The Employer Handbook Blog
Anti-discrimination law focuses on the impact that bad acts have on victims, not on whether the actor intended the consequences of his actions. That’s why many employment lawyers caution employer-clients against second chances for employees that do things that others perceive as discriminatory.
Articles Posted in Religion
Three important employment law lessons from ViacomCBS firing Nick Cannon for anti-Semitic remarks
Earlier this week, ViacomCBS announced that it had severed ties with Nick Cannon over anti-Semitic remarks he made recently on this episode of his YouTube podcast “Cannon’s Class.” Continue reading
The “harassing, stalking, disturbing, and menacing” plaintiff lost her discrimination case. Go figure.
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
Big changes may be coming to the way your business makes religious accommodations for employees
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
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
Imagine if your trainees ended class with a celebratory Nazi salute
Image Credit: West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety
This is a photo from a West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety basic training program. And the you-know-what has hit the fan! Continue reading
Was the plaintiff too Jewish to get a job in Ohio? Or was it something else? (Spoiler alert: Something else)
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
‘You better finish off your work quick, or I’ll ship you all off to the gas chambers.’
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
Said a grade school teacher (allegedly) to her class of 28 ten-year-olds, 11 of whom are Jewish. Continue reading
I’ll send Tommy back there to hit you in the head with a tack hammer if you get this HR compliance question wrong.
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
There are better ways to improve employee morale than with exorcisms and sex questionnaires, I’m told.
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.