Last week, Tracy Morgan got himself in trouble over a stand-up performance, during which he commented, among other things, that if his son was gay he’d stab him. Taken out of context, Morgan’s comments are hateful and contemptible. Taken in context, you could view them as in poor taste, biting satire on homophobia, or both. For his part (and likely in an attempt to save his job on 30 Rock following the public backlash), Morgan has apologized.
I bring up this story to highlight the following—if the court of public opinion can crucify a stand-up comic for words he uses in jest while performing on a stage, imagine what a jury comprised of those same people could do to your business in a lawsuit over words used in your workplace.
Here’s the rest of what I read this week:
Discrimination
- To Prevent Lawsuits—Think the Way a Jury Thinks – from HR Daily Advisor
- Juries get it right 95% of the time? – from Deliberations
- Bayer Sexual Discrimination: Stop the Mommy Wars – from Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
- Weight discrimination - employers should be mindful of increasing legislation prohibiting this – from Employment Law Bits
- Mixed Ruling In EEOC Religious Discrimination Case Involving EEOC And Private Litigant Claims – from Workplace Class Action Litigation
- Halfway Measures Won’t Spare Employer Liability for Sexual Harassment – from Joe’s HR and Benefits Blog
- Does Title VII require work-life balance? – from Ted Frank’s PointOfLaw Forum
- Fact or fiction: Federal law recognizes “reverse age discrimination” – from Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
- The Cat’s Paw Strikes Again: Court Extends Cat's Paw Theory to Age Discrimination Claims – from Washington Workplace Law
- How the OFCCP’s Thirst For Data Will Impact You – from Stephanie Thomas’s The Proactive Employer Blog
Social Media & Workplace Technology
- 4 tips for using Facebook legally to conduct background checks – from Joan Goodchild at Network World
- Google Offers Up A Free ‘Online Reputation Monitoring’ Tool – from Kashmir Hill’s The Not-So Private Parts
- Employer Challenges to Developing and Enforcing Social Media/Web 2.0 Policies – from Workplace Privacy Counsel
- The New Danger of Limiting Employees’ Speech on Social Media Sites – from The Legal Intelligencer
- 5 Examples of Corporate Social Media Policies – from oneforty
- Why Can’t Public Figures Stay Out of Trouble on Twitter? – from Social Media Today
- When Social Media Is Abused, Can It Be Part of the Solution, Too? – from Augmented Legality
- Social Media Ethics, Politics, the First Amendment, and Twitter – from Shear on Social Media Law
Wage & Hour
- What To Do When the DOL Makes an Unannounced Visit – from Wage & Hour Insights
- The Other Wal-Mart Class Action – from Philip Miles’s Lawffice Space
- The Walmart Wage & Hour Train Rolls On – from Tim Eavenson’s Current Employment
- Walmart, Best Buy punch out time clock – from Eve Tahmincioglu’s CareerDiva
- What Is A “Workweek”, And Why Should You Care? – from Wage and Hour Laws Blog
- Fourth Circuit Affirms Judgment that Donning and Doffing Activities Are Compensable “Work” Under the FLSA – from Employment Class Action Blog
HR & Employee Relations
- Small Business HR: Yes There Are A Lot of Laws You Must Comply With – from Michael Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
- For a Breach of Restrictive Covenant, Court Says No To Extending Duration As Remedy – from Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
- 3 Things the LeBron James Flameout Shows Us About Workplace Dynamics – from TLNT
- Bankruptcy Found on Background Check is Fair Game – from Nick Fishman at employeescreenIQ Blog
- 8 Things Every Employee Should Know About Trade Secrets – from Screw You Guys, I’m Going Home
- Eleventh Circuit Holds Former Employer Should Have Used Present Perfect Tense to Restrain Employee In Disclosure of Confidential Information – from Trade Secrets Blog
- Two Key Considerations When Performing Background Checks – from Workplace Insights
Labor Relations
- Alarming Aspects of the NLRB’S Case Against Boeing: Part 1 – from Employment Essentials
- Media Round-Up: NLRB Complaint Against Boeing – from Seth Borden’s Labor Relations Today
- Senator DeMint Files FOIA Request Against NLRB for Information on Boeing Complaint – from Wisconsin Employment & Labor Law Blog
- Apple Store employee moves to create union – from Boy Genius Report
Presented by Kohrman Jackson & Krantz, with offices in Cleveland and Columbus. For more information, contact the author,
Jon Hyman, a partner in our Labor & Employment group,
at (216) 736-7226 or jth@kjk.com.