This one goes out to all of you employees who are contemplating a claim against a former employer for violating the Family and Medical Leave Act. Read this federal court opinion and make a mental note: when you voluntarily work from home, that’s not “leave” under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Yep,…
The Employer Handbook Blog
Burn these job interview questions. Send ’em to hell!
Kinda like this, but different. According to a recent survey from CareerBuilder.com, 1 out of 5 employers failed to read my 2011 blog post about interview questions to avoid, have asked a question in a job interview only to find out later that it was illegal to ask. Indeed, the poll…
The latest guidance for employers on telecommuting as an ADA accommodation
If you’re in a rush, I’ll hit you with the punchline and save you the trouble of reading 1,000+ words of blog post: Telecommuting may be a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, except where regular attendance is an essential function of the job. For those of you with a…
EEOC: U.S. Army’s bathroom restriction on transgender employee was sex discrimination
Exactly one month ago, I addressed what many consider to be the elephant in the room when it comes to transgender employees: bathroom use. On Wednesday, EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum fired off a series of tweets (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) to lawyers representing employers and employees. Below (and…
FAQ: When do you have to pay your employees for travel time? #FLSA
Let’s start this post off with a disclaimer: People! I’m just a man; not a god. I’m going to address travel time under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Many of you folks live in crazy states, like New York and its crappy basketball team, which is even worse than the Sixers.…
A white employee tossed banana peels at work, and HE claims discrimination. He might WIN too.
Where do I find these cases, you ask? Well, I sold my soul, and a stack of Billy Ripken baseball cards, to the devil a long time ago. I ain’t telling. But seriously, this case isn’t so much about the particular facts… White employee tosses banana peels at work Black employees complain…
Can you refuse to hire someone for filing an FMLA lawsuit against a prior employer?
Oh, that collective sigh of relief of not receiving a daily email update yesterday from The Employer Handbook. (Yes, you can sign up to receive daily email alerts to my blog). Folks, I’m sorry. Monday, I was a deadbeat; I didn’t pay my MailChimp bill. So, if you rely upon…
Noting “Health Reasons” on a termination form could indicate disability bias
Happy Monday, everyone. Glad to see I didn’t break some of your content filters on Friday with my filthy NLRB post. But, hey, just another day in the interesting life of an employment lawyer / HR professional, amirite? Today, I bring you a very simple lesson, courtesy of the Third Circuit Court…
NLRB ok’s one of the filthiest employee Facebook posts about a manager … evah!
[WARNING: This post has some VERY foul language. Although the National Labor Relations Board may tolerate it, many of you may be offended]. By now, all of us have read the articles, which claim that the law permits your employees to complain about work on social media … and keep…
Your ex-employee won’t tell you the password to your company’s LinkedIn page. Now what?
Your company has set up a private LinkedIn Group. Your company, which controls who may become a member of the Group, has seen the number of Group members swell to nearly 700. Way to go! Because it’s a private group, the names of all of the group members are not generally available…