The most disturbing case I ever handled involved a company that hired a registered sex offender as a supervisor, who then raped a female subordinate.
Today’s “Worst Employer” nominee is very much in that tragic and devastating vein.
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In 2016, Tom Pettay sued his former employer, DeVry University, for age discrimination. The trial court dismissed Pettay's lawsuit on summary judgment. Following that dismissal, the employer filed a motion asking the trial court to award them $4,004.39 for the cost of deposition transcripts used in support of the summary judgment motion. While Pettay's appeal of the court's award of costs was pending, the Ohio Supreme Court held that a prevailing party cannot recover the costs of deposition transcripts.
As a result, Pettay again sued DeVry (or, more accurately, its successor in interest, Cogswell Education), claiming that it retaliated against him by pursuing a frivolous motion for the costs of the deposition transcripts.
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We are truly heartbroken to announce that we've made the difficult decision to permanently close both Knead Slice Shop and Knead Market effective immediately (August 23, 2022), regardless of the outcome or the occurrence of the requested union election.
We respect the right of workers to organize under the National Labor Relations Act or other appropriate laws. We hope our workers will recognize our related right as an employer, especially a small employer, during these extremely difficult operational times, to close our entire business operation.
We continue to wish our employees well.
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Tesla's General Assembly plant maintained the following dress code: "It is mandatory that all Production Associates and Leads wear the assigned team wear." For production associates, "team wear" consists of a black cotton shirt with the Tesla's logo and black cotton pants with no buttons, rivets, or exposed zippers, all which Tesla provides.
In the Spring of 2017, however, certain production associates started wearing black t-shirts with the phrase, "Driving a Fair Future at Tesla," along with the logo for the United Auto Workers.
Tesla banned the UAW shirts under its "Team Wear" policy, claiming that the ban limited the risk of alternative clothing damaging vehicles on the production line and made it easier to keep track of employees on the shop floor.
In a split 3-2 decision, the NLRB held that Tesla unlawfully prohibited its employees from wearing shirts with the UAW's logo.
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How does your organization help build collegiality among employees?
At my kids' school they do it in the Lower and Middle School with Family Groups, and in the Upper School with Houses (just like in Harry Potter, complete with a year-long House Cup competition).
Each Family Group or House is comprised of a cross-grade mix of students. The goal is to build school spirit, classmate and faculty camaraderie, and student leadership skills.
One of the Middle School's best traditions is Community Building Days, two days of non-academic activities shortly after the start of the school year to help everyone get to know one another better. It always takes place on the Thursday and Friday of the second week of school (yesterday and today), and the entire Middle School sleeps over at school on Thursday night.One additional rite of passage for the middle schoolers is what's known as "Gr8 Night." They sleep over at school for one additional night, the Wednesday night leading into Community Building Days, to further build their leadership skills and to decorate the Middle School in preparation for the arrival of the 6th and 7th graders the next day.
Yesterday morning, the 8th graders welcomed everyone driving onto campus (that's Donovan, in yellow on the left). He looked excited and happy, (relatively) well rested, and ready to tackle what the faculty has to throw at him over the next two days. I can't wait to hear all about it.
Employers, what are you doing to help build camaraderie and collegiality among your employees? The past two and a half pandemic years have been rough on workplace morale and teamwork. I'm curious to learn what you're doing to help bring back some of the sense of "team" that the pandemic and remote work stole from us? Drop a note in the comments below and I'll share some the best or more interesting ideas in a future post.
Here's what I read and listened to this past week that I think you should be reading and hearing, too.
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According to Scene Magazine, late last week Platform Beer Co. notified between 25 and 30 of its local brewery employees that their employment was no longer needed. They were laid off.
That facility brews, tests, cans, packages, and warehouses most of Platform's offerings. The impacted employees were offered severance packages in accordance with their age and tenure.
