Late last month, I blogged here about some smoke signals from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that it may be backpedaling on pursuing discrimination claims on behalf of a transgender employee, in a case where the employer had raised a religious-freedom defense.
Since then, other dominos have fallen, which indicate that the Trump administration is reversing course on transgender rights.
In a transgender-bias case with an employer-defendant concerned about having to violate its sincerely-held religious beliefs, the employee informed a federal appellate court last week that she is “reasonably concerned that the EEOC may no longer adequately represent her interests going forward.”
Wow! Wow! WOW!!!
When last we visited the whirlwind saga of the City of Philadelphia’s proposed bill that would ban employers from asking about applicant salary history, I was waxing poetic about Animal House, suggesting here that Mayor Kenney was slowing his roll after City Council had unanimously approved the bill.
Yeah, about that…
Out of 276,376 page views in 2016 — thanks for reading and clicking refresh, dad — these five were straight fire!!!
5. The new DOL overtime rules are here. You’ve got HR questions? I have answers!
4. Foul! Nasty tweets to Steph Curry’s family cost a Cavs fan his job.
Actually, I’m not talking about the drink.
No, the case I’m addressing today has actual sex on the beach. And allegations of sexual harassment and disparate treatment.
It involves an outside sales representative — let’s call her “Plaintiff” — and the son of the company President, during a boat trip in Mallorca, Spain.
Hey, if you ever want to hear some good stories at a lawyer cocktail party, seek out the employment folks. Just sayin’.
I’ll open this post with a haiku. Because, I feel like we could all use a haiku.
President-Elect
For HR, what will he do?
Not a stinkin’ clue!
In 2001, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decided Bibby v. Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Co. In Bibby, the Third Circuit could not have been clearer about whether federal anti-discrimination law made LGBT bias at work unlawful.
“Title VII does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Congress has repeatedly rejected legislation that would have extended Title VII to cover sexual orientation.”
That’s binding precedent on all lower federal courts in Pennsylvania.
Except, on Friday, Judge Cathy Bissoon from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania concluded EEOC v. Scott Medical (opinion here) that Bibby is questionable, outdated jurisprudence.
_-_Orchard_Park%2C_NY.jpg "By Idibri [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
At halftime of my seven-year-old’s soccer game, I was perusing my slow weekend RSS feed. Of the seven Feedly items, one stood out: a “news” from Deadspin (NSFW) about a fan who hit the five yard line with a phallus toss (video is NSFW) during the third quarter of the National Football League between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots. Here’s another angle. (Still NSFW).
And, it got me thinking…
This could make for a good HR compliance lesson. Trust me.
.png "By Steph141disavowed (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
Hold up. I need to catch my breath after last night’s episode of The Walking Dead.
(Don’t worry. No spoilers ahead).
The Employer Handbook Blog