The revolution WILL be televised … Shore up your social media before a termination
Last week, music retailer HMV laid off 190 employees . One of the affected, a former HR employee, hijacked the company's Twitter account...
DOL: Employers find it easy to comply with the FMLA. What?!?! [poll]
By Jon Hyman
Twenty year ago today, President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act into law. To commemorate this anniversary, the Department o...
How do you fight invisible discrimination?
By Jon Hyman
With what seemed like most of Cleveland's western ‘burbs, I spent part of my Sunday afternoon shopping at Costco. My trip not only inclu...
WIRTW #259 (the “luddite” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Mozy recently published a list of the 50 Things We Don’t Do Anymore Because of Technological Advancements . It’s weird to think that my kid...
What can go wrong when employees date?
By Jon Hyman
Since Valentine’s Day will be fast upon us, I thought I’d take a new look at a popular issue this time of year— the office romance . Gerald...
Are employers screwing up the FLSA’s lactation mandate? Probably not.
By Jon Hyman
At Business Insurance , Judy Greenwald quotes an attorney who believes that employers are doing an inadequate job of accommodating employee...
But he looked black… Court rebukes EEOC’s use of “race rating” in systemic lawsuit
By Jon Hyman
According to the EEOC’s draft strategic enforcement plan for 2012 – 2016 , the agency’s number one enforcement priority is ending systemic d...
Employees, if you don’t want us to get your social media info in discovery, don’t post!
By Jon Hyman
In EEOC v. The Original Honeybaked Ham Co. —a hostile environment sexual harassment brought by the EEOC on behalf of 20 female employees—the...
WIRTW #258 (the “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” edition)
By Jon Hyman
This week, the Connecticut General Assembly (hat tip: Dan Schwartz ) introduced Proposed House Bill 5236 , which would create an “Employer’s...
Damn You Auto Correct! (train your employees to proofread)
By Jon Hyman
Do you have employees under the age of 35? If so, the odds are that they communicate with each other with text messages on their mobile devi...
How do you spell civil rights? ENDA
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, the EEOC announced that it has filed a lawsuit against a Charlotte security-services company on behalf of a group of male employ...
Requests for unpaid medical leaves should be stamped, “Handle With Care”
By Jon Hyman
If I had to rank questions I get from clients in order of frequency, questions on medical leaves would be near, if not at the top of, the li...
Something different for MLK Day
By Jon Hyman
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day , celebrating not only the life of Dr. King, but, more importantly, the lessons of inclusion and respect...
WIRTW #257 (the “Lawsuit of the Year?” edition)
By Jon Hyman
The year is young, but we already have a strong candidate for the lawsuit of 2013. Above the Law brings us the story of a teacher who clai...
Say it ain’t so: court holds an employer does not have to accommodate a pregnant employee
By Jon Hyman
Last year, I railed against the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act , a bill that, if passed, would require employers to make a reasonable accommo...
Putting the human back in human resources, redux
By Jon Hyman
As a parent of a child with some medical issues, I am very sensitive to the needs of working parents. Luckily for me, I work at business tha...
Can you hear me now? Employer cannot reject disabled employee without individualized inquiry of the ability to do the job
By Jon Hyman
Nicholas Keith has been deaf since birth. He is also, apparently, a pretty good swimmer. He successfully completed the Oakland County, Mic...
Be careful what you bring upon yourself when suing an ex-employee
By Jon Hyman
Last week—in Quicken Loans,Inc. (1/8/13) [pdf] —an NLRB administrative law judge invalidated the confidentiality and non-disparagement prov...
WIRTW #256 (the “crystal ball” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Last week , I shared the 2013 resolutions of some of my favorite blogs. This week, I’m sharing some employment law predictions for the comin...
Internet-Use Disorder: The Newest Disability?
By Jon Hyman
The DSM-5 , the official psychiatrist’s diagnostic manual, has accepted Internet Use Disorder for inclusion, albeit in a section devoted to ...