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The Employer Handbook BlogWhen do N-words and sex jokes NOT create a hostile work environment?
Hopefully, this question doesn’t have you clutching your pearls. Continue reading
Two different termination letters lead to one discrimination lawsuit and zero luck for the plaintiff
The general rule in employment law is that an employer’s inconsistencies and contradictions breathe life into discrimination claims.
But there are some exceptions.
Continue reading
Jerk customers can create hostile work environments for your workers too
As I sit here on vacation cleaning out some of the older cases from my Google Drive, I came across this Fifth Circuit decision about which I meant to blog a while ago. It’s about a baccarat dealer who had to deal with a customer making sexually charged gestures, remarks about her appearance, and sexual propositions toward her.
No employee should have to deal with this type of behavior. But does the law recognize that customers can create a hostile work environment for one of your employees?
Five days after the CDC reaffirmed its mask order for air travel, a federal judge nixed it nationwide
On April 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that its Mask Order (requiring face masks on planes into and within the United States) would continue to allow the CDC time to assess the potential impact of the rise of COVID-19 cases.
Yesterday, however, a Florida federal judge struck the Mask Order in Florida and across the country, concluding that the CDC had exceeded its authority by instituting the Mask Order.
176,193 reasons to be careful when trying to limit employee overtime
Last week, I read this press release from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announcing a six-figure recovery from an employer that “illegally placed a cap on overtime at 16 hours per pay period and paid any overtime beyond 16 hours at straight time rates, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
So, let’s discuss some FLSA/overtime rules. Continue reading
Yes, a man can have an (un)equal pay claim too. So how can a company defend itself?
The Equal Pay Act (EPA) prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee based on sex by paying lower wages than are paid to employees of the opposite sex for performing equal work. We usually see women assert EPA claims.
But men can have them too. Continue reading
Why did this company seemingly offer FMLA leave to an employee it planned to fire?
Last night, I went through my Google Drive of older cases about which I had intended to blog but never gotten around to it. And I found this Fifth Circuit Family and Medical Leave Act decision involving a company that fired an employee two months into his leave.
The issue was whether the employee had sufficiently pled causes of action for FMLA interference and retaliation. Continue reading
2021 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection is now open
In case you somehow missed the EEOC’s big announcement – I cut the ribbon – all private-sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting specific criteria have until May 17, 2022 to submit workforce demographics, including data by race/ethnicity, sex, and job categories. Continue reading
It’s the return of the mack, err, masks.
You can take the boy of the ’90s, but… Continue reading