Before you put away your robes and gavels, I need to judge one more thing: the annual Thanksgiving foods competition. It’s that time of year when I ask the best blog readers in the world (that’s you!) to rank the best Thanksgiving foods. Thirty-two items are divided into four categories…
The Employer Handbook Blog
82% of you wannabe judges disagreed with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
In yesterday’s blog post (and on LinkedIn), I asked you to adjudicate a white man’s discrimination claim. Specifically, you had to decide whether a white utility water meter reader who was fired for inaccurately reporting homeowners’ water meters was “similarly situated” to a black coworker who was not fired even…
Are these two employees comparable? Today, you be the judge to help decide this discrimination case.
A white man who worked as a utility water meter reader sued his employer for racial discrimination after he was fired for inaccurately reporting homeowners’ water meters. In support of his claims, the plaintiff compared himself to a black coworker who was not fired even though he started work late,…
Not one, but two Friday freebies (including FMLA/ADA tips and tricks on Zoom today at Noon ET!!!)
Well, if you count The Employer Handbook itself, which email gods magically deliver to blog subscriber email inboxes every weekday following weeknights where I haven’t had too many blog-inhibiting adult beverages, I’ve got three freebies today. To remedy that, you must promise to pay me $100 if you keep reading…
President Biden is ready to sign a bipartisan bill ending certain sexual harassment NDAs
Democrats and Republicans don’t often see eye to eye on new employment legislation. Except, it seems, when Gretchen Carlson spearheads the effort to get these new bills passed. In March, President Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 into law. That law…
Here’s how an employer violated the FMLA and still won the interference claim
The complexities of the Family and Medical Leave Act can bollocks even multi-billion-dollar companies. But the case I’m going to tell you about today is a reminder that, at bottom, the FMLA is largely no-harm, non-foul. In early 2018, an employee with a serious health condition spoke to her doctor,…
Rarely-performed duties can still be essential ones under the ADA
I have another HR tip related to yesterday’s blog post and accommodating employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act and what counts as an essential job function. Generally, the essential functions of the job are the ones that employees perform the most. However, there are situations where rarely-performed tasks can…
Does the ADA force employers to allow employees with medical restrictions to overrule their doctors?
If you’re in Human Resources, you’ve probably dealt with this issue before. An employee with a disability submits a doctor’s note expressly instructing the employee to avoid performing certain essential functions of their job. But the employee tells you that they can do those tasks anyway, if truly necessary. Does the Americans…
Here’s why the National Labor Relations Board get may interested in non-union Twitter’s layoffs
Sections 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act) protect employees from retaliation for concerted protected activity. Protected concerted activity generally involves two or more employees discussing working conditions like pay, benefits, etc. One of the employees who lost his job at Twitter this month — a…
Did Twitter’s recent layoffs violate federal employment AND labor law?
It depends on who you ask. According to the plaintiffs and their counsel in this recently filed first amended complaint, the social media giant violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). One of the plaintiffs upped the ante with a separate unfair labor practice charge, which he…