I won’t bury the lede. Here’s the takeaway from this post. If an employer doesn’t know that an employee is pregnant, it can’t possibly discriminate against her because she is pregnant. That’s pretty much what happened in this 11th Circuit decision that I read last night. Here are the pertinent…
I’ve got some ‘splaining to do before we get into the meat and potatoes. First, if a company fires someone because they complain about discrimination, that’s retaliation. It doesn’t matter if the firing happens a day, week, month, or year later. If the complaint motivates the adverse employment action, and you get…
I read on the U.S. Department of Labor website that unions help employees improve the workplace with “enhancements” such as “flexible scheduling, protections against harassment and safer working conditions – that improve the quality of jobs and workers’ well-being.” However, a union non-profit that touts itself as a provider of help to workers…
There’s a reason that they don’t teach “clairvoyance” in HR certification courses. (Although, it would be nice to have it to avoid some hires, amirite?) Attendance issues lead to termination of employment. The plaintiff in the Sixth Circuit decision I read last night had attendance issues. Bad ones. Beginning in…
No workplace is perfect. And the one I read about last night was far from it. The plaintiff, who is black, alleged that one of her coworkers called her “loud and black” and “ghetto” behind her back. She further claimed that another coworker repeatedly used the N-word in the office…
It’s 2023. When are employees going to learn that while the First Amendment does guarantee freedom of speech, there is no constitutional right to a job, and employers don’t have to tolerate employee hate speech? Our recent addition to the unemployment line is a semi-professional hockey player in Illinois. He…
I’m exhausted. As much as I prepared for this at the gym over the past several weeks, I must admit that climbing greased telephone polls on Broad Street after the Philadelphia Eagles advanced to the Super Bowl took its toll on my quads. So, I will enjoy the big win…
Unless you run a dental practice, I can’t imagine why a fetching, toothy smile would be a job qualification. But, apparently, a large chain of gas/convenience stores has that policy. In writing. (Although, there is an exception for people with a disability.) I can only imagine the job interview: “Hey,…
Yesterday, I told you about the EEOC’s new resource document for assisting individuals with hearing disabilities. Today, I’ll tell you how the Second Circuit Court of Appeals breathed new life into the failure-to-accommodate claims of a deaf individual who worked as a case manager for a city’s Human Resources Administration…
If you’re an employment law nerd like me, in addition to being the envy of your neighborhood, you also know that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not shy away from bringing failure-to-accommodate claims on behalf of deaf individuals. Look at all of them! With limited resources at its…