Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

Bah-gawd, those were two hecka-expensive bottles of orange juice!

August 8, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Agricultural Research Service ([1]) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Three strikes and you’re out.

For one variety store chain accused of failing to accommodate and then firing a diabetic cashier who had to take a few bottles of orange juice from the store refrigerator to avoid seizing or passing out, well, the company swung hard!

Motion for Summary Judgment (whiff!)
Jury trial (whiff!)
Appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (steeeeeeeerike three!)

Could an unhealthy Snapchat selfie addiction spiral into an ADA workplace disability?

August 7, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/snapchat-mobile-phone-social-media-1374859/)

A recent American Medical Association study suggests that it could. Continue reading

Fact or Fiction: The ADA requires accommodating an employee to care for a relative with a disability?

August 3, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/question-mark-note-duplicate-457454/)

That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.” Continue reading

Uncertainty in a major transgender-bias SCOTUS case, and an EEOC Commissioner speaks her mind on LGBT rights and religious liberty.

August 2, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pexels.com (https://www.pexels.com/photo/alone-bed-bedroom-blur-271897/)

Usually, after my kids go to bed is when I write my blog posts for the following day. Last night that didn’t happen. Instead, while putting my two boys to bed, I fell asleep on the spare bed in their room. #Parenting

So, I apologize for the tardy post today. Continue reading

Racist road rage ends badly for road-rager who claims that he’s not a racist.

August 1, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/car-furious-automobile-angry-face-155789/)

We’ve all been there.

You’re driving, someone cuts you off, and you give ’em a piece of your mind. Maybe even a four-letter word.

But, that’s where your bout of road rage ends.

Except, that’s not where it ended for a driver in Ohio. And he’s really regretting it. Maybe, because it cost him his business.

2.5 million reasons not to refer to black employees as ‘slaves’ or fire them after they complain to HR

July 31, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/south-beach-miami-florida-sunset-891749/)

In terms of workplace issues, #MeToo and sexual harassment have dominated the headlines in 2018. Most recently, John Oliver covered these subjects on his show and Jon Hyman has a robust discussion going on right now on LinkedIn in which I encourage you to weigh in.

Perhaps aspirationally, Jon wonders whether the collective spotlight on #MeToo will help end the problem.

Meanwhile, in the shadows lurk some pretty sickening instances and allegations of other forms of god-awful, in-your-face, no-doubt-about-it discrimination. Continue reading

A Native American claimed that Washington Redskins chatter at work was racist. But, can she win her lawsuit?

July 30, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Keith Allison [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

The Washington Redskins are a bad National Football League franchise.

I’m not talking about the name of the team yet. We’ll get to that.

I’m mean last year’s 7-9 Washington Redskins. Like fans of the Dallas Cowboys, the tell-tale sign of Redskins fans is their depressing nostalgia for when the team was competitive and won a few Super Bowl rings a hecka-long time ago. Let’s face it. It’s been a dismal few decades for this poor excuse for a football team since Daniel Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999. They have just six winning seasons since then.

Another way to spot a shameless Washington Redskins fan in public is in team merch with the polarizing name and mascot. For many years, there has been controversy over the Washington Redskins name and logo. To many football fans, “Washington Redskins” just rolls off the shoulders. To others — especially Native Americans — “Washington Redskins” is considered derogatory and racist.

What happens when a Native American employee in Washington, DC is surrounded by Washington Redskins paraphernalia in the office and co-workers discussing the team at work?

RIP Ann Hopkins

July 20, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/40th/panel/hopkins.html, Public Domain, Link

Yesterday’s blog post highlighted the blistering dissent of Eleventh Circuit judge Hon. Robin S. Rosenbaum, as she criticized her colleagues for passing on the opportunity to reconsider whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. In Judge Rosenbaum’s opinion, Title VII does afford those protections based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. In that case, the Court concluded that sex stereotyping violates Title VII. (It follows that Title VII precludes discrimination based on sexual orientation because of the failure to conform to the gender-based stereotype of loving someone of the opposite sex. Continue reading

A federal appellate court judge is 😤steamed😤 that her colleagues won’t address gay rights at work

July 19, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Eoghanacht [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Here’s a little taste of Hon. Robin S. Rosenbaum giving her colleagues from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals a piece of her mind:

The issue this case raises—whether Title VII protects gay and lesbian individuals from discrimination because their sexual preferences do not conform to their employers’ views of whom individuals of their respective genders should love—is indisputably en-banc-worthy…. I cannot explain why a majority of our Court is content to rely on the precedential equivalent of an Edsel with a missing engine, when it comes to an issue that affects so many people.

So, how many of you think that your HR Generalists need to come to work all the time? Read this post.

July 18, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Arunkumar Umapathy [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

In yesterday’s post about an Americans with Disabilities Act case, I quipped about how the first paragraph of the Sixth Circuit’s opinion foreshadowed a bad outcome for the plaintiff.

Here were are again.

Another ADA case. Another Sixth Circuit appeal (Hostettler v. College of Wooster – opinion here). Another request for a modified work schedule. And another unsuccessful plaintiff at the lower court.

But, this wasn’t just any plaintiff. Continue reading