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Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

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Can a non-employee sue under Title VII as the target of the retaliation against his child?

Image Credit: https://pixy.org/528010/ I’ve got a hypothetical situation for you. ABC employs Sally. Sally’s father, John, is a third-party vendor who sells widgets to ABC. One day, Sally files a charge of discrimination with the EEOC against ABC, claiming to be the victim of gender discrimination. Eventually, Sally resigns and…

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Here is a page from the COVID-19 ADA accommodation playbook

By John Dorwin – <span class=”int-own-work” lang=”en”>Own work</span>, Public Domain, Link In its recent COVID-19 Americans with Disabilities Act guidance, the U.S.  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission encouraged that employers be flexible in determining accommodations for employees during the pandemic. Some suggestions included temporary job restructuring of marginal job duties, temporary…

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1,250,000 reasons to take all complaints of race discrimination seriously

Two black employees complain to a supervisor that a white co-worker is taunting them with racial pejoratives. What do you do? Take the complaint seriously, investigate, and take other steps that are reasonably designed to end the complained-of behavior, nothing, or ignore the complaint, just like the racist graffiti of…

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Can a business legally require face masks in the workplace? Would sarcasm change the answer?

Image by Hatice EROL from Pixabay Let’s find out… Face mask mandates have spawned a spate of lawsuits by patrons of restaurants and grocery stores. Are face mask mandates akin to “no shirt, no shoes, no service”? Or is there something more when requiring face masks? Shout out to Jelisa…

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An indefinite leave of absence may be an ADA reasonable accommodation. Wait, WHAT?!?

Image by ErikaWittlieb from Pixabay As employment lawyers, we counsel clients that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to requests for reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Indeed, they are very fact-specific. Although, there is one fundamental immutable truth; namely, a request for an indefinite leave of absence is…

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COVID-19 doesn’t prevent claims of sexual harassment. Just ask a certain hockey mascot. 🏒🦁

Santeri Viinamäki / CC BY-SA We’re in the middle of a pandemic. While telework and ‘social distancing’ don’t eliminate the possibility of a sexual harassment claim, let’s face it, we’re not exactly in the same #MeToo world as we were last year. But that doesn’t mean that businesses can take…

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It’s a mini COVID-19 Q and A! (Before I see y’all on Zoom today at Noon EDT.)

Marcin Wichary / CC BY Before we see what’s in the mailbag, here’s your final reminder to register (here) for today’s free Zoom session at Noon EDT today with me and some of my friends from the EEOC. We’re going to be talking mediation, pro-tips, and the new pilot program.…

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Must you consider transferring a problem employee before lumping him in a COVID-19 reduction in force?

Bjornsphoto / CC BY I’m reminded of the Mötley Crüe hit Same ‘Ol Situation (S.O.S.). The actual lyrics have nothing to do with employment law — sexual harassment, maybe? — but I digress… The song title carries a little HR lesson today; namely, just because your company is going through…

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I have new guidance for employees struggling with substance abuse issues during this pandemic

(U.S. Air Force photo illustration/Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner) Technically, the new guidance is from the EEOC. But, since this is my blog, I’ll take credit for sharing it. Before I detail this new guidance, I’ve got some other big EEOC news! That is, several of my friends from…