When I hear "mass layoff," I immediately think of the WARN Act. WARN stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification. It's the federal statute that requires 60 days' advance notice of mass layoff or plant closure (or 60 days' pay in lieu of the notice). But it does not apply to every mass layoff or plant closure, only those of a large enough employer that impacts a large enough number of employees.
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Consider the following two policies:
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Last week the CDC updated its Covid isolation guidelines. The agency says it's "to help the public better protect themselves and understand their risk."
Most importantly, there is no longer any distinction between those who are fully vaccinated and those who are unvaccinated against the virus. Instead, the CDC says anyone can end isolation after five days if asymptomatic or if fever-free for 24 hours and other symptoms are improving. Thereafter, one should mask around others either through day 10 or sooner after two sequential negative tests 48 hours apart.
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As the former Microsoft VP of HR I can assure you that HR is not your friend.
That headline from a BusinessInsider article written by Chris Williams, Microsoft's former head of HR from 1997 thru 2000, caught my eye.
He writes: "Do not see your team's HR representative as a friend. … HR is not your friend. … [T]hey are not paid to be the employee's ally."
On the one hand, Williams is correct. HR is not an employee's friend. But by framing the issue as such, he is suggesting that HR is an employee's enemy. That distinction is damaging. HR is neither friend nor foe of employees. It's their partner. If this is not how HR is working within your company, you need to reexamine why you have HR in the first place.
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Another week, another podcast appearance. This week you can catch me on What the Heck is Happening in HR, discussing all things employee handbooks.
Here's what I read this past week that I think you should be reading, too.
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Alex Jones, seconds after being told that his lawyer mistakenly send a huge cache of texts to Sandy Hook families’ attorney:
— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) August 3, 2022
“This is your Perry Mason moment” pic.twitter.com/f6byn6N6VA
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NFL disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson has suspended Deshaun Watson for six games for his violation of the league's personal conduct policy based on allegations by four masseuses that he solicited prostitution by paying for sex acts.
Some see six games as a slap on the wrist. I don't, at least in the environment that bound Judge Robinson and her ruling.
While I don't in any way condone Watson's misconduct, the NFL would place itself in serious legal jeopardy by imposing a suspension that encourages Watson or his union to litigate.
Don’t be mad at Watson for getting off light; be mad at the NFL for its long history of giving white male owners a free pass for their own sexual misconduct. The league created the legal environment that let Watson (a Black player) off.
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Vacation 💑 |
What is the word for a string of typographical symbols (such as %@$&*!) used in place of an obscenity, especially in comic strips?
Take your best guess in comments, and I'll provide the correct answer on Monday. No Googling!
Here's what I read and listened to this week and last week that I think you should be reading and listening to, too.
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The situation playing out in real time between Congress and the Secret Service over text messages related to the Jan. 6th insurrection is quite the teachable moment on litigation holds and spoliation of evidence.
On Jan. 16, 2021, Congress sent the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees the Secret Service) a broad preservation and production request for documents related to Jan. 6, which included communications "received, prepared or sent" between Jan. 5 and Jan 7.
Following the Jan. 16 request, the Secret Service explained to employees that it was up to them to preserve records from their phones and provided a step-by-step guide to preserve mobile phone content, including text messages, prior to a phone migration that occurred on Jan. 27. That migration, however, appears to have caused a widespread destruction of data, as the Secret Service has only been able to produce to the Jan. 6 Committee one text message from the critical three-day window.
What went wrong?
A lot, apparently.
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"I'm finishing all my CLE credits this week. It amazes me how if you keep up with law changes regularly how out-of-date these CLEs feel."
That's an excerpt of a recent conversation between my friend, Kate Bischoff, and me. Kate is 100 percent correct. I learn very little, if anything from the continuing education courses I take. I take them because the Ohio Supreme Court requires me to check a 24-credit box every two years, not because they offer me any educational value.
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I did not receive any advance notice that I would be losing my job. Up to that point, no one at Tesla ever raised any issues with me regarding my performance.
