Recently, I read a recent federal appellate court decision involving an employee with a rare form of Tourette Syndrome that caused him to use obscenities and racial slurs. While that could be dicey around coworkers, this employee’s job required excellent customer service skills while making deliveries and interacting with said customers.…
Photo by Brett Sayles: https://www.pexels.com/photo/slogan-black-lives-matter-on-black-board-4665903/ Last week, the National Labor Relations Board decided that a NON-union employer cannot require employees to remove “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) insignia from their work uniform when the BLM marking is a “logical outgrowth” of earlier group protests about racial discrimination in their workplace. So,…
I’ll bet nowhere on your HR job description is there anything about serving as the religion police. But during the pandemic, some companies were pretty persnickety when considering employee requests for accommodations from getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Companies that applied heightened scrutiny did so at their own risk. In its…
Also, it is a bad idea to give that same employee a “retire-or-be-fired” ultimatum shortly after they return from bypass heart surgery. Am I making this stuff up? When have you known me to do that? No, these allegations come from a recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) press…
In most places, a plaintiff who claims that their former employer sexually harassed them must establish that the conduct to which they were subjected was severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment and create a hostile or abusive work environment. In New York, however, not so much.…
Historically, federal courts have determined that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not protect individuals with disabilities with valid medical marijuana prescriptions who lose their jobs for testing positive. But, in 2024, most states have recognized the medical benefits of cannabis and have legalized it for medical use by their…
Earlier in the week, I shared four ways to BOTCH a sexual harassment investigation. My “muse” was an Employee Relations Department that caught the attention of the EEOC for its alleged poor handling of an employee’s complaints of sexual harassment. But I appreciate a good comeback story, don’t you? And…
This sounds like something that might interest the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Oh, wait. Would you look at this EEOC press release? It seems her employer may have engaged in age and disability discrimination. Let’s see why the EEOC believes this: (I mean, other than “duh!”) According to the lawsuit, the…
Last month, I told you that an employer’s response to a harassment complaint doesn’t need to be perfect. Just ok may do. That’s because an employer that learns about sexual harassment needs to respond in a way that is reasonably designed to end the complained-of behavior. Well, I read a…
Hopefully, your business never has to address a situation where an employee is suffering from progressive memory loss and cognitive decline. But, suppose one of your employees informs you that they have early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. How should the company respond? Last night, I read a court opinion involving this fact…