They can’t all begin with a priest, minister and a rabbi walking into a bar. Then again, it’s “Religious Accommodation Tuesday” here at The Employer Handbook. So, after the jump, we’ll discuss the test to determine whether an employee may lawfully don religious items at work and find out whether the…
Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment
HR Manager emails bolster employee’s ADEA and FMLA claims
Documentation is good; smoking-gun emails from the HR Manager not so much. After the jump, I’ve got a few doozies which now have a financial institution going to trial on a former employee’s age-discrimination and Family and Medical Leave Act claims. * * * In Phillips v. StellarOne Bank (opinion…
Egyptian-born FBI agent + post-9/11 transfer = discrimination claim
I am an F….B…..I…. Agent! And if anyone wants to get me this iPad case for Christmas… Wait, what was I supposed to be writing about? Oh yeah, national-origin discrimination. I’ll get it together for you after the jump… * * * Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian-born American citizen, claimed that…
Fact or Fiction: The ADA requires creating a new job for a disabled employee
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.” Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer is required to provide a reasonable accommodation, if doing so will allow…
Recipient of nasty racial slurs from an office friend loses bias claim
What if I told you that a female black employee was called “monkey” and “nappy head Raggedy Ann” at work? What if I then told you that the employee subsequently sued in New Jersey state court; quite possibly the most plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction in the U.S. — next to California? And…
The EEOC’s subpoena power is crazazy broad. Wooo!!!
On behalf of an illiterate man, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigated a Charge of Discrimination against a MD employer, which allegedly had a literacy policy that violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (by discriminating against qualified individuals with learning disabilities). As part of its investigation, the…
Retaliatory voodoo, Courtney Love, and lots of unpaid $$$
Sounds like a bad batch of Pennyroyal Tea. Just another Tuesday here at the ole Handbook. <div style=”text-align: right;”>The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting here that Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain’s widow, is reuniting the band ** thank you for sparing our ear holes ** being sued by a former assistant…
It’s tough to prove age bias after getting caught sleeping on the job
I was reading this Third Circuit decision yesterday about an employee who got demoted for sleeping on the job, and all I could think of was Homer Simpson. For not unlike Homer J., a nuclear safety technician, this employee was responsible for monitoring his plant’s equipment to prevent malfunctions that could…
Healthcare, what? Eyeball 3 other pending employment law bills
I heard that there was some Supreme Court decision yesterday about healthcare. Want the scoop? Google it. They zig, I’ll zag with the scoop on some other pending employment-law legislation of which employers should take note…after the jump… * * * Courtesy of the Washington DC Employment Law Update, pay…
One roughneck’s life: sex jokes, gay innuendo, all legal.
When Harold Wasek signed on to work at an oil rig in Pennsylvania, he had no idea what lay in store for him, especially when one of his co-workers discovered that Wasek would get easily riled with sexually explicit stories, jokes, fantasies, and names. “You’ve got such a pretty mouth.”…