The Employer Handbook Blog

Enforce your employee call-in/notice requirements — even for FMLA leave

August 29, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

In that handbook of yours should be a page — maybe a few lines — on an employee’s responsibility to notify you if they are going to miss work. Who to call, when to call, that kind of stuff.

A recent case from the Sixth Circuit (this one) reaffirms that employees need not relax these rules — even when the employee is seeking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

In White v. Dana Light Axle Manuf., the employer had a simple rule: when you’re going to be out, call it in. The plaintiff, who needed FMLA leave for a hernia surgery, assumed that because he had previously met with the employer in person to discuss his upcoming hernia surgery, he didn’t need to later call in his absences.

FACT OR FICTION: Permanent light duty is an ADA reasonable accommodation

August 28, 2013 | 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.”

Today, I’m speaking at the EEOC EXCEL Conference in Denver, CO. It’s an incredible honor, given that this is the first year that the conference has not only catered to public sector employers, but also those in the private sector.

(Well, at least, that’s what someone at yesterday’s networking reception, so I’m going with it).

That’s what they said: Solving your Labor Day employee-pay issues

August 27, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Monday is Labor Day, ~~the day I plan to break the Guinness World Record for twerking and eating BLTs — they call it BLTwerking~~ a tribute to the American Worker.

If you give your employees the day off on Labor Day, a national holiday, do you have to pay them?

My buds Jon Hyman and Mike Haberman have your answers here and here.

Paula Deen discrimination lawsuit dismissed after parties settle

August 26, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

On Friday, a federal court in Georgia dismissed all of the remaining discrimination counts against Paula Deen and her brother, Bubba, after the parties reported to the court that the two sides had settled.

The settlement terms are undisclosed.

In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Ms. Deen’s publicist wrote:

DOL offers the definitive word on FMLA and same-sex marriage. Kinda sorta.

August 23, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Do you have 50 or more employees working with 75 miles of one another?

If not, see ya Monday.

But if you do, check out the United States Department of Labor’s revised “Fact Sheet #28F: Qualifying Reasons for Leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.”

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!

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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.

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