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The Employer Handbook BlogOn 2/22/12, I’m yours for a SHRM #NextChat on Twitter
A little birdie told me that Jason Mraz wrote this song about me and you.
Uh, oh. Meyer’s off his meds again. No folks, allow me to explain.
A recap of yesterday’s EEOC meeting on pregnancy discrimination
My loyal readers know that yesterday the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission held a public meeting to discuss pregnancy discrimination and caregiver issues.
Conversely, my disloyal readers can go to hell. No, no, I forgive you. Just send me a check and we’ll call it even.
*** Takes meds ***
*** Flashes Men In Black red light ***
Ah, yes, pregnancy discrimination. Click through for a summary of what happened at yesterday’s EEOC meeting…
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EEOC to meet today to discuss pregnancy discrimination
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will hold a public meeting on the subject of pregnancy discrimination and caregiver issues at 9:30 a.m. today in Washington, DC. If you are in the area, feel free to stop by. The meeting is open to the public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99j0zLuNhi8
According to this press release, the Commission will examine “recent trends in discrimination against pregnant workers and workers with caregiving responsibilities, examining these two forms of discrimination as a continuum.”
A Valentine’s Day reminder from The Employer Handbook
Happy Valentine’s Day! x.o.x.o.
– The Employer Handbook
The wrong way and the right way to request FMLA certification
The Family and Medical Leave Act allows an employer to require that a employee’s request for FMLA leave be supported by a certification issued by the employee’s health care provider. An example of one of the right ways to do this, from a recent federal-court decision, follows after the jump…
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Pedophilia as a disability?!? #Vomit
Yesterday, Greece came through with a long-awaited economic reform deal. Congratulations to them.
What I want to know, however, is what the heck the Greek government was thinking when it recently expanded a list of state-recognized disability categories to include pedophiles, exhibitionists and kleptomaniacs. Bailout money back, please.
At Res Ipsa Loquitor, Jonathan Turley notes that the Greek government already recognizes pyromaniacs, compulsive gamblers, fetishists and sadomasochists as persons entitled to ask for government assistance.
Adultery + “distressing” text messages = no sexual harassment
Hey there, Casanova. Dontchaknow that the victim always keeps the text messages? Always! But does the victim win the sexual-harassment case about which I am blogging after the jump? Hint: no.
Oh, come on! Don’t let that deter you! Click through anyway to pad my hit count and because you know I have the rest of the text messages and all of the dirty deets from a recent Bible Belt federal-court decision.
See you on the other side…
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Judge, jury, and…Facebookutioner
Like you could do better…
If When “Facebookutioner” catches on, you read it here first.
But seriously folks, let’s talk about what judges are doing about jury use of social media during trial…
According to this survey, in which 508 federal judges completed questionnaires, only 30 respondents (5.9%) are aware of instances in which jurors have used social media during trial or deliberation.
- What is the social network of choice among jurors?
- What are jurors doing online during trial?
- And what are judges doing to stop it?
Find out after the jump…
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What box got checked most at the EEOC in 2011?
For the second year in a row, it was retaliation. Of the nearly 100,000 Charges of Discrimination that employees filed with the EEOC in 2011, retaliation claims accounted for just over 37% of them. Race claims were just behind at 35.4%. Sex was third at 28.5%.
A complete breakdown of 2011 EEOC charge statistics can be found here.
The so-called “privacy” of employee emails
Humblebrag alert.
Reporters call me all the time. It’s a wonder that I can get any work done.
Why, just last week, I was speaking to a reporter about an action recently initiated by current and former employees of the FDA, alleging that the agency unlawfully monitored their private emails. During our discussion, I mentioned another case — this one called Stengart v. Loving Care Agency — in which the NJ Supreme Court held that an employee who emails her attorney from a company computer may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in those emails provided that the employee uses a password-protected web-based email account.
Ah, serendipity! The following day, I read about another case decided last week in which the NJ Superior Court reaffirmed that many employee emails are not private. More on this case and a best practice for employers after the jump…
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