even a 15-minute task may be an essential job function

Kolja Vraniskoska worked as an Environmental Services Technician for Franciscan Communities, Inc., a nursing home. Ms. Vran– (eh, let’s go with Ms. V) — had several responsibilities as an ES Tech, one of which was pushing and unloading a linen cart. Franciscan required that each ES Tech take a linen…