EverythingSuperMario [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia CommonsThen, maybe just give up and move on with your life. I want to tell you a story. It’s about a woman in Ohio, well-educated woman in Ohio. You see, this woman initially graduated from college in 1996 with a degree in journalism. In…
Articles Posted in Age
Will this time be the charm for some workplace bills recently reintroduced in Congress?
David Maiolo [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia CommonsThere are a couple of new(ish) workplace bills pending in Congress. Would you like to hear more about them? Paycheck Fairness Act Late last month, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act. If it passes, the Paycheck Fairness Act will amend…
Appellate court rules that age discrimination against certain job applicants is okay — sort of.
Image Credit: Pxhere.com (https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1445849) Last week, the full Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued this decision in which it held that an outside job applicant cannot pursue a disparate impact claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. What does this mean in plain English? Think “unintentional discrimination.” In the Seventh Circuit case, the…
From wonky to wonkier, why your arbitration agreement may not be worth the paper on which it is printed?
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/printer-fire-flames-broken-38027/) Yesterday, I successfully alienated every reader that doesn’t work in the restaurant industry or otherwise nerd out on Fair Labor Standards Act minutiae. Today, I double down with idiosyncratic arbitration agreements, specifically those possibly used by New Jersey employers. I promise to get back to something more…
It’s unanimous! Supreme Court rules that any public-sector employee 40 years or older may file an age-bias claim
Joe Ravi [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], from Wikimedia CommonsLest you think that eight Supreme Court Justices — Justice Kavanaugh did not participate — can never see eye-to-eye on how to resolve an employment law issue. Yesterday, the Court unanimously concluded in Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido (here) that while the…
Severance Agreements: Make them easy to understand and don’t pressure an employee to sign
See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsWhen one of your former employees signs a severance agreement with a release of all claims, the last thing you want is for that employee to sign and then sue you. Do over? Earlier this year, a Pennsylvania federal court issued an…
This company fired an employee on the same day that she returned from pregnancy leave … and won the lawsuit.
Image Credit: Pixabay.com Every so often — not, “if I had a nickel” often, but every once in a while — someone hits me up for my two cents on firing an employee who is on FMLA or some other form of protected leave for [fill in the reason]. And…
I’m gonna go ahead and file this post about age discrimination under “Duh!”
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/cartoon-boy-child-character-cute-2602989/) The Age Discrimination in Employment Act is a federal law that makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate based on age against anyone who is 40 or older. Got that? 40 or older. This recent federal opinion involves an age retaliation claim that a 32-year-old employee asserted…
When the same person does the hiring and firing, can there really be any discrimination?
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/glass-crack-broken-broken-glass-101792/) Consider this example: A supervisor hires someone who is over 40 years of age. Not long after, the same supervisor fires that same employee. What are the odds that age motivated the termination of employment? (Remember, that the supervisor voluntarily hired the same over-40 employee too.)…
Thank you for your comments on whether “overqualified” is code for age discrimination
By dconvertini (Nashville, Tennessee, USA) [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia CommonsGreetings from Nashville, Tennessee. Every once in a while some of my high school friends and I motivate and plan a road trip to coincide with a Philadelphia Eagles road game. This year, we followed the Birds to Nashville…