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The Employer Handbook BlogWill this time be the charm for some workplace bills recently reintroduced in Congress?
David Maiolo [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
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Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment
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Let’s be clear about this: a hangman’s noose is RACIST
Execution Sling Hanging Hangman Knot Penalty Rope
Many years ago, a man called me asking if I would represent him in a discrimination action against a company.
Now, you know me. I’m a management-side lawyer. I write a blog called The Employer Handbook. But, then he mentioned that someone had hung a hangman’s noose at his job site. He had pictures.
And he had my full attention. Continue reading
There’s a false rumor going around that a female employee slept her way to the top. Can she sue for sexual harassment?
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/yada-yada-board-insignificance-1432923/)
Let’s imagine that one of your female co-workers gets promoted. Shortly afterward, some of your male co-workers spread false rumors about how their recently-promoted colleague must have slept her way to the top.
Do you think that: (a) these rumors are gender-based, or (b) based upon false allegations of conduct?
The former could be the lynchpin to a viable sex-based hostile work environment claim. If it’s the latter, i.e., the rumors could have just as quickly been spread about a man, then the hostile work environment claim gets dismissed. Continue reading
Lower court reminds us that LGBT rights remain limited in the Third Circuit, well, except…
Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/pride-gay-nyc-new-york-city-flag-2444813/
A few weeks ago, a Pennsylvania federal judge reluctantly ruled in this case that discrimination based on sexual orientation is not unlawful (or you, could say, permissible) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Continue reading
EEOC: The equal-opportunity-groper defense is a bad one
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Nyttend [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
That is, if a manager or supervisor is mean to everyone, then it is unlikely that he or she has singled out a particular person based on that individual’s race, religion, national origin, etc.
It’s called the “equal opportunity jerk” defense. Continue reading
When do you have the file your EEO-1 this year?
We don’t talk much about the EEO-1 Report on this blog.
The EEO-1 is the federally-mandated survey of company employment data categorized by race/ethnicity, gender and job category Companies with 100 or more employees must file it each year. Certain federal contractors with 50 or more employees must file the EEO-1 too.
Now, some of you may be thinking, “Wait, what?” “Eric, did the recent government shutdown impact when our company needs to file the EEO-1?”
Indeed it did. Continue reading
Does New Jersey’s new equal pay law apply retroactively?
Image Credit: PXhere.com (https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1291014)
Last April, I was talking to an employee-rights attorney about the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, legislation in New Jersey that Governor Murphy had just signed. That’s the law requiring pay equality across all protected classes. Continue reading
Appellate court rules that age discrimination against certain job applicants is okay — sort of.
Image Credit: Pxhere.com (https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1445849)
Last week, the full Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued this decision in which it held that an outside job applicant cannot pursue a disparate impact claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
What does this mean in plain English?
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Girl Scout Cookies and Employment Law – Almost Everything That HR Needs To Know
Won’t you help little Ivy Meyer achieve her Girl Scout Cookies sales goal?
It’s that time of year again.
Coworkers have begun bombarding you with requests to purchase Girl Scout Cookies. So, in that spirit, let’s tackle:
- Whether unions will start organizing your workplace if you relax your no-solicitation policy to allow employees to sell Girl Scout Cookies;
- Can employees use your email system to proselytize if co-workers use it to sell Girl Scout Cookies; and
- A bonus discrimination case involving the sale of Girl Scout Cookies gone terribly wrong.
Another court greenlights discrimination claims for a medical marijuana user fired for failing a drug test
By xrmap flag collection – Based on image from xrmap flag collection 2.7, colors from image at World Flag Database, Public Domain, Link
In the United States, medical marijuana use is legal in 33 states and the District of Columbia. However, the laws governing the use of medical marijuana vary from state to state. Continue reading