Retaliation

FACT OR FICTION: To protect a pregnant employee, a company can make her stay home.

January 20, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.”

Oh, if I had a nickel for every time I got this question from an employer, “Hey Eric. We have this pregnant employee and she is very close to term. We’re concerned that if she continues working all the way up to childbirth, she may harm herself or the fetus. Can we require her to stay home?”

Eek! Check out this recent press release from the EEOC in which the agency announced that it is suing an employer, which allegedly required a pregnant employee to take unpaid leave until she was cleared by a doctor indicating that she could work despite her pregnancy. The EEOC further alleges, when the employee failed to provide a release, and after she and her mother disputed the legality of the requirement, the employee was fired in retaliation.

I was right. This appellate court employment-law decision was one of the worst of 2014.

January 13, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

About a year ago, I blogged here about a dreadful Sixth Circuit opinion, in which the court concluded that the plaintiff may have a discrimination claim for receiving the specific transfer he requested (after having interviewed for the position).

Now, if you read the comments on my post, you’ll see that some of my readers took issue with my analysis of the case.

Well, I see your comments and raise you a scathing Justice Alito dissent from the United States Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari:

It’s prolly not retaliation when you fire an employee who masturbates in your parking lot

January 5, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Or, at least, when you honestly believe that one of your employees is masturbating in the parking lot.

(Unless, of course, you’re like by buddy Fred, who operates Parking Lot Self-Gratification, LLC).

Let’s just pretend that parenthetical remained in my head, ok?

After the jump, it’s a lesson on the law of retaliation involving the case of a school district employee who was fired for allegedly masturbating in a car…in the school parking lot…during school hours. And he claimed that his firing was retaliatory in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Allow that to sink in for a sec, then hit jump while I kiss the head of my golden blogging statuette and rub her belly…

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Train your supervisors not to shoot at those who complain about discrimination

November 14, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Just another HR Pro Tip from your old buddy, Meyer. Hey, what would you guys do without me?

Sage advice for American businesses coming up after the jump…

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EEOC’s attack on garden-variety severance agreements suffers a potentially MAJOR setback

September 22, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Earlier this year, the EEOC filed a federal lawsuit against CVS in which it claimed that drugstore chain “conditioned the receipt of severance benefits for certain employees on an overly broad severance agreement set forth in five pages of small print.” Specifically, the EEOC took issue with several common provisions that you guys probably use in your severance agreements:

a general release;

a non-disparagement obligation;

a confidentiality provision;

a covenant not to sue; or

a cooperation clause

But don’t go throwing your severance agreements in the trash just yet.

More after the jump…

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Final Score: HIPAA 1 – Retaliation 0

September 5, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

See how a federal appellate court shut out a plaintiff’s claims of retaliation after she was fired for forwarding confidential documents to herself, purportedly to preserve evidence for an age-discrimination lawsuit filed by a former coworker.

What I did there, you see that?

After the jump…

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EEOC shows no goodwill to Goodwill Industries: $100K for retaliation

July 25, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for eeoclogo.png Just in case you thought that the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission uses a soft touch towards any business that may discriminate — let alone a charity.

Earlier this week, the EEOC announced here that Goodwill Industries will pay $100,000 to settle a long-standing retaliation lawsuit.

In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that Goodwill retaliated against a worker by firing her after she testified on behalf of another Goodwill employee in a previous federal sex and age discrimination lawsuit.

Bad things happen when management laments to HR that black people are ugly

February 18, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Just a reminder that some managers still engage in really stupid behavior.

I was reading this case about an HR Manager of a dentistry practice.

Following an interview between a dentist in her practice and an African-American woman, the dentist allegedly commented to the HR Manager that the person would not be hired, as there were already too many blacks in Lewisville. The HR Manager then supposedly responded that “race is irrelevant.”

Are lots of your severance agreements retaliatory? EEOC says yes.

February 12, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for EEOC.jpg When your business offers a severance agreement to a departing employee, does it contain:

a general release;

a non-disparagement obligation;

Employee claims discrimination, then her friend gets fired. Is that retaliation?

February 5, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Back in January 2011, when I had only one child and an Aston Martin savings fund, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP. In that case, the Court held that an employer violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act if it takes action against an employee who is in the same “zone of interest” as another employee who files a Charge of Discrimination with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In Thompson, a company received an EEOC Charge of Discrimination and allegedly fired the employee’s fiancé in response. The Supreme Court held that, if true, this set of fact would amount to retaliation.

Now, fast forward to 2014. I have four children, I’m two Happy Meals away from declaring bankruptcy, and, last night, I dined on the leftover ketchup packets.