The Employer Handbook Blog

Employment Law Blog Carnival: The Back-to-School Edition

August 21, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the Employment Law Blog Carnival. What Target and Wal-Mart are to back-to-school shopping, this is your one-stop-shop for the hottest trends in employment law.

Your original carnival hosts for this month, my good pal Ari Rosenstein and the great folks at CPEhr.com asked me to step in. So, consider me the hot substitute teacher. [Hey! Eyes up here!] Glad to help out my friends.

Credit to Ari and the team for all of the hard work in putting this month’s edition of the Employment Law Blog Carnival together. I’ll take credit for all of the grammar errors, typos, and the inappropriate carnival soundtrack (you’ll see…).

Click through and enjoy!

* * *

New PA bill would ban sexual orientation, gender identity discrimination

August 20, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have laws banning workplace discrimination in the private sector on the basis of sexual orientation. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which currently bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in public employment, may soon become the latest state to ban it in the private sector as well.

(The term “gender identity or expression” means actual or perceived gender identity, appearance, behavior, expression or physical characteristics whether or not associated with an individual’s assigned sex at birth).

A bill to amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to add these workplace protections was introduced last week in the PA Senate with some bipartisan (but most Democratic) support. The same bill was introduced in the PA House the week before. Each measure would also carry the same restrictions in housing, credit and public accommodations.

Breaking Bad: The Lost Episode (the one about Jesse’s ADA lawsuit)

August 19, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

A few years back, I sent in a Breaking Bad script to Vince Gilligan. At the time, I was concerned that the show was becoming too one-dimensional. High school teacher becomes meth kingpin. Yeah, I guess that could make for some good television — if you like taut, well-written, well-acted drama. But, every good series needs an episode or two to break from the formula.

Take Diff’rent Strokes, for example. That’s the 80’s comedy about the rich white Park Avenue man who adopts the two sons of his African American cleaning lady. That Arnold was always getting into it. Funny stuff! But there’s one episode that went against the comedic grain and stands out for just about every Strokes fan. Yep, the one where Gordon Jump played the bicycle shop owner. Very special? Very creepy. But, nonetheless memorable.

Jesse gets a job at Walt’s car wash, but things go south quickly.

What could possibly go wrong with a sham workplace investigation?

August 16, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Well, if it means that the employee diagnosed with anxiety and depression — the one who requested a reasonable accommodation to perform her job — gets fired. Well, then, a lot.

That’s basically what happened in this recent federal court case out of Kentucky.

You see, normally, a court won’t second guess an employer’s decision to terminate an alleged sexual harasser, following a complaint and investigation. And when the alleged sexual harasser later sues the employer for retaliation, well, I don’t care if she belongs to every protected class on the EEOC’s checklist, court’s tend not to sympathize with sexual harassers.

When it comes to ADA accommodations, reasonable is good enough

August 15, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer must make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of an individual unless the employer can show that doing so how cause it undue hardship.

Generally, an employee will initiate the process by advising her employer that she is disabled and needs an accommodation to perform the essential functions of her job. What then ensues is an interactive dialogue in which both sides work together in good faith to decide on what that accommodation may be.

But here’s the rub:

A woman sharing topless photos at work prolly isn’t an invitation to grope her

August 14, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

[Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click]

* * *

Dear Google User Who Got Five Words Into The Lede And Clicked:

Paula Deen beats the race-discrimination claims that crushed her

August 13, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Somewhere, I picture the folks at Merriam Webster franticly revising the definition of “Pyrrhic” to cross-reference ~~a stick of butter~~ Paula Deen.

Yesterday at The Employer Handbook, I discussed the EEOC losing a major battle in its war against background checks.

Today, it’s all about winning the battle, but losing the war.

In its war on background checks, the EEOC loses a major early battle

August 12, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Late last year, in this post, I highlighted the six issues that the United States Equal Employment Commission prioritized in its Strategic Enforcement Plan. Numero uno is eliminating barriers in recruitment and hiring.

Even before it released its Strategic Enforcement Plan, earlier in 2012, the EEOC telegraphed that it would closely scrutinize criminal background checks employers run on job applicants to determine whether they may disparately impact minorities.

But even before that, in 2009, the EEOC came out guns blazing, when it announced a lawsuit against Freeman (also known as the Freeman Companies), a nationwide convention, exhibition and corporate events marketing company. In it’s lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that Freeman unlawfully “rejected job applicants based on their credit history and if they have had one or more of various types of criminal charges or convictions.”

Hiring managers share 10 awesome job pitches, and 10 epic fails!

August 9, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

There’s a fine line between genius and insanity.

Voting for this blog for the ABA Journal Blawg100 (today is the last day to nominate blogs, so, please, please, please): genius;
Boston Red Sox Chardonnay: nutbars.

Few courts award w/c to the drunk, pot-smoker, who falls on his head while peeing

August 8, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

This is the story of a longshoreman who, on January 8, 2006, drank two beers before going to work at 8:00 a.m. Between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., he knocked back another three cold ones. At lunch, he washed down his liquid breakfast and snack with another four to five more beers. Between the end of lunch and the end of the day (approximately 4:00 p.m.), the longshoreman ignored the old “beer then liquor, never sicker” refrain and downed a pint of whiskey.

Now, if you’re keeping score at home, his blood alcohol level right about 4:30 was .25. For those of you teetotalers who may be wondering, how bad is .25? Three sheets to the wind, at a minimum; possibly more drunk than John Daly was that time at Hooters.

But I digress, all that booze from dawn to dusk warrants a bathroom break and the longshoreman decided to relieve himself at quittin’ time near the bull rail of the dock. Unfortunately, while urinating, the longshoreman fell over the bull rail onto a concrete and steel ledge (approximately six feet below the rail). At the hospital, the docs diagnosed the longshoreman with acute alcohol intoxication — ya think? –, cannabis ingestion, and a severe scalp laceration to his right temple.

You know that scientist in the action movie who has all the right answers if only the government would just pay attention? If you want a nerdy employment-lawyer brain to help you solve HR-compliance issues proactively before the action sequence, I’m here to help. I'm not only an EEOC-approved trainer, I offer day-to-day employment counseling, workplace audits and investigations, and other prophylactic measures to keep your workplace working while you focus on running your business. And for those employers in the midst of conflict, I bring all of my know-how to bear as your zealous advocate. I’m a trial-tested, experienced litigator that has represented companies of all sizes in a veritable alphabet soup of employment law claims, such as the ADA, ADEA, CEPA, FMLA, FLSA, NJLAD, PHRA, Title VII, and USERRA. I also help clients litigate disputes involving restrictive covenants such as non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, as well as conflicts over use of trade secrets and other confidential information. For more about me, my practice, and my firm, click on my full bio.