I want you to meet Alex Meier. For many years, Alex represented clients of one of the leading management-side employment law firms in the United States. Alex’s clients looked to him to resolve their most complex and nuanced employment cases. However, This year, things changed when Alex joined another management-side…
The Employer Handbook Blog
Will you help a friend impacted by Hurricane Helene?
Ranae Sheppard is lucky to be alive. A wife, mother of four, and integral litigation support provider to law firms like mine, Ranae was among the many North Carolina residents whose lives were turned upside down (or worse) in less than 24 hours by Hurricane Helene’s force and carnage. For…
With so many religious holidays coming up, make sure your managers don’t do THIS.
Many of your employees and applicants will celebrate religious holidays between now and the end of the year. Today, for example, is the first day of Rosh Hashanah, which began last night at sundown. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful for an employer to…
The EEOC just sued some employers for preventing transgender employees from using restrooms consistent with their gender identity
In 2015, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined that a federal agency that denied an employee equal access to a common bathroom/facility corresponding to the employee’s gender identity discriminated based on sex and could not restrict a transgender employee to a single-user restroom. About five years later, the Supreme…
If your pregnant employee experiences a stillbirth or miscarriage, whatever you do, don’t do this
Today’s lesson is about the interplay between the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to accommodate known disabilities absent undue hardship, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect last year and also requires an employer to accommodate known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of…
THIS must be part of your 2025 anti-harassment training if it’s not already,
In the past week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has brought two lawsuits against employers that allegedly violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against transgender employees. In one of the lawsuits, the EEOC claims that a transgender employee complained that she believed a manager had…
Do we have to hire the best candidate for the job … if they have a visible Swastika tattoo?
I’ve read this post and this post about this recent lawsuit about seven current and former employees who claim they were forced to work with ‘Nazi sympathizers.’ They allege that the company hired and promoted a white employee with a swastika tattoo on his face and ties to a white…
The FTC is appealing one of its non-compete losses. Should employers be nervous?
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission filed a notice of appeal with the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, signifying that it will ask the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a trial judge’s August 15 decision to enjoin enforcement of its sweeping noncompete ban. Should…
A 100%-healed policy may 100% violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act
Last week, we discussed an FMLA policy that your business needs to rip from its employee handbook and burn with fire. This week, we revisit an Americans Disabilities Act policy that should end up on the paper shredder: the 100% healed policy. If your business has a policy that requires…
Why would an employee sue his employer for offering him 100% telework as a disability accommodation?
Folks, I’ve lost track of the number of disability accommodation requests on which I’ve counseled human resources concerning employee requests to work full-time from home. So, when I came across a recent decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit involving a failure-to-accommodate claim…