The Employer Handbook Blog

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

May 9, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

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.

Alcoholism and the ADA: Is it a disability? If so, how do you accommodate? And what are the limits?

May 8, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

TrafficJan82 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Oh, I thought you had the answers.

Fine, I’ll teach the class today. Continue reading

If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try again. Then, file an age discrimination lawsuit. Then try again.

May 7, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

EverythingSuperMario [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Then, maybe just give up and move on with your life. Continue reading

You just approved FMLA leave for an ineligible employee. What now?

May 6, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/oops-reminder-post-note-sticker-1432954/)

You just approved leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act for your employee so that she can attend to her sick mother who is in the emergency room at the hospital. You used the Notice of Eligibility and Rights & Responsibilities — good for you for documenting the leave! — checking the box to state that the employee is eligible for FMLA leave. Your employee takes a few weeks off and that’s when you realize that, well…

The employee wasn’t eligible for FMLA. Continue reading

New legislation would guarantee employees the right to collective and class action litigation

May 3, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/photos/achievement-agreement-business-3385068/)

Last year in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the Supreme Court narrowly concluded that a court should enforce an agreement between an employer and employee to arbitrate claims individually notwithstanding workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act to engage in protected concerted activity.

That decision did not sit well with several members of Congress. Continue reading

Did you miss yesterday’s #NextChat on Managing the Challenges of Leave Under the FMLA and ADA?

May 2, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: SHRM.org

Don’t worry about it. Continue reading

Seven signs the non-solicitation and non-competition agreements your employees signed may be unenforceable.

May 1, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

User:VasilievVV and user:Jarekt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the benefits of being a client of this handsome employment lawyer/blogger is a weekly email with links to recent HR news and notes, as well as a bonus HR-compliance tip.

The rest of you deadbeats are stuck with only five free weekly blog posts. Continue reading

#Nextchat: My Employees Can Miss How Much Work?! Managing the Challenges of Leave Under the FMLA and ADA #SHRM19

April 30, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: SHRM.org

Last night, after the big Sixers win over the Raptors, I checked out the EEOC Newsroom to hunt for blog fodder for today.

That’s when I noticed that four of the five most recent EEOC press releases addressed claims of disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Continue reading

Yeah, about that rule where you don’t allow employees to text that they’ll be late or absent…

April 29, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/mobile-text-phone-sms-980030/)

Here’s the thing.

If you’re managers relax the rule for their direct reports, good luck trying to use that rule as a basis to terminate someone’s employment. Continue reading

For real this time, the EEO-1 deadline is September 30, 2019. Seriously

April 26, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

EEO1-1024x735

Multiple reports (1, 2, 3), are confirming that District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan ruled yesterday that the deadline for filing your EEO-1 filing will be September 30, 2019.

(For more on this EEO-1 circus, click here.)

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got for you today. Continue reading