Employee claims her supervisor advised her not to apply for an open position because, “she is a single mother with kids and if [she] had to take time off work, it would jam [us] up for getting someone to cover the scheduling.”
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Ohio appellate decision sends working moms back to the 1950s
Employee claims her supervisor advised her not to apply for an open position because, “she is a single mother with kids and if [she] had to take time off work, it would jam [us] up for getting someone to cover the scheduling.”
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, July 18, 2016
Court permits use of employee’s own racist Facebook posts in race-discrimination case
I read with interest this morning’s post on Eric Meyer’s Employer Handbook Blog, entitled, Court says employee’s Facebook page on race stereotypes is fair game at trial. The post discusses a recent federal court decision which permitted an employer to impeach at trial a race-discrimination plaintiff with her own racial Facebook posts.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Friday, July 15, 2016
WIRTW #421 (the “D-Man” edition)
Happy 8th birthday (yesterday, actually) to the best son a dad could ask for. He hasn’t had the easiest 8 years, but he’s always smiling and making people laugh. And for that (and too many other reasons to list) we love him to pieces.
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Thursday, July 14, 2016
When COBRA and workers’ comp collide
Every now and again I get a question from a client to which I don’t know the answer, or the answer surprises me. It doesn’t happen that often, and when it does I’m man enough to admit it.
Yesterday I received just such a question. Must an employer continue the health insurance of an employee out of work with a workers’ compensation injury?
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Why #BlackLivesMatter should matter to employers
Earlier this week, an African-American Nashville police officer was decommissioned for changing his Facebook profile photo to that of Black Panther National Chairman Bobby Seale and Huey Newton holding a Colt .45 and a shotgun. The photo became iconic in the 1960 for the Black Power movement. Elsewhere in Tennessee, the Memphis police department suspended two police officers for Snapchatting a picture of a white person pointing a gun at a cartoon image of a black child running through a home.
Then, Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell Instagrammed this image, with the caption, “Mood: They give polices all type of weapons and they continuously choose to kill us...#Weak.”
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Paternalism vs. pregnancy discrimination
Paternalism and pregnant workers do not mix. Case in point? According to this EEOC press release, the agency has sued a North Carolina retail-furniture franchise for pregnancy discrimination.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, July 11, 2016
Developing an anti-harassment culture is key to stopping workplace harassment
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Friday, July 8, 2016
WIRTW #420 (the “live” edition)
It’s been a while since I’ve given an update on upcoming speaking gigs, and I have a few upcoming. So, without further adieu.
- On July 27, I will be delivering Hot Topics in Wage-Hour Law for 2016 for the Cleveland HR Star Conference.
- On September 27, I’ll be speaking at Meyers Roman’s next Breakfast Briefing, The Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Rule Changes—Are you Ready?! The free event will run from 8 – 10 am at the Cleveland East DoubleTree, and 2 hours of HRCI credits are pending. Email Sara Cox for more information or to RSVP.
- Finally, on November 15, I’m giving the Keynote at Workforce Focus on Law in Chicago. The topic—The Top 5 Mistakes Employers Make.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, July 7, 2016
Will work for beer
According to Boy Genius Report, archeologists in Iraq recently discovered a 5,000-year-old Mesopotamian tablet, which the site artfully describes as a “pay stub for beer due.” If the interpretation of the tablet is to be believed, ancient Mesopotamians were paid in beer for their labor.
“That was 3000 B.C., and this is 2016 A.D.,” you’re saying to yourself. “What possible relevance does this story have to modern employers?” The answer may surprise you.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, July 6, 2016
$15 minimum wage is unconstitutional, says Ohio Attorney General
The drive to push local minimum wags in Ohio municipalities to $15 an hour may have hit a significant snag—Ohio’s Constitution.
According to an advisory opinion [pdf] issued by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a municipal ordinance may not require an employer to by a to pay its employees an hourly minimum wage rate that is in excess of the statewide hourly minimum wage rate.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Employment at-will is dead
Last week, I suggested that the “FMLA is not a personnel-file eraser.”
One does not return from an FMLA leave with a clean performance slate. Instead, one returns with the same warts with which they left. And, if those warts merit discipline, or (gasp) even termination, then so be it.In response, one commenter cautioned about being too cavalier with discipline or termination in the wake of an FMLA leave.
http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-09-08 |
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Friday, July 1, 2016
WIRTW #419 (the “ramen” edition)
Here’s what I read this week.
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Thursday, June 30, 2016
FMLA does not excuse poor performance
Earlier in the week, I discussed Tilley v. Kalamazoo, in which an employer took one on the chin for disciplining an employee for not doing his job while on an FMLA leave. That case, however, does not mean that the FMLA excuses prior poor job performance, or that an employer must ignore or excuse an employee’s performance deficiencies once an employee takes FMLA leave. Indeed, as Checa v. Drexel University [pdf] points out, it’s just the opposite.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Your employees are social media-ing at work, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it
A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center confirmed what I have long thought. Your employees are using social media a work — 77 percent of them. And I believe even that number is low.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/06/22/social-media-and-the-workplace/pi_2016-06-22_social-media-and-work_0-01/ |
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, June 28, 2016
FMLA leave means leave, period.
FMLA leave means leave. That is, an employee exercising rights under the FMLA to take protected time-off from work must be relieved of their job functions, and an employer cannot hold such an employee responsible for job tasks uncompleted during such a leave of absence.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, June 27, 2016
The attack on the NLRB's new joint-employer standard intensifies
Last week was a good week for opponents of the NLRB’s new, and more liberal, joint-employer standard, announced last summer in Browning-Ferris Industries of Calif.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Friday, June 24, 2016
WIRTW #418 (the #OneForTheLand edition)
I couldn’t see much at Wednesday’s Cavs victory parade. A late start + 1.3 million people + an unwillingness to wade into the masses = soaking in the atmosphere on the periphery.
Here’s what I read this week:
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Thursday, June 23, 2016
Don’t forget about confidentiality when training your employees on social media
I’m not getting Snapchat. Maybe I’ve finally found a social channel that doesn’t fit me. Or, maybe I’m just too late to the game. Or, maybe with Twitter, and LinkedIn, and Facebook, and Instagram, and this blog, I don’t have the time or attention for one more social channel.
You know who does get Snapchat? Apparently some staffers of Australia’s Labor Party, who snapped some screens of their party’s confidential campaign strategy.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, June 22, 2016
EEOC pushes NLRB to find common ground on workplace harassment
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the NLRB’s expanded coverage of protected concerted activity. One area over which I’ve been particularly critical is the NLRB’s position on the confidentiality of workplace investigations and workplace civility policies.
Now, the EEOC has also taken up the challenge.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, June 21, 2016
On LeBron James and boomerang employees
LeBron James is the world’s greatest boomerang employee. He left Cleveland for Miami in 2010, returned in 2014, and delivered The Land our promised title on June 19, 2016.
What is a boomerang employee?
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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