This case involves a plaintiff who worked as a part-time bartender who worked for a bar in New Jersey. She claimed that her supervisor created a hostile work environment by calling the plaintiff names “used to describe a person with an oversized posterior.” (The court deemed it unnecessary to identify…
A few weeks ago, I blogged about a situation involving an employee who used CBD products and tested positive for marijuana at work. She claimed that the employer took into account her underlying disability when it terminated her employment and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The employer countered that…
Two posts in one week about interference with Family and Medical Leave Act rights. The FMLA prohibits employers from interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of FMLA rights. On Wednesday, we discussed how an employer doesn’t interfere with FMLA when it does not provide FMLA leave to an employee…
As an employment law mediator, my resume includes many years of private practice and service to some federal courts. But I cut my chops at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and have remained a volunteer mediator with the EEOC for over a decade. If anyone asked me what I…
“Clairvoyance,” that’s a 10th-grade word. Let me Google it just in case. Ok, we’re good. We’re taught, and by “we,” I mean our managers. And by “taught,” I mean “cross our fingers that they were paying attention during training,” that an employee does not need to say the words “Family…
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. This includes refusing to accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs or practices unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship. An “undue hardship” results in more than a de minimis cost to the employer.…
Kind of like that guy, except without the snazzy mustache and a lot less British. For those of you who have had the misfortune of defending a lawsuit under the Family and Medical Leave Act, I’m guessing that most have you have done so in federal court, and it involved…
May is Mental Health Month. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the Family and Medical Leave Act, just dropped some additional resources for workers on their rights to take leave for serious mental health conditions and for employers to better understand how to comply with…
On Monday, I blogged about a weekend incident in which New York Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson and White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson in which Mr. Anderson claimed that Mr. Donaldson referred to him as “Jackie,” a reference to Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson. Mr. Donaldson admitted calling Mr. Anderson…
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that federal courts may not adopt an arbitration-specific waiver rule demanding a showing of prejudice. Huh? Before translating legalese into plain English, I want to apologize to those expecting the follow-up to yesterday’s post about what Major League Baseball should do…