Image Credit: Pexels.com (https://www.pexels.com/photo/parking-parking-lot-underground-garage-2996/) A probation officer in Chicago sued her employer for discrimination and retaliation. At trial, she won her retaliation claim. While the case was on appeal, the plaintiff claimed that her boss threatened to hit her in the parking lot and, in a separate incident, coordinated with another co-worker…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/stamp-characters-label-informant-143799/) Until a few years ago, if an employer wanted to pursue a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets, it probably had to do so in state court under state law. The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 changed all that. The DTSA is a federal law that created a…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/social-social-networks-1206612/) I use the term “professional” loosely. That is to say, not at all. “Roseanne Barr, hold my drink,” is what I picture a former Human Resources Supervisor for a Fortune 50 company saying to herself before she allegedly went all racist in a recent Facebook post…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/update-upgrade-renew-improve-1672346/) If you’re new to the field, you’ll have to take our word on it. But, HR-compliance professionals know that drafting an employee handbook that is 100% compliant got a lot tougher over the past several years. Let’s forget about paid-sick-leave laws, ban-the-box, and other state/local law matters.…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/eyes-surprise-wow-expression-open-312093/) Yesterday morning, I read my friend Jon Hyman’s post on LinkedIn about a lawsuit in which a person of color alleged that various supervisors and managers: Frequently called him the “n-word”; Told him to “reach his black hands out” while handing him a box; and Offered him a…
Image Credit: PXhere.com (https://pxhere.com/en/photo/854901) Well, there’s always a chance the court might, you know, enforce it. You think? Actually, the employer almost got away with it had it not been for those meddling kids the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Here’s what happened: A plaintiff sued her former employer in…
By No machine-readable author provided. Klaus with K assumed (based on copyright claims). [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia CommonsIs that really a thing? A citizen’s arrest? Tell ’em Big Bird. (I think that’s from the same episode where Elmo tried to effect a citizen’s arrest on Oscar…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/hat-cowboy-felt-cowboy-hat-western-1217914/) After a two year hiatus, the EEOC reconvened its Select Task Force on Harassment yesterday to hear from an array of scholars, attorneys, other stakeholders about ways to promote a harassment-free workplace. I’ll recap some of the highlights below and include links to the EEOC press release, the…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/muscles-strong-man-bodybuilder-2026322/) Now, don’t say that I haven’t warned you. A few years ago, I offered 112,500 ADA reasons not to force an employee to stay home until 100% healed. The following year, I told you to 86 the “100% cured” policy for employees returning from FMLA leave, with a…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/shirt-dress-white-clothes-clothing-2345417/) My thorough rundown of all things Bryan Colangelo will have to wait until next week when I serve as a guest contributor to the Philadelphia Business Journal. Today, however, I’ve got your hook up! On Wednesday, Pamela Wolf, J.D. of Wolters Kluwer moderated a webinar entitled Check-In: EEOC, DOL,…