Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

That’s what they said: Lotsa NLRB news, and an employment-law carnival

July 18, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

So much labor-and-employment-law news this week, I’ll do what I can to cram it into a single post. Here goes…

From Seth Borden at Labor Relations Today comes this news about the Senate agreeing to — gasp — seat a full five-member National Labor Relations Board. How could this happen? Something about a nuclear option ~~and compromising photos.~~.

Staying with the labor theme, Joel Barras at Employment Law Watch reports here about a recent advice memorandum from the NLRB’s General Counsel in which the GC concludes that employers must bargain with their unions before implementing new social media policies. No shock there.

Iowa S. Ct.: Upon review, firing the attractive female was not sex discrimination

July 15, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

So, by now, all of you must be familiar with the case in Iowa — I’ve blogged the heck out of it here and here — where the male dentist fired the attractive female hygienist, ostensibly because his wife was concerned that the hygienist’s continued employment might affect their marriage and because the dentist was concerned that he may eventually shag her.

Late last year, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously held (here) that there is no sex discrimination if a male employer terminates a long-time female employee because the employer’s wife, due to no fault of the employee, is concerned about the nature of the relationship between the employer and the employee.

Then, a few weeks ago, and after a lot of public scrutiny, the high court agreed to reconsider its unanimous ruling, which it did with this new opinion issued on Friday.

One step closer to federally-protected LGBT rights in the workplace

July 11, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Normally, I get my Thursday post fodder from the Wiggity Wiggity Wonky Wednesday edition of Cracked Magazine. Hard hitting stuff like “7 Dick Moves Everyone Pulled in Classic Video Games” and “The Worst Imaginary Friends to Be Stuck With.”

But, for today’s post, I read this newspaper called the Washington Post. I dunno. Must’ve sprung up overnight.

One its writers, Ruth Tam, writes here that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has cleared a bipartisan Senate committee:

Obesity as a workplace disability? One court bucks the trend and says no.

July 10, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

In mid-June, the American Medical Association concluded that obesity is a disease “requiring a range of medical interventions to advance obesity treatment and prevention.” This news led Jon Hyman at the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog to conclude that classification of obesity as a “disease” has huge employment law implications; namely, that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers would have to consider allowing for reasonable accommodations for obese employees. Indeed, even before the AMA guidance, a Louisiana court determined that morbid obesity was a disability under the ADA, thus requiring reasonable accommodation.

Well, last month, a state court in West Virginia concluded otherwise. More on this decision and its impact on employers after the jump…

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The one about the porta-potty harassment

July 5, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Hey, they can’t all be about Brazilian waxes and irresistible attraction. After the jump, we get down and dirty.

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YYYOUCH! Employee fired for refusing Brazilian wax claims sex discrimination.

July 3, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

You know, maybe I should have gone with the porta-potty-harassment post that I originally had planned for today. Nah. My analytics tell me that my best-received posts have a common theme: crotch and Brazil. Besides, everyone knows that nothing says Friday like a porta-potty post. Just wait ’til Friday.

So today, after the jump, let’s wax poetic, shall we?

(Ouch, again).

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Supreme Court DOMA ruling “In Plain English”; impact on employers

June 27, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Want an explanation of yesterday Supreme Court decision regarding challenges to California’s ban on same-sex marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, check out Amy Howe’s analysis “In Plain English” at SCOTUSblog.com.

And for more on yesterday’s decision and the impact it may have on your business, check out:

Lyle Denniston’s recap at SCOTUSblog.com
Danielle Kurtzleben’s report on the impact DOMA may have on your workplace
“DOMA Ruling Means Changes Loom for Employers” from Lauren Weber at WSJ.com
“Post-DOMA, Employers Face HR Challenges” from Shannon Green at Corporate Counsel
“Now What? Employer Benefits Obligations Post-DOMA” from Stephen Miller, CEBS at SHRM.org

Employee teased with small penis jokes has a viable sexual harassment claim

June 26, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

[Whichever one of you had the voodoo doll positioned in such a way that wouldn’t allow me to pun this lede, I’m gonna git you sucka!]

In Hayes v. Erickson Air-Crane, Co. (opinion here), a male plaintiff was constantly barraged with small penis nicknames from his male co-workers ranging from “little jimi” to “tiny tim” to “dodgeball” (based on Ben Stiller’s White Goodman character). He didn’t like it, and sued.

The Court found that, based on this behavior, a jury could find that the plaintiff could potentially prevail on his sexual harassment claims because a jury may find that he was subjected to unwelcome sexual comments that were pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment.

Supreme Court delivers two — count ’em TWO — wins for employers

June 25, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

This week, I am on vacation. The Supreme Court didn’t get my memo. Fine. But, I’m not putting down my beer to write this post. So, you get a one-handed rundown of the two employment-law decisions the court issued yesterday.