Hiring & Firing

We’re gonna take a coronavirus break today to talk about marijuana

March 18, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

tEvan-Amos / Public domain

But, first, thank you to everyone who stopped by yesterday for the Facebook Live / Zoom chat to discuss the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and other COVID-19 workplace issues. ICYMI, we did record the session. I’ve got audio here and my handsome talking mug here.

I’ll schedule another chat sesh once the House Bill advances through the Senate (which hasn’t happened yet, but maybe today), and President Trump signs it. Continue reading

Study reveals that job recruiters are least likely to select candidates that do WHAT on social media?

February 18, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Ibrahim.ID / CC BY-SA

Obviously, probably, and definitely.

But, a recent survey didn’t cover any of these examples. Continue reading

TikTok, the new(ish) social media kid on the block, claims some employee victims.

February 10, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

TikTok [Public domain]

When it comes to employees getting fired for their social media use, the Mount Rushmore of platforms claiming these victims is Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat.

But, let’s talk a little bit about TikTok.

Philly employers cannot ask applicants about salary history, rules federal appellate court

February 7, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/interview-job-icon-job-interview-1018333/)

Back in 2017, the City of Philadelphia became the first city in the country to pass a law forbidding local employers from asking individuals about their salary history. The purpose of the law was to help close the wage gap between men and women. Continue reading

Guess which state just became the first to require severance following a mass layoff?

January 23, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

At this point, that’s kinda like asking which day of the week ends in a “y”?

Yep, New Jersey has gone and done it again. Continue reading

The “harassing, stalking, disturbing, and menacing” plaintiff lost her discrimination case. Go figure.

January 21, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

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

“Smokers and other nicotine users need not apply.” Is that even legal?

January 8, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Augustus Binu, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Because I’m a lawyer, I’ll say it depends. Except, I won’t charge you 0.1 hours of my time to say it. Continue reading

A worker complained on Twitter about a $6 holiday gift from his employer. It didn’t end well.

January 7, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Number55 [CC BY]

A Toronto man who worked for the same company for six years no longer works there. All because of a tweet and a bottle of barbecue sauce. Continue reading

“How can the same s**t happen to the same guy twice?”

December 23, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

By POV – Impawards, Link

John McClain’s classic line from another classic Christmas movie, Die Hard 2, was the first thing that came to my mind after a story I read last week. Continue reading

This former employee who was fired for social media posts will get his job back. But, your employees probably won’t.

December 17, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Raymond Wambsgans from Akron Ohio, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

At dinner the other night, someone asked me what I did for a living. So, I told that person that I’m ~~a blogger dammit and people respect me for it~~ an employment lawyer.

She responded with words to the effect of, “When are employees going to learn that there is no such thing as free speech?”

Amen. Continue reading