Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. This includes refusing to accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs or practices unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship. An “undue hardship” results in more than a de minimis cost to the employer.…
Some of you require your employees to sign agreements requiring them to arbitrate employment claims — other than claims of sexual harassment or abuse, of course. But what happens if your employees later sign another agreement — a severance agreement, for example — that doesn’t contain an arbitration provision? One…
medical form by Linseed Studio from the Noun Project I think we all need a break from the COVID-19 vaccination posts. So, let’s address your second-favorite HR topic: FMLA leave administration!!! Hey, put down that bottle! It’s only 8 am. I’ve got a not-so-hypothetical for you. Let’s say that you…
Image Credit: MaxPixel.net A white employee complains in writing that a colleague called his biracial grand-niece a “monkey” and texted him racially offensive comments about his coworkers. Within months, the employer fired the complainant. Is this retaliation? A federal court in Pennsylvania said no. It reasoned that while Title VII…
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Just about the only folks guaranteed to get paid in an employment discrimination case are the lawyers. Employers generally pay the lawyers representing them by the hour. Conversely, employee-rights attorneys generally representing plaintiffs in these types of cases do so on a contingency basis, meaning…
Image by DigitalShards from Pixabay I’ve talked a fair amount recently about retaliation claims (here and here), mostly focusing on timing as the possible link between a protected activity (such as a complaint of discrimination) and an adverse employment action (like a firing). The plaintiffs in those cases were unsuccessful…
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay You’ve been here before. One of your employees just complained about discrimination in the workplace. Or maybe s/he just participated in an HR investigation. A few days or weeks later, s/he violates your work rules and you have clear grounds to fire the employee. Now…
By Nut-hardware.jpg: Muke derivative work: Xoristzatziki (talk) – Nut-hardware.jpg, Public Domain, Link I can tell you this. It takes more than a few posts from a couple of ‘Wingnuts.’ Some mean-spirited Facebook posts. The plaintiff, in this case, worked for a unionized airline. The plaintiff ran to become the union president.…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com Yesterday, I was reading this case about a woman who was fired while taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. She later sued, claiming FMLA interference; i.e., that her employer had denied her FMLA benefits to which she was otherwise entitled. An employee fired while…
Ischa1, Helder [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsA few days ago, I blogged about How does one of your employees actually prove discrimination in court? And I suppose that was a bit of a misnomer because there’s more to it. So, let’s talk about that today. Late last week, the Third…