Back in 2010, Douglas Clayton had a rough Summer. In August, Mr. Clayton was employed as a deckhand on a boat in Louisiana — that is, until one of his white co-workers allegedly raised a wrench to Clayton and told him to get his “stupid mother f**king n**ger ass” off…
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court reconvened for its 2012-2013 term. Although not chock full of pending employment-law cases, this term will see several important issues decided which could affect your workplace. Below, I have a collected a series of links to stories on these cases: “New Supreme Court Term…
When an employer is faced with a sexual-harassment lawsuit, one of its best defenses is that the company took reasonable care (e.g., policy, training) to prevent sexual harassment (and then addressed complaints in a manner that is reasonably designed to end the sexual harassment) In EEOC v. Spud Seller (opinion…
Does an employer have to provide a reasonable accommodation to a pregnant employee to allow her to perform the essential functions her job? Let’s see. Americans with Disabilities Act? No. Pregnancy is not a disability. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act? Well that depends. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is part…
Much has been written lately in the blawgosphere about telecommuting as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act for qualifying disabled employees. Last month, Jon Hyman posted (here) about this case, in which a federal court in Ohio held that telecommuting may be a reasonable accommodation based on…
Back in July, I blogged here about a federal appellate court recently emphasizing just how broad the subpoena power of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission really is. [Editor’s Note: the technical legal term is “crazazy broad”] Last Friday, as I was hosting the weekly dip-spit distance shot organizing…
You’ve got an anti-harassment policy. All managers and employees have copies and you just completed training on the policy for your entire workforce. Sweet! But is your policy bulletproof? I mean really bulletproof? And if an employee claims that a harasser lurks in your workplace, if sued, will a court…
Maybe it’s the luck of the draw, but most of the discrimination cases I defend are hostile work environment cases, where an alleged harasser supposedly has made an employee-victim’s life miserable with certain comments, jokes, gestures, touchings, you name it. Far less often do I encounter disparate-treatment claims. A…
[Editor’s Note: Because “Playing the Race Card” was already taken] The title of this post is comprised of the seven poorly-chosen words from a Vice President of Operations at a Detroit casino right before the casino terminated a white employee for allegedly botching supervision of a dealer card shuffle. What…
Readers of this blog know (here, here, and here) that if a disabled employee requests an indefinite leave of absence from work, the Americans with Disabilities Act does not require you to provide it. Why? Because that accommodation is not reasonable. [Editor’s note: Obsessed much, Eric? Three posts about the…