The Employer Handbook Blog

Racially hostile work environment? Depends on which “n”-word.

November 19, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Helene Tyrrell worked as a line chef at a jockey club in Arkansas during the Winter of 2010. She claimed that immediately after she started working, and pretty much throughout her employment, the n-word was bandied about like you and I would say “hello” and “goodbye.” However, only once was the “n”-word hurled in her direction.

But it wasn’t the n-word. No, that’s discriminatory.

Rather, according to the court in Tyrell v. Oaklawn Jockey Club, the “comment directed at Plaintiff and one other co-worker happened after the kitchen crew nearly mused getting breakfast out one Sunday. The comment, was according to Plaintiff, ‘I told you niggas we could get this done. I told you we could do this. Y’all my niggas.'”

Confession & Profession: When a co-worker overshares…

November 16, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Do you call HR when someone says something you don’t like? What about if they confess a secret? What if you over hear something that wasn’t meant for your ears?

And what should HR do about it?

Last night, labor-and-employment-law attorney Daniel Schwartz, who blogs at the Connecticut Employment Law Blog, Liz Ryan, founder and CEO of Human Workplace, and I joined The Huffington Post’s Nancy Redd on HuffPost Live answering these and other related HR/workplace questions.

Social Media SHOW (and Tell)

November 15, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

On Tuesday night, I was in Las Vegas.

Kinda.

Sorta.

Employment Law Blog Carnival: Hollywood Casting Call Edition

November 14, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Welcome everyone to the Employment Law Blog Carnival: Hollywood Casting Call Edition.

[Editor’s Note: The original theme for this post was the “Employment Law Blog Carnival: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Edition.” I had this bright idea to begin by cutting and pasting the lyrics to Guns N’ Roses’ “My Michelle,” and, let’s just say I bailed after the first line.]

So that leaves us with Plan B, where, after the jump, I have aggregated some of the best, recent posts from around the employment-law blogosphere and fit them together into a single theme: an open casting call.

Because just the other day, this theme came to me after waking from a Codeine/Claritin-D/Mucinex DM-induced slumber, in which I dreamt about casting a recent post of mine — the one where an employee lost out on an FMLA retaliation claim when her employer fired her after finding Facebook photos of her drinking at a local festival — while on FMLA. My movie will star Kim Kardashian, in her silver screen debut, as the employee. And Alan Thicke, who played Dr. Jason Seaver on “Growing Pains,” could play the company decision-maker. We’ll call it “FML Aye Yai Yai!“

[Editor’s Note: I’m throwing Thicke a bone here. Don’t you think? According to IMDB.com, he just finished production on “Fugget About It“, in which ex New York mobster Jimmy Falcone joins the Witness Protection Program and is relocated, with his family, to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Fugget about it, indeed.]

So that’s the idea. More great posts and imaginative casting decisions, after the jump…

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That’s what he said: Attorney Tips for Seeking Social Media Discovery

November 13, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

I’m gearing up to host the Employment Law Blog Carnival on Wednesday, so I’m mailing it in today with a quick shout out to Venkat Balasubramani posting over at Eric Goldman’s Technology and Marketing Law Blog.

Admittedly, I have fallen behind on updating you, my loyal readers, on the world of social media and discovery. Mostly, because the most recent jurisprudence has been from outside of the Pennsylvania and everything pales in comparison to this great Commonwealth. Except, most recently, for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaking of which, have you heard this one?

Obama’s re-election evokes ugly Facebook-racism from some employees

November 12, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

To all the haters of social-media policies:

If nothing less, the social-media policy reminds employees that if they act the fool online, it may impact their standing in the workplace, and, ultimately, cost them their jobs.

Some employees, however, are just so ignorant. Thus, I doubt that any employer policy will impact how they behave online.

Two despicable examples from this past week follow after the jump…

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Guest Post: 5 Basics Every Employer Should Know about the ADA

November 9, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Today we have a guest blogger at The Employer Handbook. It’s Mary Ellen Ellis. May Ellen writes for Paralegal 411, a career resource for individuals interested in starting a career in the paralegal field.

(Want to guest blog at The Employer Handbook? Email me).

Facebook pics of employee boozing at a festival ruin her FMLA claim

November 8, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

About a year-and-a-half into Sara Jaszczyszyn’s employment with Advantage Health Physician Network (“Advantage”), she began taking intermittent FMLA leave for back pain that which she stated left her “completely incapacitated.”

About five weeks into her leave, several of her coworkers saw pictures of her on Facebook consuming adult beverages at a local Polish beer festival. (Although she doesn’t appear to be “completely incapacitated,” she does appear to be having a good ol time, doesn’t she?)

Yadda, yadda, yadda, Advantage fires Ms. Jaszczyszyn and she claims FMLA retaliation.

Paying banana boxes of food as OT is not an a-peeling option

November 7, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

[brrrring brrrring]

“Eric Meyer.”

“Uh, yeah, Eric. I just learned that we’ve got facilities managers who have been working overtime ‘off the clock’ and….”

2 tips to help your social media policy withstand NLRB scrutiny

November 6, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Notwithstanding three social media advice memoranda, and another ruling from the National Labor Relations Board slamming Costco’s social media policy, you’d think employers would have a better idea how to revise their social media policies so as not to risk violating the National Labor Relations Act.

Well, not so much.

Except, the Board has recently issued guidance which attempts to clarify certain policy issues for employers. Does it? Well, sort of. It’s worth a read. Click through…

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