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The Employer Handbook BlogToday is Equal Pay Day. And here’s why, for the 14th time, the reintroduced Paycheck Fairness Act won’t pass.
In recent years, many states have passed equal pay laws.
At the federal level, well… Continue reading
The time an employee rejected a $100 discrimination settlement and turned it into $495,000!
You practice long enough as an employment lawyer, and you accrue stories upon stories to share with others. But, this one I’m about to tell you tops most. Continue reading
A federal appellate court using Homer Simpson to explain wage and hour law?!? Woo hoo!!
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Benoît Prieur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuits aren’t exactly fodder for Silver Screen blockbusters.
Continue reading
ADA accommodation requests in Hawaii work the same way as in the other 49 states.
The plaintiff in the case I read last night worked in Hawaii as a customer service representative. She was a clinically obese woman with a long history of diabetes and hypertension, resulting in physical limitations related to neuropathy in her hands and feet. However, her job involved sitting at a desk, taking calls, and answering emails. So she had no trouble performing it for the first seven years of employment.
But, since I’m writing today about an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit, things did eventually go south, as you may have expected. Continue reading
The FTC is slowing its roll on its proposal to ban noncompetes. And lawsuits are in the queue.
On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission delayed any potential implementation of its proposal to ban employers from imposing noncompetes on their workers by extending the public comment period. With the extension, the FTC will now accept comments on the proposed rule until April 19. The deadline was March 20.
Do we have to pay out accrued PTO to terminated employees?
The answer to that question (wait for it) — it depends on the state. Continue reading
Did an employee just discover an “FMLA loophole” to arbitration agreements?!?
Grab your pearls for clutching, and let’s get into this recent federal court decision to find out. Continue reading
“You have done nothing wrong. I am just following orders in building a new, younger team for the CEO.”
If you’re 67 years old, you work in human resources, and you happen to hear those words from the company’s U.S. president, it may be time to dust off the old resume.
Or contact the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Continue reading
PRO-TIP: If you want to arbitrate employment claims, have an arbitration agreement.
A client embroiled in an employment dispute with a former employee once asked me if we could force the employee into arbitration. So, I asked the client for a copy of the arbitration agreement that the individual had signed.
After an uncomfortably long pause, I went back to drafting the complaint to be filed in court. Continue reading
The EEOC isn’t the only federal agency safeguarding complaints about race bias at work
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board made headlines when it concluded that nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions in severance agreements that businesses give to rank-and-file employees are unlawful.
Yesterday, the Board made headlines again by releasing this Advice Memo in which it concluded that employees who engage in group discussions about issues of race that black employees face at work, including perceived implicit bias work, are protected from retaliation by employers. Continue reading