Stop me if this sounds familiar. An employee has a bad day at work. His supervisor assigned him work that he didn’t want to perform. Clearly upset with the situation, the employee begrudgingly completes the assignment and promptly announces that he will go on vacation for a few days. However,…
The Employer Handbook Blog
Force your employees to sign THIS, and the EEOC may nail you for ADA interference
Something caught my eye yesterday as I was perusing the EEOC newsroom. The federal watchdog recently announced that it had filed a lawsuit against an employer for something called Americans with Disabilities Act interference. What exactly is ADA interference? The ADA prohibits an employer from coercing, intimidating, threatening, or interfering…
100,000 reasons to accommodate an employee after she experiences a stillbirth (and not fire her four days later)
About two weeks ago, I spotlighted an EEOC lawsuit where the agency claimed an employer fired a woman four days after she experienced a stillbirth and one day after submitting a confirming letter from her doctor, which also recommended six weeks to recuperate physically and grieve. The Pregnant Workers Fairness…
Rest in Peace: Lilly Ledbetter, an equal-pay activist and icon
U.S. Department of Labor, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Over the weekend, Lilly Ledbetter, a woman who unintentionally became a champion of equal pay for men and women, died at 86. Ms. Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (Goodyear) from 1979 until 1998. During much of this time,…
An employee facing termination of employment requested FMLA leave. It didn’t save him from getting fired. Here’s why…
In a precedential decision issued on Friday, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals declined to reinstate a plaintiff’s trial court victory for FMLA interference, concluding that when he requested leave for migraine headaches, he did not yet have a serious health condition. The plaintiff was a bus operator who had accumulated…
Join us today on Zoom at Noon ET to learn the playbook of an employee-rights attorney (who used to represent employers).
Alex Meier leveraged years of experience and savvy representing clients of one of the leading management-side employment law firms in the United States to form an employee-rights firm and advocate for plaintiffs — your workers. Bold move! So I convinced Alex to share with readers why he made such a…
Your HR Guide to Hurricane Milton
As I write this post on Wednesday night, Hurricane Milton is making landfall in Florida as a category three storm. 1.3 million people are without power, and forecasters warn that Milton could generate a storm surge with inundations of 12-13 feet. Many of you with businesses in Florida will have…
I’m pretty sure I found Exhibit “A” in a new EEOC pregnancy bias lawsuit. It will blow your mind 🤯
Yesterday, the EEOC announced that it had sued an employer for allegedly denying a new hire request to leave training early for an urgent medical evaluation related to her pregnancy and rescinded her job offer. These are just allegations. However, according to the EEOC complaint, the federal discrimination watchdog appears to…
Should it be harder for straight workers to prove bias than gay workers? How about a heightened standard for white workers to prove discrimination? The Supreme Court will decide.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and applicants based on sex. In 2020, the Supreme Court interpreted Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination to include employer bias based on sexual orientation. But, did you know that in about half the country,…
Join us on Zoom on Friday, October 11 for “To the Dark Side (or perhaps seeing the light).”
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…