The Employer Handbook

Articles Posted in Religion

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Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

It’s bad enough when a federal judge refers to a plaintiff-employee’s behavior towards her manager as “harassing, stalking, disturbing, and menacing.” And, I apologize that I didn’t have enough room in the title of this blog post to mention the plaintiff’s profanity and fighting at work, or her arrests for drunk driving and drug possession.

So, you’d think that the plaintiff would cut and run after the district court dismissed her claims for pregnancy, sex, race, and religious discrimination claims. But, the plaintiff who referred to herself at work as “crazy” and “psycho” decided to appeal to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

And how do you think that went for the plaintiff? Continue reading

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On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board announced that it will revamp union-election rules to “better ensure the opportunity for litigation and resolution of unit scope and voter eligibility issues.” In other words, it’s a very employer-friendly move. You can read all about it here, here, here, here, and here.

But, a smart guy like me knows that union-themed blog posts generally go over like wet farts here. So, I’m going to pivot into discussing a Supreme Court filing last week from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that slipped under the radar. It’s one that could change the way businesses must make religious accommodations for employees in the workplace. Continue reading

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Having avoided sepsis and other O’Hare carpet-related food contamination, the Meyer Family arrived in London yesterday, dominated some fish and chips (not pictured above) in Soho, and is gearing up for a full day of sightseeing and shenanigans today.

So, with the kids in bed and me at the computer sipping a 330 ml British IPA — God Bless America and it’s full 12 oz beer cans, yeah, I Googled the conversion rate — I have a little time to blog. Continue reading

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Image by Michel Oeler from Pixabay

We’re going to quiz you today on workplace religious accommodations.

(If you fail, instead of sending Tommy Boy, I’ll call the HR police to your office to tear up your SHRM-CP certification into little, tiny pieces, which we will then use to fill eggs to throw at your home on Mischief Night. Then, after you’ve finished cleaning up your shame, you can come to work on Halloween in costume as an ‘HR professional’ and we’ll all have another good laugh, and maybe give you a piece of candy.) Continue reading

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Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/vectors/devil-red-demon-cartoon-satan-29973/)

Howard Stern interviewed Alec Baldwin recently. Mr. Baldwin was talking about going to anger management classes and realizing quickly that, well, he’s really not that angry. At least not compared to some of the other folks required to attend anger management classes.

Now, consider your most pain-the-butt, problem employee.

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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.

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“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”