Search
The Employer Handbook Blog
Court politely tells union where to stick its request to reinstate a member accused of sexual harassment.
***pops open can of Haterade***
Continue reading
A noogie could be retaliation. (I’ll take “What We Were Never Taught In Law School” for $400.)
noogie || noun noog·ie \ ˈnu̇-gē \
According to Merriam Webster, a “noogie” is the act of rubbing one’s knuckles on a person’s head so as to produce a mildly painful sensation.
But, could a noogie be considered an act of retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
(Hey, what did you expect? It can’t be Harry Potter around here every day.) Continue reading
Why intent doesn’t matter when a white guy gifts watermelon to his black co-workers. Or does it?
The Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas, beat me to it.
On Tuesday, Suzanne wrote here about a volunteer firefighter, who is white. And that white firefighter brought a watermelon to the fire station as a gift for his co-workers. According to this Fox 2 report, 90 percent of his co-workers are black.
This may not end well. Continue reading
Local union throws flag on Dallas Cowboys’ owner’s threat to bench players who disrespect the U.S. flag
.jpg "By Keith Allison (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
Humility is not my middle name. Actually, it’s “Hercules.”
(It’s not Hercules). But, it’s not “Humility” either and I rarely turn down the opportunity to say, “I told you so.” So, remember when I told you a few weeks ago how NFL owners would have a tough time legally firing players who took a knee during the national anthem?
Well, yesterday, United Labor Unions Local 100 filed an unfair labor practice charge against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for practically the same thing. Continue reading
Jemele Hill suspended for violating social media rules. No, not even ESPN Talent has free speech rights.
ESPN pays the National Football League nearly $2 billion annual for digital rights. Two billion dollars! With so much at stake, that’s an investment worth protecting.
A few years ago, former ESPN personality Bill Simmons found that out the hard way. He was suspended by the network for his incendiary comments on his podcast about the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
And yesterday, ESPN SportsCenter anchor Jemele Hill learned a hard lesson about online accountability too. Continue reading
I’m telling you. Bad things happen when the Board Chair plays matchmaker for her son, the CEO.
Over the weekend, I was reading this recent opinion from a federal judge in Maryland and, with a big smile on my face, I started polishing up my blogging crown and scepter.
Allen v. TV One, LLC is a case about a woman who alleges that she was constantly pestered by the Board Chair to marry the company CEO, the Board Chair’s son. For example, the Board Chair supposedly told the plaintiff, “I’m going to be your mother one way or another. Either you will marry [my son] or I will marry your father and be your stepmother.”
And, I’m like…this opinion has The Employer Handbook written all over it!
Except, then I remembered. I already did blog about it. Continue reading
Jeff Sessions and the DOJ pull the rug out from under transgender workers.
Back in July of this year, the U.S. Department of Justice officially revealed its position that nothing would prevent an employer from discriminating against a gay worker before of his sexual orientation. On that very same day, President Donald Trump tweeted that the military should ban transgender people from serving.
Fast forward to yesterday. In a move that surprised everyone, said absolutely no one, the DOJ issued this memo in which it posited that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal workplace anti-discrimination law, does not protect transgender workers from discrimination based on their gender identity per se. Continue reading