Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

This may just be the greatest union-avoidance banner evah!

March 21, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Yesterday, I read with interest Jon Hyman’s post at the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog about how Target has employed a 14-minute training video to help keep its workplace union free. Gawker has posted a copy of the video here. Like a bear crapping in the woods, Gawker pokes fun of the Target video. Cheesiness aside, I find it to be pretty effective.

But Target ain’t got nothing on Subaru of Wichita. (h/t Jeff Nowak)

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Democrats seek to undo 2013 Supreme Court ruling defining workplace “supervisor”

March 18, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for CapitolHill.jpg Has the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Vance v. Ball State been keeping you up at night?

*** logs IP numbers; obtains restraining orders ***

Well, ok. I can see why some of you are sour on the 2013 Supreme Court decision holding that an employee is a “supervisor” for purposes of vicarious liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only if he or she is empowered by the employer to take tangible employment actions against the victim.

Is it unreasonable to tell your boss to stop sexually harassing you?

March 17, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

I can actually feel the daggers that some of you are staring into me.

So, please allow me to ~~reintroduce myself. My name is H-O~~ explain.

How to demonstrate sexual harassment

Check out the new EEOC guidance on workplace religious accommodations

March 10, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for EEOC.jpg Late last year, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission scored a big victory when a federal judge found apparel company Abercrombie & Fitch liable for religious discrimination when it fired a Muslim employee for wearing her hijab (a religious headscarf) in the workplace, rather than accommodating her religious beliefs.

On the heels of this win, the EEOC has just issued new guidance about how federal employment discrimination law applies to religious dress and grooming practices, and what steps employers can take to meet their legal responsibilities in this area.

You can view the press release here, a fact sheet here, and a FAQ here.

Employee wins sexual harassment case. (Employee is a prostitute)

March 6, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

[Cue music]

“Yes! Meyer is finally playing Five Finger Death Punch!”

— Not a single one of you

The National Football League’s proposed “N”-word penalty: too far, or not far enough?

March 4, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

In a few weeks, the National Football League owners are going to consider a proposed rule governing the use of the “N”-word during a football game. If the rule goes into effect, any team with a player who uses the “N”-word during a game, will be assessed a 15-yard penalty.

Players, young and old, disagree on the rule.

Here are Michael Wilbon and Jason Whitlock from ESPN’s Outside the Lines debating the merits of the proposed new rule.

Choking a female co-worker and telling her she likes it rough could be sexual harassment

March 3, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

But, faced with those facts, that didn’t stop one employer from moving for summary judgment and asking the court to dismiss a female employee’s claims of sexual harassment.

Could the company have possibly prevailed? Find out after the jump…

Oh wait, before we jump, I left out the part where the plaintiff claimed that her male co-worker also told her, “I’ll have you cum before you get your pants off.”

And then there’s the time when that same co-worker said, “Hey! we got your Christmas present!” whereby he held up a vibrating tool and thrust it towards the plaintiff’s genitals.

And what about the other male co-worker who would routinely come up from behind the plaintiff, lean in and smell her in a sexual fashion while pushing his groin into her?

Or when another male co-worker said to the plaintiff, “I just like fucking with you, why would I want to get you fired? I would miss watching that ass of yours!”

Ok, now we can jump and play did the employer get the case dismissed on summary judgment?

* * *

Mohawks in the workplace aren’t gay. Stupid, but not gay.

February 26, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Three years at this blog without discussing mohawk hairstyles in the workplace. Now, two posts in one week. Which reminds me of the time I dressed up as BA Baracus for Halloween in law school

Ah, yes. That mohawk….and BA’s fear of flying. Ties right into today’s post.

(I love it when a plan comes together)

“May it please the Court. Being overweight is just like having a neon-green mohawk.”

February 21, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

That’s how I start my next oral argument when defending a claim made under the Americans with Disabilities that one of my employer clients regarded an overweight plaintiff as disabled.

So, who wants some of what I’m drinking today?

Hey, it’s peppermint tea, jerk! And I’m not pulling this blog lede out of my butt. Well, not completely, I’m not.

Well, that’s a messed up workplace religious accommodation request

February 20, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Here’s a little HR Pro Tip from your old pal, Eric.

If, around Halloween time, an employee requests permission to hand out bags of candy containing “gospel tracts,” which depict Muslims and Catholics and state that they should all go to hell, you just go ahead reject that religious-accommodation request.

(More on religious accommodations here)