The Employer Handbook Blog
No workplace is perfect. And the one I read about last night was far from it. Continue reading
Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment
A step-by-step guide on how to go from semi-pro hockey player to unemployed in just a few tweets.
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?
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Would your business ever refuse to hire applicants with obvious missing, broken, or badly discolored teeth?
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. Continue reading
For this employer, if only the EEOC’s hearing disability guidance had come out sooner
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 (HRA).
So, thank you, blogging gods, for the impeccable timing.
The EEOC has a new resource document for assisting individuals with hearing disabilities
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! Continue reading
Here is what makes equal pay claims so difficult to win
When a longtime government agency employee sued her employer for violating the Equal Pay Act, she argued that the defendant paid her male coworker more for “essentially the same job.” In her mind, their roles “were complementary and [their] duties equal.”
But that’s not enough to show prevail under the Equal Pay Act. Continue reading
Let’s talk about religious discrimination (and MORE!) with EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas at Noon ET today!!!
Over the past few years, employers encountered a spate of religious accommodations requests from employees seeking religious exemptions from getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Last week, plaintiffs filed a series of new lawsuits against a national drugstore chain, accusing it of failing to accommodate the religious beliefs of employees who objected to prescribing contraceptives and abortifacient drugs. This week, the Supreme Court has agreed to reexamine Title VII’s undue hardship standard, which may soon require more than a de minimis cost to the employer.
With so much going on with religious discrimination, the timing is perfect for welcoming EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas as today’s guest on The Employer Handbook Zoom Office Happy Hour at Noon ET. Continue reading
I’m not done with yesterday’s post yet. You need to hear about the retaliation claim!
On Wednesday, I blogged about a woman who worked as a “helper” for a construction company. She alleged that she had to endure misogynist comments from her general manager, who told her in front of others that, since she had “t*** and an a**,” she could not perform certain functions of her job that would otherwise position her for advancement within the company.
But that isn’t the half of it. Continue reading
Is it sex discrimination to assign a woman different tasks than a man in the same job?
A woman received a promotion at a construction company from laborer to helper. Helpers either work on the ground or “at elevation.” The woman had experience working at elevation at another company. She wanted to work at elevation again in her new job to improve her skills because advancements would bring pay raises and advance her craft.
But there was a problem. Continue reading