When an employer is faced with a sexual-harassment lawsuit, one of its best defenses is that the company took reasonable care (e.g., policy, training) to prevent sexual harassment (and then addressed complaints in a manner that is reasonably designed to end the sexual harassment) In EEOC v. Spud Seller (opinion…
Yesterday, I came across this article from Meghan Casserly on Forbes.com, which discusses the benefits that Google provides its employees and their families. One of my favorite bloggers in the HR/employment-law space, Mark Toth, lives by the mantra that companies that really love their employees are the best places…
HEY! Which one of you just threw that breast pump at my head? [annnnnnnd cue music] ** Dons sensitivity invisibility cloak ** Nearly two years ago, I wrote here about how the The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to require companies to…
As of yesterday, July 1, 2012, covered employers in Philadelphia are now required to afford sick leave to certain employees. Here is a copy of the new law. You’ll also need to read this bill to have any chance at making heads or tails of the new sick-leave requirements. But,…
That according to a a new survey from The National Partnership for Women & Families. The survey compared how state-based rights and protections compare to the 12 weeks of leave for new and expecting parents provided by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the protections provided by the…
If an employee complains that her supervisor is sexting her, making unwelcome physical contact, and telling her that she can get a better work schedule in exchange for “small favors,” you better damn well investigate that! Ignore it and you risk losing a valuable defense to sexual harassment claim. This…
“An employee who emails pictures of Trayvon Martin‘s head cropped onto the body of a dead police officer is a thought-leading change agent.” — Absolutely nobody in HR No, he gets fired. According to this story from Chris Biele at FOX40 News in California, an employee in the state’s Employment…
According to a federal appellate court from California, a state that has embraced marijuana as an effective treatment for individuals who face debilitating pain, an employer may discriminate against an employee because of the employee’s use of marijuana. This holds true whether the marijuana use is recreational or medicinal, because the…
As evidenced by the nature of this blog post and the picture on the right, it’s best not to leave me in the office alone, unsupervised, with an iPhone, and App Store credits, as I punch this out at 10:52 at night on a Thursday. (And yet, somehow, the Wall…
Today we have a guest blogger at The Employer Handbook. It’s Audrey Porterman. Audrey is the main researcher and writer for doctoralprograms.org. Her most recent accomplishment includes graduating from Ohio State, with a degree in business management. Her current focus for the site involves an online phd program and english…