Gender

Her resignation letter described a “great experience” at work. Then she sued for hostile-environment constructive discharge.

September 18, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Fred the Oyster [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the first hits when you Google ‘resignation letter’ is this career advice from Monster. The job board offers some tips for crafting a letter of resignation, among them: a statement of intent that you will be leaving your job, the date of your last day on the job, and your contact info. One of the optional items Monster suggests including is a highlight of your time there.

Monster’s advice is pretty spot on. Except, that is, when the individual later decides to assert claims of hostile work environment and constructive discharge.

Because, as you’ll find out in this post, nothing undermines those claims like a thoughtful resignation letter. Continue reading

Hooters 2.0? EEOC says that a lingerie store can’t refuse to hire male salespeople

September 17, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/14339

A few decades ago, some men sued Hooters Restaurant, claiming that the purveyor of chicken wings, burgers, beer, and shapely female servers in tight, revealing outfits, was discriminating against males who were denied employment as servers.

That case resolved in 1997, with Hooters serving up a multi-million dollar settlement and opening up a few gender-neutral positions at the restaurant.

But, not servers. Continue reading

Four mistakes that you and your managers make when firing employees

September 16, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

sailko [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Well, maybe not you and yours. But, read on just in case.

Grab the tack hammer. It’s the ‘Tommy Boy’ of employment discrimination stupid.

May 29, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Tommy Boy (screenshot from Vimeo.com)

Last week, I wavered about whether to include a line from Tommy Boy in a brief that I was drafting:

“I tell ya what. If you don’t know how to fasten your seatbelt, just raise your hand and I’ll have Tommy Boy here come back there and hit you in the head with a tack hammer.”

Ultimately, I decided that it was bad form. One could reasonably construe my use of that quote as antagonizing and bit snarky. Moi?!?

So, I’m using it for this blog post instead. Continue reading

2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris just floated ‘the most aggressive equal pay proposal in history.’

May 22, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

United States Senate [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Yep, this plan packs a punch. Continue reading

When a woman makes offensive comments about being female. A lesson on implicit bias.

May 9, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

I live and work about 100 miles northeast of Baltimore, MD.

I don’t have my finger on the pulse of everything that’s going on in the Charm City. However, I do know that the City’s 50th mayor, Catherine Pugh, had a bad run there at the end. She resigned on May 2, which was about a week after the FBI and IRS conducted multiple raids relating to her business affairs. You can read all about it here.

The purpose of today’s post is not to pile onto Ms. Pugh. Instead, I want to focus on another related separation of employment and a lesson for your workplace.

On Equal Pay Day, let’s take a closer look at what’s being done to address pay disparity.

April 2, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/money-finance-business-success-2696238/)

Today is Equal Pay Day. Continue reading

On International Women’s Day, the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team sued U.S. Soccer to demand equal pay.

March 11, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

By [1] – originally posted to Flickr as USWNT Celebrates Uploaded using F2ComButton, CC BY 2.0, Link

Friday was International Women’s Day. It was also the day that 28 members of the United States women’s soccer team filed this lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) in federal court alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Why? Because the women get paid less than U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team.

But, can the plaintiffs prevail? Continue reading