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The Employer Handbook Blog

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Court: Two butt grabs from a male boss would not offend an objectively, reasonable female

Welcome to Alabama, where they see your one-grope rule and raise you two grabs of the derriere. Why? Because, according to this recent federal court opinion, the average female employee would not find getting her ass grabbed twice by a male supervisor to be offensive. Now remember, that for a…

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A lawyer is literally starving himself to raise awareness for social media firings

Meet Delaware lawyer, Brian Zulberti. According to his website, back in 2013, after getting his DE bar license, Mr. Zulberti emailed every Delaware lawyer asking for information about job openings. In each email, he included this photo of himself in a sleeveless t-shirt. Mr. Zulberti claims that this mass email,…

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Employment at-will trumps the 2nd Amendment (Yes, you can fire the employee who shoots a gun at work)

In every one of the United States, except Montana, employment is at-will. This means that, absent a contract of employment for a specific period of time, you may fire an employee for any reason or no reason at all. (Not to be confused with “right to work” — more on…

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Dust off that resume when your students really “like” that Facebook post of your face on a beer label

Why, just last week, I was saying that the Facebook stupidity scale had shifted away from teachers in favor of bar/tavern staff. I stand corrected. For future reference, you can never go wrong with Vining the one-year-old slugger. Image Credit: Facebook

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For the love of God, bar owners! Train your employees not to liken beer to domestic violence.

  I used to say that teachers were the most irresponsible Facebook user group. Now, I’m leaning towards the bar and nightclub industry. Last month, a worker at a downtown Philadelphia bar displayed a Heineken chalkboard with the message “I like my beer like I like my violence… domestic.” to…

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An ADA accommodation just has to be reasonable — not the employee’s first choice

This is my son’s first year playing t-ball. The rules, in case you’re not familiar with them, are simple:  Everybody hits Everybody (eventually) rounds the bases Everybody scores Some games, my son wants to lead off. Some games, he wants to hit last. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter where he hits.…

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Two more states just made it illegal for employers to demand social media passwords

Within the past week, two states have passed laws, which will provide employees with more workplace protections. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure that the internet had yet arrived in either Oklahoma or Louisiana, the latter of which is still controlled by a French monarch, I’m fairly certain. (But since…

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Firing a sick employee just before she is FMLA-eligible is very risky

So, check this out. I read this case yesterday about an employee who provided her company with a November 12 doctor’s note, requesting that her hours be reduced due to her high-risk pregnancy. The employee would have become eligible for coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act on November…