The general rule in employment law is that an employer’s inconsistencies and contradictions breathe life into discrimination claims. But there are some exceptions. Proving pretext. For example, last night, I read this federal court decision involving an employee fired shortly after complaining to HR about an offensive comment from a…
The Employer Handbook Blog
New Zamboni turns in Old Zamboni driver for peeing in a drain. Old Zamboni driver gets fired and sues for discrimination.
I can’t make this stuff up. The former Zamboni driver for a professional hockey team claims that the team unlawfully fired him based on his age (68) and disability (benign prostatic hypertrophy, which causes a frequent and uncontrollable need to urinate). Unfortunately for the plaintiff, a rather startling admission may…
Jerk customers can create hostile work environments for your workers too
As I sit here on vacation cleaning out some of the older cases from my Google Drive, I came across this Fifth Circuit decision about which I meant to blog a while ago. It’s about a baccarat dealer who had to deal with a customer making sexually charged gestures, remarks…
Five days after the CDC reaffirmed its mask order for air travel, a federal judge nixed it nationwide
On April 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that its Mask Order (requiring face masks on planes into and within the United States) would continue to allow the CDC time to assess the potential impact of the rise of COVID-19 cases. Yesterday, however, a Florida federal…
176,193 reasons to be careful when trying to limit employee overtime
Last week, I read this press release from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announcing a six-figure recovery from an employer that “illegally placed a cap on overtime at 16 hours per pay period and paid any overtime beyond 16 hours at straight time rates, a violation…
Yes, a man can have an (un)equal pay claim too. So how can a company defend itself?
The Equal Pay Act (EPA) prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee based on sex by paying lower wages than are paid to employees of the opposite sex for performing equal work. We usually see women assert EPA claims. But men can have them too. For example, in this case,…
Why did this company seemingly offer FMLA leave to an employee it planned to fire?
Last night, I went through my Google Drive of older cases about which I had intended to blog but never gotten around to it. And I found this Fifth Circuit Family and Medical Leave Act decision involving a company that fired an employee two months into his leave. The issue…
2021 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection is now open
In case you somehow missed the EEOC’s big announcement – I cut the ribbon – all private-sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting specific criteria have until May 17, 2022 to submit workforce demographics, including data by race/ethnicity, sex, and job…
It’s the return of the mack, err, masks.
You can take the boy of the ’90s, but… It’s been a minute — actually, about a month and a half — since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its COVID-19 mask guidance. The last update essentially guided most people to wear a mask based on personal…
No, this sign that your boss posted in the breakroom is NOT legal.
Image Credit: u/AMasterfulWriter on Reddit. Not even in Kentucky. Over on the r/antiwork Subreddit, a goldmine for employment law blog fodder, a Redditor posted this notice that a boss displayed in the breakroom at work and asked, “is this sign legal?” The sign reads: EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, CONVERSING ABOUT WAGES (BOTH…