During this call, my manager told me that I would receive a severance offer over an e-mail and urged me to sign a separation agreement to get a severance payment of one week's salary [and two months of health insurance].
He did not sign the agreement.
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According to the suit, the employee advised her manager that she needed to bring her fully trained service dog to work to assist her with symptoms caused by PTSD, anxiety and depression. The company's human resources representative met with the employee to discuss her request but concluded the dog would present a safety concern because a coworker or customer might be allergic to or trip over the dog, or the dog might break something. Even though Hobby Lobby allows customers to bring service dogs and other dogs to the store, managers were unwilling to allow the employee's service dog in the store to see whether there was an actual safety concern. Hobby Lobby ultimately terminated the employee when she could not work without her service dog.
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I've written before about BrewDog (here and here), the multinational Scottish craft brewery accused by hundreds of former employees of systemic mistreatment through its sexist and misogynist work environment. The brewery's founder and CEO, James Watt, stands at the center of much of controversy and most point to him as the root cause of most of the allegation.
Earlier this week, Watt appeared as a guest on The Diary of CEO podcast. During the interview, Watt blamed his pattern of mistreatment of employees him possibly being autistic.
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From the Supreme Court's opinion terminating the constitutional right to abortion … to other Supreme Court opinions allowing and endorsing the open carry of firearms, prayer in public schools, the public funding of religious schools, and global warming … to the grim details of the near end of our republic laid bare by the brave Congressional testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, it's been one hell of an exhausting, sad, and enraging week.
Weeks like this one demand a breather. So today, no law (other than the below list of links to read). Just music.
Enjoy my daughter's cover of Alanis Morissette's "Hand in My Pocket", recorded live at her gig last weekend at Akronym Brewing. (She's quite the busy musician this summer; you'll find all of her upcoming gigs listed on her website, including upstate New York, on July 15.)
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A group of Black and non-Black Whole Foods employees claimed that their employer unlawfully discriminated against them because of their race and their association with people because of their race based on their employer's prohibition of the wearing of "Black Lives Matter" face masks starting in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
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During a webinar I recently conducted on employee handbooks, someone asked me a question about the best practice between wet signatures vs. e-signatures on handbook receipts. I answered that either was fine, but at least with the digital footprint of an e-signature you avoid the disingenuous "that's not my signature," or the "I don't ever remember signing that" we sometimes hear from plaintiffs in deposition.
Then I read Barrows v. Brinker Restaurant Corp.
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At DICK’S, our teammates are the heart of our business, and we are committed to protecting their health and well-being.…
In response to today's ruling, we are announcing that if a state one of our teammates lives in restricts access to abortion, DICK'S Sporting Goods will provide up to $4,000 in travel expense reimbursement to travel to the nearest location where that care is legally available. This benefit will be provided to any teammate, spouse or dependent enrolled in our medical plan, along with one support person.
We recognize people feel passionately about this topic -- and that there are teammates and athletes who will not agree with this decision. However, we also recognize that decisions involving health and families are deeply personal and made with thoughtful consideration. We are making this decision so our teammates can access the same health care options, regardless of where they live, and choose what is best for them.
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Regardless of how "hype" or "good" the beer is, stop supporting breweries … who perpetuate problem behavior.
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Paula Cole, who had not yet struck it big herself, was Peter's main backing vocalist. She joined that tour for its final two legs, replacing Sinéad O'Connor.
For that final leg of the tour (which included the date I attended), Peter added Don't Give Up to the set, a song originally made famous for Peter's duet with Kate Bush on the So album. The show I attended was one of the first (if not the first) at which the band performed Don't Give Up. Unfortunately, about half-way through, Paula Cole had a bit of a problem with the lyrics and went completely silent through her part while band kept playing.
Peter jumped in. "It's been a while since we've done this one." Paula then composed herself enough to finish the song (beautifully and brilliantly, I might add).
But it's what happened next that stuck with me for the past 28 years.
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