The Employer Handbook Blog

Employees who social network at work for 20 minutes are happier — and no less productive

February 24, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

That social media policy of yours. The one in which you begrudgingly tolerate employee social media use on their own time and roadblock their efforts to use it at work.

You may want to revise it. ASAP!

Chad Brooks at Business News Daily reports here about a recent study by two members of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, which concludes that workplace morale improves when employees use social media on their smartphones at work.

“May it please the Court. Being overweight is just like having a neon-green mohawk.”

February 21, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

That’s how I start my next oral argument when defending a claim made under the Americans with Disabilities that one of my employer clients regarded an overweight plaintiff as disabled.

So, who wants some of what I’m drinking today?

Hey, it’s peppermint tea, jerk! And I’m not pulling this blog lede out of my butt. Well, not completely, I’m not.

Well, that’s a messed up workplace religious accommodation request

February 20, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Here’s a little HR Pro Tip from your old pal, Eric.

If, around Halloween time, an employee requests permission to hand out bags of candy containing “gospel tracts,” which depict Muslims and Catholics and state that they should all go to hell, you just go ahead reject that religious-accommodation request.

(More on religious accommodations here)

Does the ADA require accommodating a graveyard shift employee with insomnia?

February 19, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Let’s assume that you run a factory in which employees are scheduled on one of two shifts: (1) 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM; or (2) 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM.

One of your employees comes to you with a doctor’s note which states that working the graveyard shift will cause the employee to suffer migraine headaches and insomnia.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that employers accommodate employees with disabilities if doing so will allow the employee to perform the essential functions of her job without creating undue hardship for the employer. One way in which an employer can reasonably accommodate an employee is through schedule adjustment or shift change.

Bad things happen when management laments to HR that black people are ugly

February 18, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Just a reminder that some managers still engage in really stupid behavior.

I was reading this case about an HR Manager of a dentistry practice.

Following an interview between a dentist in her practice and an African-American woman, the dentist allegedly commented to the HR Manager that the person would not be hired, as there were already too many blacks in Lewisville. The HR Manager then supposedly responded that “race is irrelevant.”

3 minor leaguers claim Major League Baseball violated the Fair Labor Standards Act

February 14, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

When you think of minor league baseball, you may draw on movies like Bull Durham or The Rookie; long bus trips from stadium to stadium where teams play in front of small crowds for small pay.

Well, apparently, the pay may be small enough to trigger a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act

As pitchers and catchers being to report for Spring Training, Craig Calcaterra at NBC Sports HardBall Talk reports here that three minor league baseball players have initiated a putative class action in federal court against Major League Baseball, among others. In the Complaint (copy here), the plaintiffs allege violations of the FLSA stemming from the failure to pay minimum wage and overtime for working more than 40 hours per week.

FACT OR FICTION: Snow + Office Closed = FMLA Day

February 13, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.”

One of your employees is currently using FMLA leave. Today, due to the winter storm, you’ve decided to close the office.

Do you still count today’s snow-induced office closure towards the 12 workweeks of FMLA to which your employee is entitled?

Are lots of your severance agreements retaliatory? EEOC says yes.

February 12, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for EEOC.jpg When your business offers a severance agreement to a departing employee, does it contain:

a general release;

a non-disparagement obligation;

An employee sued her employer for involuntary servitude. Yep, slavery.

February 11, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Yesterday, I read a post over at Business Management Daily about an employee who sued for involuntary servitude.

Yes, folks. The plaintiff claimed that her former employer had treated her like a slave.

Specifically, the plaintiff, a trainee of some sort, alleged that she was never provided with a job description or adequately trained.

New Philadelphia law requires accommodations for pregnant employees

February 10, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Late last month, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter signed this bill, which requires reasonable workplace accommodations for employees who have needs related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

As noted in this prior post about Philadelphia’s new law, reasonable accommodations would include, but are not limited to, restroom breaks, periodic rest for those who stand for long periods of time, assistance with manual labor, leave for a period of disability arising from childbirth, reassignment to a vacant position, and job restructuring.

An employer can avoid having to provide a workplace accommodation, but will have the burden of proving “undue hardship.” The “undue hardship” factors generally mirror those found in the Americans with Disabilities Act and revolve around the cost of the accommodation and the employer’s overall financial resources.