Federal laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, apply to most U.S. businesses across the country to make it unlawful to discriminate and retaliate against employees. But when resolving claims of discrimination and retaliation, state laws generally come into play. And not all state laws…
The Employer Handbook Blog
….and STILL the reigning, defending champion of Thanksgiving foods is STUFFING!!!
Whether adorned with cornbread, sausage, or just the simple traditional version, readers of this blog can’t get enough of that Thanksgiving stuffing, which once again prevailed as the top overall Thanksgiving food in 2023, as voted on by several hundred of you. Here are the other group winners: Turkey Breast…
Ok, NOW let’s rank the top Thanksgiving foods for 2023!
I didn’t mean to startle some of you yesterday. In yesterday’s post, I teased that we would rank the Thanksgiving foods today. But in doing so, I linked to last year’s survey, which is closed. Sorry about that. For those new to the blog, each year before Thanksgiving, readers get…
An employer cannot rely on a contract to discriminate
Earlier this month, an employer learned the hard way that it could not rely on a contract provision to greenlight discrimination. For several years, a school district limited the annual earnings increases of teachers over age 45 to avoid a pension-contribution surcharge. Why? Because its collective bargaining agreement with the…
POLL RESULTS (sort of): Only about half of employers still have COVID-19 policies
Although the vast majority of businesses implemented a written COVID-19 policy at one time or another, many have eliminated or stopped updating those policies. That’s what I learned from a poll I posted on Friday using SurveyMonkey, to which 227 people responded. However, in full disclosure, I didn’t realize at…
POLL: Does your business have a COVID-19 policy?
The other day, a partner asked me about COVID-19 policies and how clients may still implement them. Candidly, it wasn’t something I’d thought about for a while. Heck, I had to dust one off to remember all of the minutiae about vaccines, CDC guidelines, etc. There are a few states…
They don’t call it FMLA interference for nothing
In my day, televisions had antennas, which you had to position just right to watch one of three channels, and I’m turning into my parents. Let’s talk about Family and Medical Leave Act interference instead. Last night, I read an Eleventh Circuit decision about an employee who had taken FMLA…
281,870 reasons not to attempt a kickback scheme to avoid paying overtime
It’s not often that I attempt to locate images for blog posts using ‘kickback’ as a search term. But when I do, rest assured that some employer really stepped in it. Last year, I wrote about a home healthcare agency that allegedly retaliated against employees for cooperating with a U.S. Department…
A Tennessee man who claims he was fired from his job over tweets made in California can sue that person in Tennessee
I want to thank my co-presenters, Amy Epstein Gluck, Jonathan Segal, Gregory Slotnick, and everyone who attended the Zoom on Friday, November 10, 2023, when we discussed antisemitism and the workplace. We recorded it, and you can view it here on YouTube. One of the topics we covered was employees getting…
Today, at Noon ET, join us for “Antisemitism and the Workplace” on Zoom. It’s free to attend.
There is still time to register to join me, Amy Epstein Gluck, Jonathan Segal, and Gregory Slotnick at Noon ET today to discuss antisemitism and the workplace. Here are some of the more specific topics we intend to cover. What is (and isn’t) antisemitism? Regardless of your religion, how employees can act…