The Employer Handbook

Articles Posted in Gender

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A lawyer claimed that his employer had discriminated against him based on his race, color, gender, and age, when it terminated his employment and filled a position nearly identical to that which he held prior to his termination with a younger, African-American woman. So he sued.

Oh, I forgot one important fact. By the time he sued, the lawyer-plaintiff had already signed a severance agreement and release (the “Release”). Continue reading

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Fred the Oyster [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the first hits when you Google ‘resignation letter’ is this career advice from Monster. The job board offers some tips for crafting a letter of resignation, among them: a statement of intent that you will be leaving your job, the date of your last day on the job, and your contact info. One of the optional items Monster suggests including is a highlight of your time there.

Monster’s advice is pretty spot on. Except, that is, when the individual later decides to assert claims of hostile work environment and constructive discharge.

Because, as you’ll find out in this post, nothing undermines those claims like a thoughtful resignation letter. Continue reading

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pink-lingerie

Image Credit: http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/14339

A few decades ago, some men sued Hooters Restaurant, claiming that the purveyor of chicken wings, burgers, beer, and shapely female servers in tight, revealing outfits, was discriminating against males who were denied employment as servers.

That case resolved in 1997, with Hooters serving up a multi-million dollar settlement and opening up a few gender-neutral positions at the restaurant.

But, not servers. Continue reading

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Image Credit: Tommy Boy (screenshot from Vimeo.com)

Last week, I wavered about whether to include a line from Tommy Boy in a brief that I was drafting:

“I tell ya what. If you don’t know how to fasten your seatbelt, just raise your hand and I’ll have Tommy Boy here come back there and hit you in the head with a tack hammer.”

Ultimately, I decided that it was bad form. One could reasonably construe my use of that quote as antagonizing and bit snarky. Moi?!?

So, I’m using it for this blog post instead. Continue reading

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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

I live and work about 100 miles northeast of Baltimore, MD.

I don’t have my finger on the pulse of everything that’s going on in the Charm City. However, I do know that the City’s 50th mayor, Catherine Pugh, had a bad run there at the end. She resigned on May 2, which was about a week after the FBI and IRS conducted multiple raids relating to her business affairs. You can read all about it here.

The purpose of today’s post is not to pile onto Ms. Pugh. Instead, I want to focus on another related separation of employment and a lesson for your workplace.

Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”