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I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about Scientology.

Why, my Scientology acumen could fill a thimble. Basically, I know that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist and Katie Holmes was a Scientologist; but, not anymore. Anything else comes from my favorite gossip blog, The Superficial, which is barely, if at all, safe for work.

(Although, I can guarantee you that if you search that blog for the word “Scientology,” the results will be anything but).

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And I say this with the fervor of 100 General Zods, such that Zod himself (especially, the crappy one from Man Of Steel, I’m a Terence Stamp man) would have no choice but to rise and kneel.

But I put down the moonshine funnel digress.

Today, The Employer Handbook celebrates its 3rd birthday. And what did The Employer Handbook get for its 3rd birthday? I mean, in addition to the strawberry edible underwear that one of my readers sent me anonymously. (Next year, go large. Medium, is a bit snug). Well, you guys voted The Employer Handbook ABA Journal’s 2013 Top Labor & Employment Law Blog!

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The king is dead. Long live the king!

Teens are beginning to drop Facebook like a bad habit; instead, taking advantage of messaging apps like What’sApp, Snapchat, and Instagram to social network.

According to a GlobalWebIndex study highlighted in this Forbes article from Haydn Shaughnessy, “from Q2 2012 to Q3 2013 the percentage of active users among 16 – 19 year olds fell from 62% to 52% (these are active users in the sense of having contributed content), and among 20 – 24 year olds fell from 63% to 52%.”

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Ah, it was a good year at the ole Handbook.

Total web traffic was up over fifty percent from 2012. And average time per visit was down over 20%, which is fine by me. I pad my important stats, while discouraging loitering.

five.pngAnd we got our first visitor from Uzbekistan. And the fifth most common search phrase that brought visitors to the site was “Kenny Powers.”

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Earlier this month, in this post, I highlighted a Pennsylvania federal court opinion recognizing that the Fair Labor Standards Act definition of “employer” is broad enough to bestow personal liability for a company’s wage-and-hour debts upon its President/CEO.

Well, how about a general manager that has zero ownership interest in the company? Could he too be personally responsible if his company fails to pay minimum wage or overtime?

According to a recent decision from an Illinois federal court, there answer is yes:

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Back in October, I blogged here about Ms. Cook, an Idaho school teacher who lost her job after her employer learned about a photo on her Facebook page that showed her boyfriend touching her chest.

(Oh, fine, here’s the pic)

What made this story unique — yeah, I know, teacher getting in trouble on Facebook is fast approaching “death and taxes” status — is that the female teacher’s boyfriend, also taught at the same school. He was not fired; merely disciplined.

Well, according to this story from Jimmy Hancock at the Idaho State Journal, Ms. Cook should be getting her job back soon:


A grievance panel has determined that former Pocatello High School girls’ basketball coach Laraine Cook should again be allowed to work as a teacher and that she should be rehired as the girls’ basketball coach for the 2014-2015 season….Addressing the firing, the panel said it should be rescinded and considered a suspension without pay from the time of the termination until the time of the panel’s decision.

The panel further noted that the lack of a social media policy afforded Ms. Cook little guidance as to what the school considered online behavior that could cost her her job.

So, use Ms. Cook’s situation as a wake-up call to implement/revise your social media policy. Remind your employees that certain online conduct — even on their own time — could cost ’em their jobs.

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Over the Summer, I reported here that about companion Pennsylvania bills introduced in the House and Senate that would outlaw both sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the workplace.

Each bill had bipartisan support, but it was unclear how Governor Corbett (R) would act if a bill was placed on his desk for his signature.

* * *

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Second verse, same as the first.

Back in March, I reported here that a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, known as the Equal Employment for All Act, would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions.

Yesterday, it was the Senate’s turn to get in on the act; the Equal Employment for All Act, that is.

(See how I did that?)

Details on the Senate bill, what it would mean for employers, and its chances of passage after the jump…

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