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The Employer Handbook Blog

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Hey Handbook! Do we have to let our employee bring his emotional-support peacock to work?

Image Credit: Pexels.com Bet you weren’t expecting that, were you? No, peacocks can’t fly…commercial. Several news outlets are reporting that a major US airline refused to allow an emotional-support animal to board a plane at Newark Airport this weekend with its human companion. Daniella Silva’s quip from her report on…

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Plaintiff’s discrimination claim foiled by Instagram filters

Image Credit: By Ragesoss (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsHR compliance has evolved from FMLA facebook posts to 16 shades of Instagram hair.  But first, The Simpsons. There’s an episode of The Simpsons from its third season called “Homer at the Bat.” One of the series’ greatest…

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Would you fire an employee for something she posted on Facebook … back in high school?

Image Credit: By lil wayne (Youtube) [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsI know of one employer that did (allegedly) [Cue music] Fired for posting rap lyrics back in high school. Over the weekend, I read this story from Jessi Turnure on ArkansasMatters.com in which Ms. Turnure reports that the Little Rock Police…

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HR to Vietnamese job applicant, ‘If you no speak English, I will send you home’

Image Credit: Pixabay.com Filed under: WTH HR I don’t have a SHRM-CP or a SHRM-SCP. Heck, I don’t have any HR certifications whatsoever. All I have is my Juris Doctorate ***Googles “Juris Doctorate”*** Yes, that’s what I have. And I specialize in employment law to boot. At least that’s what it says in my…

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A lesson on workplace drug testing and opioids

Image Credit: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trileptal_tablets.jpg) CC BY-SA 3.0, Link One of your potential hires just completed a five-panel drug test as a condition of employment, and he tested positive for opioids. What do you do? Did your company violate the law by using a drug screen that detects opioids? No. It didn’t.…

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Will the Supreme Court sip from the FMLA ‘Holy Grail’?

Image Credit: danielle_blue on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/82705783@N00/101958911) CC BY-SA 2.0, Link Okayyyyyy! Oh, hold up. Not that Holy Grail. Back in September, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals gift-wrapped an FMLA opinion for local employers. I blogged about it here. In Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc. (here), the Seventh Circuit held that “a multimonth…

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My list of most likely candidates to take an FMLA day in Philly yesterday #FlyEaglesFly

Image Credit: Jack Kurzenknabe on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/painting-with-pixels/11354248055) I teased it yesterday when I speculated that Monday may be a pretty big Family and Medical Leave Act day around Philadelphia. To back up my hypothesis, I scoured Twitter and YouTube for some likely candidates. I hope that you have fun with…

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Get ready PA employers! Governor Tom Wolf just proposed an overtime overhaul.

Image Credit: Photofunia.com Who is still breathing a sigh of relief that the proposed U.S. Department of Labor overtime rules never took effect? Not so fast Pennsylvania employers. You may want to take a deep breath and start clutching your pearls. New Overtime Rules in PA On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Governor…

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New Jersey’s new governor wastes no time going after equal pay and gender equity issues.

Image Credit: www.publicdomainpictures.net (License: CC0 Public Domain) Well, that sure was fast. [Cue music] On Tuesday, Phil Murphy assumed the office of Governor of the State of New Jersey. My first official act as governor would have been making sure that all of the washrooms in Office of the Governor…