Articles Posted in Retaliation

Or, at least, when you honestly believe that one of your employees is masturbating in the parking lot.

(Unless, of course, you’re like by buddy Fred, who operates Parking Lot Self-Gratification, LLC).

Let’s just pretend that parenthetical remained in my head, ok?

After the jump, it’s a lesson on the law of retaliation involving the case of a school district employee who was fired for allegedly masturbating in a car…in the school parking lot…during school hours. And he claimed that his firing was retaliatory in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Allow that to sink in for a sec, then hit jump while I kiss the head of my golden blogging statuette and rub her belly…

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Just another HR Pro Tip from your old buddy, Meyer. Hey, what would you guys do without me?

Sage advice for American businesses coming up after the jump…

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Earlier this year, the EEOC filed a federal lawsuit against CVS in which it claimed that drugstore chain “conditioned the receipt of severance benefits for certain employees on an overly broad severance agreement set forth in five pages of small print.” Specifically, the EEOC took issue with several common provisions that you guys probably use in your severance agreements:

• a general release;
• a non-disparagement obligation;
• a confidentiality provision;
• a covenant not to sue; or
• a cooperation clause

But don’t go throwing your severance agreements in the trash just yet.

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See how a federal appellate court shut out a plaintiff’s claims of retaliation after she was fired for forwarding confidential documents to herself, purportedly to preserve evidence for an age-discrimination lawsuit filed by a former coworker.

What I did there, you see that?

After the jump…

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Just in case you thought that the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission uses a soft touch towards any business that may discriminate — let alone a charity.

Earlier this week, the EEOC announced here that Goodwill Industries will pay $100,000 to settle a long-standing retaliation lawsuit.

In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that Goodwill retaliated against a worker by firing her after she testified on behalf of another Goodwill employee in a previous federal sex and age discrimination lawsuit.

When your business offers a severance agreement to a departing employee, does it contain:

• a general release;
• a non-disparagement obligation;

Back in January 2011, when I had only one child and an Aston Martin savings fund, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP. In that case, the Court held that an employer violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act if it takes action against an employee who is in the same “zone of interest” as another employee who files a Charge of Discrimination with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In Thompson, a company received an EEOC Charge of Discrimination and allegedly fired the employee’s fiancé in response. The Supreme Court held that, if true, this set of fact would amount to retaliation.

Now, fast forward to 2014. I have four children, I’m two Happy Meals away from declaring bankruptcy, and, last night, I dined on the leftover ketchup packets.