Business Services
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Man wins $1.5M discrimination verdict. Then the appellate court completely erased it. Here’s why…I want to tell you about an Army reservist whose employer investigated him for taking fraudulent leave. That investigation spawned a grand...
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Have you ever heard of an “intersectional” discrimination claim?A white man filed a lawsuit against a company claiming that it denied him a high-six-figure executive position because of his race, age, and...
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When is an employer AUTOMATICALLY liable for a supervisor’s sexual harassment of a subordinate?Often, an employer has affirmative defenses when an employee accuses a supervisor of sexual harassment. But Title VII of the Civil Rights Act...
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Hair discrimination isn’t unlawful. But, firing a black employee because of her natural hair texture is.Congress has considered legislation several times that would prohibit employers from discriminating based on an individual’s hair...
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Can employers legally favor transgender employees over cisgender employees?The words “cisgender” or “non-transgender” employee appear nowhere in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , the...
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Must employers excuse workers with strong religious beliefs from respect-in-the-workplace training covering LGBT topicsAfter taking a few days off and rocking out in Seattle, I’m back to blogging about employment law.
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Court to Labor Board: Your “misguided attempt to find a labor-law violation” is “nonsense”Like The Rock laying the smack(eth) down on Cody Rhodes in a Chicago parking lot , a federal appellate court recently pummelled the National...
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Some complaints of sexual harassment aren’t protected at allSuppose an employee gets fired after complaining about sexual harassment at work. If that person later claims retaliation, they will have to...
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Court to employers: Don’t wait too long to arbitrate employments claimsA recent federal appellate court decision is an important reminder to confirm early—not later—whether the employee suing your business...
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Folks, misgendering an employee can be severe and pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment.I’m going to tell you about a transgender man who worked for three years as a sergeant for a state prison. While working at the prison,...
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“This case illustrates why the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) exists.”Imagine being an employer-defendant and reading that sentence as the lede in a court’s summary judgment opinion. Ouch! But...
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Generally, an employer’s duty to accommodate takes more than an employee merely disclosing a disabilityIn a recent Fourth Circuit decision , the plaintiff learned this lesson the hard way. The plaintiff, a lawyer who later earned a...
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Let’s get back to basics: FMLA notice requirementsEmployees who want to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act must give at least 30 days advance notice if possible and practical....
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“March Madness” is ***checks notes*** not a serious health condition.The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament began yesterday. Last night, I read that the average worker will spend seven hours watching it,...
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A new bill in congress would guarantee all workers get two weeks of paid time offYesterday, several House Democrats announced the introduction of the Protected Time Off (PTO) Act to guarantee all full-time...
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An employer settled claims it refused to accommodate a pregnant worker who then miscarried“Miscarriages can be personally devastating. No one should have to choose between getting the pregnancy care they need and losing a...
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In rejecting an employee’s claim that DEI training fostered a hostile work environment, a federal appellate offered a stern warning to employersEarlier this year, I wrote about a white employee in Colorado who claimed his former employer subjected him to a hostile work environment by...
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Here’s how bad documentation can cost a company big bucks when a former employee suesEmployment lawyers and human resources professionals regularly preach that managers must document employee performance issues as a best...
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The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, introduced this week in Congress, is exactly what you think it isThe same week that the U.S. Department of Labor’s rules on analyzing and determining who is an employee or independent contractor under...
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Employers must adjust employee performance standards to avoid penalizing employees on FMLA leaveSuppose one of your employees, a widget maker, takes leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act . As a widget maker, the employee has a...
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Is complaining about a hostile work environment enough to support a retaliation claim? Maybe. Maybe not.(At least I didn’t say, “It depends.”) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from retaliating...
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When an employee sues, what law applies when they’ve worked in two states?Famartin , CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons I read a recent NJ federal court decision where a plaintiff began working for the...
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A federal judge has nixed the NLRB’s proposed new joint-employer ruleOn Friday evening, a Texas federal judge blocked a proposed National Labor Relations Board rule that would have made it much easier for...
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Here’s what happens when a judge catches a plaintiff fabricating evidence of sexual harassmentSpoiler alert: it often doesn’t end well for the plaintiff or their lawyer. For example, let’s discuss this Second Circuit...
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Is it racist to falsely accuse someone of being a racist?Let’s explore whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against accusations of racism. The...
