You’ve heard the expression “loose lips sink ships.” Well, the opposite holds true when an employee complains to a supervisor about workplace discrimination. You’ll see what I mean when we go back to yesterday’s post. That’s the one about the “unofficial” office happy hour that officially landed the employer in…
Ten of your employees, including two supervisors, plan and attend an “unofficial” happy hour after work at a local bar. It’s unofficial because the company does not sponsor it, none of the employees are paid for their time, and no business is discussed. Now, let’s assume that this hour is…
***pops open can of Haterade*** A local Philadelphia-area school district employed a teacher/union advocate for about 10 years until it ended his employment on the grounds that he was creating a hostile work environment for his fellow teachers and making lewd and suggestive statements to students. Given that this is…
Or, as the kids say, it’s scary AF! If, like me, your mind is now blown, fear not. I’ve got some soothing HR compliance coming at you. Wait for it…
Over the weekend, I was reading this recent opinion from a federal judge in Maryland and, with a big smile on my face, I started polishing up my blogging crown and scepter. Allen v. TV One, LLC is a case about a woman who alleges that she was constantly pestered by the Board…
Is this prurient blog title a convenient excuse to play a J. Geils Band tune on the blog? Maybe. But, still I’ll toss in a side of HR-compliance. Let’s take a trip to our nation’s capital, Washington, DC. Sharon Stewart works for the Federal Communications Commission. She sued the FCC…
I’m not sure what kind of evidence a federal jury was expecting when it concluded that two plaintiff-intervenors (i.e., the alleged victims of sexual harassment on whose behalf the EEOC pursued claims) did not do enough to notify the employer-defendant about possible harassment in the workplace. And neither did a federal judge…
As an employment lawyer nearly 20 years under my belt, I’m fairly jaded. Or maybe, I’m just numb. Either way, I have plenty of stories for a cocktail hour. Like there was that time that I deposed the awkward niece of a plaintiff whose husband wiped the plaintiff’s work laptop…
I’m dusting one off today. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.” When a plaintiff claims that she was sexually harassed by a co-worker, the employer may have an affirmative…
In February, a female Uber employee blogging under the pseudonym Amy Vertino blew the lid off of what she alleged to be a corporate culture of misogyny and other rampant discrimination. Recently, there have been several additional high-profile stories of alleged sex discrimination and harassment at the very top of the ladder.…