Search
The Employer Handbook Blog
Articles Posted in
Let’s be clear about this: a hangman’s noose is RACIST
Execution Sling Hanging Hangman Knot Penalty Rope
Many years ago, a man called me asking if I would represent him in a discrimination action against a company.
Now, you know me. I’m a management-side lawyer. I write a blog called The Employer Handbook. But, then he mentioned that someone had hung a hangman’s noose at his job site. He had pictures.
And he had my full attention. Continue reading
There’s a false rumor going around that a female employee slept her way to the top. Can she sue for sexual harassment?
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/yada-yada-board-insignificance-1432923/)
Let’s imagine that one of your female co-workers gets promoted. Shortly afterward, some of your male co-workers spread false rumors about how their recently-promoted colleague must have slept her way to the top.
Do you think that: (a) these rumors are gender-based, or (b) based upon false allegations of conduct?
The former could be the lynchpin to a viable sex-based hostile work environment claim. If it’s the latter, i.e., the rumors could have just as quickly been spread about a man, then the hostile work environment claim gets dismissed. Continue reading
Your employee uses medical marijuana. Her drug test is positive. But, how do you know if she was high at work?
Image Credit: Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/en/marijuana-scales-legalization-drugs-2754249/)
“Let’s see,” I said to myself. “I want to blog about this important, brand new medical marijuana employment law decision. This is a burgeoning area of the law, and this particular decision will enlighten my readers like few others I’ve written about.”
“Yeah, but unless you can find a ‘free for commercial use, no attribution required’ scales of justice made out of marijuana leaves, I think you should rank the spices in your spice rack instead. After all, readers love a good ‘turmeric v. garam masala’ showdown.”
***Googles ‘marijuana scales of justice’*** Continue reading
I’m going to blow your mind with this Fair Credit Reporting Act bombshell
Vincent Le Moign [CC BY 4.0]
For those of you who aren’t familiar with FCRA, I suggest that you call an employment lawyer. Like stop reading this blog post right now and call your employment lawyer!
For the rest of you FCRA fans, I promised to blow your mind and, clickbait-be-damned, I’m going to break your strand of clutching pearls. Continue reading
Lower court reminds us that LGBT rights remain limited in the Third Circuit, well, except…
Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/pride-gay-nyc-new-york-city-flag-2444813/
A few weeks ago, a Pennsylvania federal judge reluctantly ruled in this case that discrimination based on sexual orientation is not unlawful (or you, could say, permissible) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Continue reading
EEOC: The equal-opportunity-groper defense is a bad one
.jpg)
Nyttend [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
That is, if a manager or supervisor is mean to everyone, then it is unlikely that he or she has singled out a particular person based on that individual’s race, religion, national origin, etc.
It’s called the “equal opportunity jerk” defense. Continue reading
It’s official! NJ is moving to $15/hr minimum wage.
Copyright Free – Stock Free images. Public Domain image dedication. CC0 1.0 Universal Licence – http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Remember when I told you that New Jersey was this close to upping the minimum wage to $15/hr?
When do you have the file your EEO-1 this year?
We don’t talk much about the EEO-1 Report on this blog.
The EEO-1 is the federally-mandated survey of company employment data categorized by race/ethnicity, gender and job category Companies with 100 or more employees must file it each year. Certain federal contractors with 50 or more employees must file the EEO-1 too.
Now, some of you may be thinking, “Wait, what?” “Eric, did the recent government shutdown impact when our company needs to file the EEO-1?”
Indeed it did. Continue reading
Does New Jersey’s new equal pay law apply retroactively?
Image Credit: PXhere.com (https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1291014)
Last April, I was talking to an employee-rights attorney about the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, legislation in New Jersey that Governor Murphy had just signed. That’s the law requiring pay equality across all protected classes. Continue reading