An employee who was allegedly fired for violating a company’s social media policy is going to have his day in court. And on this blog. Chris Redford, a white male, worked for a Louisiana TV news station. The station has a social media policy prohibiting employees from responding to viewer…
It’s very well settled law that accommodating a customer’s preference to be serviced by employees of a particular race is, well, racist. A few weeks ago, this situation arose with a Lowe’s store in Virginia. A CBS affiliate reported (here) that a white Lowe’s customer refused to accept a delivery…
Earlier this year, Kelly Osbourne walked out on E!’s Fashion Police shortly after her co-host, Giuliana Rancic, criticized a young African-American Disney star. Specifically, Ms. Rancic called out the actress for donning dreadlocks at the 2015 Oscars, saying that she must have smelled of “patchouli” and “weed.” Many found Ms. Rancic’s comments racist. Ms. Osbourne too must…
I did very good well on my math SATs. But, here’s some simple math: Fired for posing at work in KKK garb and makeshift crosses + Meyer’s blog fodder = Don’t appeal your race discrimination loss Welp, the Caucasian plaintiffs in this case doubled down on stupid and lost at…
You won’t find this one on the SAT’s. Nope, that math is courtesy of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in this recent opinion, in which a nursing home patient subjected the plaintiff, a phlebotomist, to, well, you read the lede. And all of that happened over a span of just…
Late last week, Rachel Dolezal, the President of the Spokane Chapter of the NAACP and a leader in the black community, was outed by her parents as being white. The controversy caught a lot of people by surprise, most notably, the Spokane Chapter. Amidst a flurry of activity over the weekend — just…
An employee was caught on video saying to black employees, “Hey, did you bring enough KFC for everyone?” and “Hey, anybody smell that? I smell fried chicken and watermelon.” The company had a strict anti-harassment policy. So, after learning about the comments, the company fired the employee. So, what would…
Last year, I channelled Bill Clinton in this blog post about how courts rarely recognize a single incident or two as creating what the law deems a hostile work environment. Yeah, about that. Even a few isolated comments can create a hostile work environment. In Boyer-Liberto v. Fontainebleu Corp. (opinion here), the full panel…
Where do I find these cases, you ask? Well, I sold my soul, and a stack of Billy Ripken baseball cards, to the devil a long time ago. I ain’t telling. But seriously, this case isn’t so much about the particular facts… White employee tosses banana peels at work Black employees complain…
About a year ago, I blogged here about a dreadful Sixth Circuit opinion, in which the court concluded that the plaintiff may have a discrimination claim for receiving the specific transfer he requested (after having interviewed for the position). Now, if you read the comments on my post, you’ll see…