Last night on the U.S. Department of Labor’s website, I spent some time checking out some of the latest news releases from the Wage and Hour Division. Oh, hold on one second. I need to take this call. “Yes?” “Eric, it’s ‘1996 Eric.'” “Who?” “It’s you, err, me, from like…
Suppose your company receives a complaint from an employee that one of his co-workers is voicing support for Vladimir Putin. The company investigates and validates the complaint. Can you fire the co-worker? Sure. We covered that yesterday. But that wasn’t the tricky question. Should the company fire the Putin supporter?…
Last week, I reminded employers that you can stand with Ukraine. Just remember to stand up for your Russian employees too. Many now stand with Ukraine against Vladimir Putin and his decision to invade Ukraine. But suppose an employee, Russian or otherwise, speaks out in support of Putin. Can you…
What a Friday trifecta! The only thing better that could come in threes would be a gallon of Neapolitan ice cream — with chocolate instead of strawberry and vanilla. Beards up! Masks down. Speaking of threes, the Philadelphia 76ers have been flashing championship form since the arrival of James Harden…
Fortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is waning. Yet, past workplace incidents are now surfacing in court as COVID-19 discrimination lawsuits. A common thread with many of these lawsuits is an employee with COVID-19 who gets fired and claims disability discrimination. That begs the question: when is COVID-19 a disability under the…
In case you missed President Biden’s State of the Union Address last night, I’ve got you covered with everything HR compliance that came up. Pay equity and higher minimum wage. When President Biden took office in January 2021, part of his initial plan was to raise the federal minimum wage…
It wasn’t long ago that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission noticed a spike in reports of mistreatment and harassment of Asian Americans and other people of Asian descent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, when many Americans clamored for a wall on the southern border, Hispanic workers in the…
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced revisions to its COVID-19 face mask protocol. What’s new? Most people are either vaccinated or possess natural immunity from COVID infections. Therefore, the risk of medically significant disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 is far less for most people.…
Did you happen to catch my friend Jon Hyman’s blog post about employers who surreptitiously install tracking software on electronic devices to monitor their employees? Your mileage may vary as to whether it’s good for business. In some states, it may be downright illegal. For example, last month New Jersey…
The Americans with Disabilities Act has strict rules about the scope and manner of disability-related inquiries and medical examinations of workers. For example, do you remember that post last week about the forklift operator on opioids? He presented doctor’s notes to his employer to confirm that he would not present…