Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

EEOC reaches historic $200K settlement on its first sexual orientation bias lawsuit

June 27, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

In early March, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed its first lawsuits, in which it alleged that employer had violated Title VII by discriminating based on sexual orientation.

Late last week, one of those lawsuits settled.

Can you fire someone for getting divorced? Once court says no.

June 23, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

In this unanimous 6-0 decision on Tuesday, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that employers cannot let any of the following motivate an employment decision:

being single;
getting engaged;
marriage;
a break up;
divorce; or
recently widowed

EEOC: It’s time for your company to re-imagine anti-harassment training

June 21, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Welp, it looks like there’s still plenty of time for me to get my money’s worth on creepy Wikipedia stock images of sexual harassment — Thank you By Leon israel – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38824206. Continue reading

These sample employer-wellness program notices will make you the envy of all your HR friends

June 17, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Want to sit at the cool table next week at SHRM16? Well, I’ll be there. So, if you’d like the secret password or just want to meet a real blogging-employment-lawyer legend in person, email me. (Yes, I’ll have some swag).

Or, head over the EEOC’s website, print out this Sample ADA Notice for your employer-sponsored wellness program, and memorize the EEOC’s “Questions and Answers: Sample Notice for Employees Regarding Employer Wellness Programs.”

Then, while the rest of those nerds are Snapchatting about Strategizing Radical Change by Becoming a Disruptive Leader, show ’em some side eye, and bask in your ADA/GINA compliance.

NJ Supremes: You can’t shorten the time for employees to file discrimination lawsuits

June 16, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

About two years ago, I blogged here about this decision from the NJ Superior Court, Appellate Division, where the court held that an employer and employee could agree to shorten the statute of limitations on employment claims. For example, in Rodriguez v. Raymours Furniture Company, Inc., conspicuously placed in its application materials, was language requiring that any employment-related lawsuit against Raymours be filed within six months of whenever the claim arose. Thus, if one of these employees was later discriminated against, he would have to file his lawsuit within six months (rather than within two years, as New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination permits).

EEOC has some new pregnancy discrimination resources to feed your HR brain

June 15, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Head on over to the EEOC’s website (here) to check out:

HR 101: The Americans with Disabilities Act and the importance of good job descriptions

June 13, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Since all of you have mastered reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, this post seems rather unnecessary.

Oh, that’s weird. Why is the there smoke billowing from my blog servers?

(Although that could still be there from last Friday).

30,000 reasons to review your job applications now for unlawful questions

June 9, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

There is a growing trend across the country for employers to remove job-application questions about criminal-record history. Ban the Box notwithstanding, other common job application no-no’s continue to trip up certain employers.

New EEOC lawsuit highlights the discrimination risks of mandatory flu shots

June 7, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Last week, the EEOC announced (here) that it had filed this lawsuit against a Massachusetts employer, in which it alleges that the company violated federal law when it refused to effectively accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs.