“You keep reading; I’ll keep writing.” Nine times out of ten, that’s how I close my replies to readers of this blog who email me. I didn’t know that when I started writing this blog in 2011, the enjoyment I get from writing about employment law and engaging with you…
Since only the real ones are reading the blog this week, I must confess that it would be cool to patrol the office halls with a fake badge I ordered from Amazon to restore order and HR compliance to the workplace. But policing religion is where I must draw the…
For a minute there, I thought about blogging today about the Supreme Court employment law outlook for 2024. But that can wait. With Santa gearing up to make his special deliveries on Monday, we need human resource professionals and employment letters to settle a holiday debate. Is ‘Die Hard’ a…
Some jobs stink. But that doesn’t make the office a “hostile work environment.” For example, last night, I read about a manager whose employer transferred her to a unit facing a backlog of 12,000 cases. Following the transfer, the manager claimed she endured “constant negative treatment,” was the only one…
I’m going to tell you about what may be the least self-aware employee. At least in recent memory. But first, we need to talk about sex stereotyping. Sex stereotyping is a form of discrimination. Indeed, the Supreme Court has acknowledged that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…
Discrimination claims are not easy to prove. But, it doesn’t take much for a plaintiff to at least allege in her complaint that her former employer discriminated against her. Except when all you plead are “vague and conclusory” allegations. For example, in a Fifth Circuit decision I read last night,…
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities who are employees or applicants for employment. However, the ADA does not require an employer to assist a person without a disability due to that person’s association with someone with a disability. Still,…
A university professor did not have her employment contract renewed after two years on the job. Why not? She claimed it was in retaliation for previous internal complaints of discrimination. According to the school, there were several decision-makers, and most didn’t know she had complained. (So, how could they have…
Well, I don’t know if it’s the worst, but getting sentenced to 24 months in prison for a network intrusion and making false statements to a government agency sounds pretty bad. I was reading about this situation last night, and it sounded like something I would have blogged about before.…
I’ve been practicing law for over 20 years, and I must concede that I did not know this. Here’s how it works. Let’s say two companies bid for a public contract. One is minority-owned; the other is not. The minority-owned company submits the lowest bid by a million dollars. However,…