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“I told you that I’ve never been disabled,” said the man who sued for disability discrimination.
Here’s the thing. When a plaintiff asserts a disability discrimination claim against a current or former employer, one of the...
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When an employer points out actual performance problems, it’s probably not a pretext for discrimination
I’ve seen my share of lawsuits in which plaintiffs use discrimination as an excuse for the performance issues that led to their...
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Four federal agencies are prepared to throw cold water (and lawsuits) at employers who abuse artificial intelligence
While recognizing the prevalence of automated systems, including those sometimes marketed as “artificial intelligence” or...
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Take it from the feds (literally!). Here are 12 EEOC-recommended ways to LEVEL-UP your company’s anti-harassment efforts.
For me, yesterday was all about the U .S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . In the morning and for most of the afternoon, I served...
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When employees claim that your company failed to pay their overtime, you win if your company does this.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay covered nonexempt workers overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times...
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If the same person sexually harasses a man and a woman, does that cancel each other out?
MicroZesTo , CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons If you’re asking that question to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity...
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What do you do with employees who refuse to use a coworker’s preferred pronouns?
You develop policies and train everyone — especially your managers — on how to handle situations like the example I have for...
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A new bill in Congress would protect civil rights at work from religious freedoms
Yesterday, on the same day that some of the Supreme Court noted that Congress hadn’t changed Title VII’s undue hardship standard...
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Wait, what? Court says ‘good fit’ isn’t necessarily code for discrimination or retaliation.
Employment lawyers and HR professionals generally preach that employees view “it’s not a good fit” to explain their...
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Choose your words carefully when using noncompetition agreements
Many courts are generally reluctant to enforce noncompetes. And sometimes employers make their tasks even easier. For example,...
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I’m naturally skeptical when an employee claims sexual orientation bias against straight people.
So when the plaintiff in this federal court decision I read last night cited as evidence of her employer’s heterosexual animus that...
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Close counts in horseshoes and accommodating individuals with disabilities at work
Last night, I read a federal appellate court decision in which an employee with back spasms, sciatica, fibromyalgia, and pinched nerves...
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400,000 reasons not to have this pregnancy policy in your workplace
Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced ( here ) that an employer will fork over $400,000, split among 11...
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Since when do courts get to second-guess an employer’s hiring decisions? Since last Monday.
On April 10, 2023, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amul R. Thapar offered his two cents on the role the federal courts should have...
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NJ’s new WARN Act Amendments are now in effect (as of April 10, 2023)
You’ll find an important update if you head over to the official Layoffs and Closings website for New Jersey’s Department of...
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Can employers require employees to make up time they miss for FMLA leave?
The Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for a qualifying reason ,...
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A CBD user drug tests positive. Do we have to excuse it? Is she actually disabled?
The EEOC has guided employers to accommodate employee use of certain prescribed medications, and excuse failed drug tests that reflect the...
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This guy’s discrimination claims were so bad. (How bad were they?)
They were so bad that a federal judge applied a rarely-used rule of civil procedure to consider summary judgment on its own after...
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If this isn’t a ringing endorsement for updating your employee handbook, then what is?
I get that employee handbooks are not contacts and are subject to change and all that stuff. But, companies should be prepared to enforce any...
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Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, the EEOC sues you for age discrimination
Proving age discrimination can be difficult because plaintiffs must ultimately establish that their age was a determinative factor in the...
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A new bill in Congress aims to restore OVERTIME protections for employees to “HISTORIC LEVELS.”
Federal law requires most companies to pay minimum wage and overtime pay for employees unless they qualify for an exemption. Employees...
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Is your business struggling with return to the office and disability accommodation requests?
As more businesses transition from allowing remote work to mandating a return to the office, apart from the general employee backlash , one...
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He asked her to babysit and shot her in the butt with a rubber band. So she sued for hostile work environment.
I’ve seen weaker lawsuits. But let me explain why the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed that asking a female colleague to...
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Could QUOTING a SNOOP DOGG catchphrase AT WORK create a hostile work environment?
Over the weekend, several news outlets ran this story about a white television news anchor in Mississippi who went viral for using one of...
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You may have an overly-broad UNENFORCEABLE restrictive covenant NOT TO COMPETE if…
As we wait patiently for the comment period on the Federal Trade Commission’s proposal to ban employers from imposing...