Search
The Employer Handbook Blog
“Surprise! There’s a Skeleton in Your Candidate’s Closet!”
Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay
A few weeks ago, the great folks at ERE Media invited me to speak at the ERE Recruiting Conference in Washington, DC about what happens when you learn that one of your recruits has done something on social media that doesn’t mesh well with the culture of the company.
No, diversity and inclusion do not mean rounding out the team by hiring someone who posts her Halloween blackface photos on Instagram. Continue reading
You’re worried that an obese applicant may later develop diabetes. Can you refuse to hire him?
Renée Gordon (FDA), Victovoi [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The job required some fairly physical work; namely, climbing and working on and around heavy equipment. The company’s policy was not to hire anyone with a BMI of 40 or greater because of the “substantially higher risk of developing certain conditions like sleep apnea, diabetes, and heart disease and the unpredictable onset of those conditions can result in sudden incapacitation.” Given the job requirements, this could create an unsafe workplace. So, the company told the applicant that he was welcome to reapply later if he lost the weight and kept it off.
Instead, the applicant sued, alleging a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Continue reading
Sexy Mister Rogers and the rest of your last-minute ‘what not to wear to work tomorrow’ checklist.
Petar Milošević [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Pennsylvania, yes Pennsylvania, announces new overtime rules that are more generous than federal law
Image Credit: Photofunia.com
About a year or so ago, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a plan to direct the Department of Labor & Industry (PA’s version of the DOL) to change the overtime rules in PA: Continue reading
Yes, you can be fired for sharing Elmo poop memes. It’s another lesson on at-will employment.
Image Credit: Cody Hidalgo on Facebook
A Michigan man claims he “legit got fired” for posting a Sesame Street Elmo ‘poop’ meme on Facebook on a Sunday when he wasn’t at work. (h/t The Daily Dot and Unilad)
I suppose that’s kinda … wait for it … sh*tty.
PODCAST: How to Treat Employees Like Humans – Even When You’re Firing Them
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
About a month ago, I shared a podcast from my FisherBroyles, LLP employment law partner, Jessica Brown Wilson, where she addressed how to create a sexual harassment policy.
Now, she’s back. Continue reading
This leaked deposition transcript from a race discrimination case is like a bizarro embassy scene from Lethal Weapon 2.
Image Credit: YouTube.com
Do you know that scene from Lethal Weapon 2? The one where Joe Pesci (Leo Getz) tells the representative from the South African embassy to convince his friend Danny Glover (‘Alphonse’) not to move to South Africa because he’s black.
I’ll pause for a sec while you watch it.
A first-of-its-kind nationwide ban on non-competition agreements is coming. Possibly.
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
In 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act into law. A bipartisan approach to creating a nationwide enforcement mechanism, the DTSA prohibits misappropriation of trade secrets in all 50 states.
Fast forward to 2019, and the federal government is back at it again with another bipartisan bill — this time, legislation taking on non-competition agreements. Continue reading
Common sense prevails! School reinstates black man it fired for repeating a racial slur directed at him as he told the person to stop
Image Credit: Photofunia.com
Yesterday, I blogged here about a black man who was fired for repeating a racial slur directed at him as he told the person to stop. According to multiple reports, his employer’s position was that it had a zero-tolerance policy on racial slurs in the workplace — inexcusable, regardless of context.
Well, the school hired him back.
Still, I asked readers of this blog how they would have handled a similar situation in their workplace. Continue reading