Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

This is why HR should timely document employee issues

December 29, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

Last week, a federal appellate court (here) allowed a white assistant manager to pursue claims of reverse race discrimination against a bank because the reasons that the bank offered to the court for firing the plaintiff did not jibe with the documentation in its own file. Oh, wait a minute, there was zero documentation in the file.

I smell some trouble for the employer and some good lessons for my business readers, after the jump, of course…

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Age discrimination: It’s not rocket science.

December 28, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

Oh, Meyer, where are you going with this one?

Well, it’s my chance to play a little GnR after the jump while reminding my awesome employer readers about what it takes for an employee to actually prove a claim of age discrimination.

(Hint: It’s not easy)…

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“Sex-plus” discrimination: Illegal? Yes. But what the heck is it?

December 27, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

I have no idea. I was hoping that one of you could help me out.

Oh, wait, I’m supposed to be the expert here. Ok. Fine. I’ll play some music and dish the deets — hint, it has something to do with the picture — after the jump…

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Your employee has migraines and can’t work. But is she disabled?

December 23, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

2910430696_fa78d71d8f_m The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits covered employers from discriminating against job applicants and employees on the basis of a disability. What is a disability, you ask? A disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.”

If your employee suffers from severe migraines that prohibit the employee from working, does the employee have a disability? Good question. It just depends on what “working” means. Click through and I have a good answer from a recent federal court decision…

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Fail! NYU prof fired for giving actor James Franco a “D”?

December 21, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

I need to come clean with y’all. TMZ.com is one of my guilty pleasures. Don’t hate!

And you should have seen the beaming smile on my face on Monday when when I got some blogging gold as TMZ ran a story about a former college professor at NYU who claims that the school discriminated against him by firing him for, among other things, giving actor James Franco a “D”.

The monkey’s out of the bottle now! More after the jump…

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Nothing good comes of forcing employees to go to brothels

December 19, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

And, then, there are those that allegedly do. It is on those occasions that this blog can practically write itself.

Take, for example, AutoNation. According to a complaint recently filed in California state court — well, let’s just say that AutoNation better have some good lawyers.

A copy of the complaint and some crazazy unlawful harassment — allegedly, of course — follows after the jump. Along with a few employer tips on same-sex harassment.

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Can an employer discriminate against an obese employee?

December 12, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

There is no federal law that specifically prohibits obesity discrimination. But is the Americans with Disabilities Act broad enough to cover discrimination against the obese? Well, if you read my blog regularly — Hi Dad! — you know that a hyper-obese Homer Simpson is not disabled, but this 680-pound Texas may be. So, we need a tiebreaker! And, it just so happens that I have one, after the jump…

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What are the consequences of ignoring a written handbook policy?

December 9, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

What’s the point of having a written handbook policy if you aren’t going to follow it? Better yet, what are the consequences of not following that handbook policy?

(Hint: they’re bad).

Find out why after the jump…

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Will ya just retire already? No, but I’ll sue for age discrimination.

December 8, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

Back in August, I blogged about a case where a federal court held that an employer inquiring about an employee’s retirement plans, alone, does not discriminate on the basis of age. But what about relentlessly browbeating a plaintiff into retiring? Could that be age discrimination? What do you think, Brett? Find out after the jump…

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Older employees who share porn at work lose age bias claims

December 5, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

Your employees view pornography. Well, some of them do.

I know this may be a shock to some. And if you are one of those people, and you run a business in one of the mid-Atlantic states, give me a call. We should talk sometime. Then, I’ll hit you over the head with a proverbial tack-hammer.

Until then, over the next two days, I’ll address two recent examples of where nekkid pix caused employees to lose lawsuits against their former employers. The first case — an age discrimination matter — follows after the jump

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