Friday, September 1, 2017

WIRTW #474 (the “I’m from” edition)


My 11 year old daughter is a unique soul. She’s always been older and wiser than her years suggest, but I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated exactly how much older or wiser until I read her “I’m from” poem.

She just entered 6th grade, and this poem was her first ever middle-school assignment. This year's language arts curriculum is focused around the idea of identity. Her assignment was to craft a poem defining her own personal identity—where she’s from.

The result floored me. I cried real tears. Not just out of joy that my 11-year-old could produce something of such beauty, but that this beauty reflects a deep understanding of who she is.


So perfectly Norah.

Here’s what else I read this week.

Thursday, August 31, 2017

BREAKING: federal judge strikes down FLSA white-collar exemption salary test


Ding, dong, the DOL’s salary test for white collar exemptions is dead (sort of).

A Texas federal judge has held that the Department of Labor improperly used a salary-level test to determine which white-collar workers are exempt from overtime compensation.

That time Justin Bieber’s “L’il Biebers” caused a sex discrimination lawsuit


File this one under the category of I can’t make this stuff up. Apparently, Justin Bieber’s testicles are at the center of a recently filed sex discrimination lawsuit.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The 17th nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the square non-sparer


A female public relations exec is suing her former employer for sex discrimination. Her claim—that her male bosses limited her access to toilet paper the bathroom because, as a female, she used more than her male counterparts, and was fired after she complained about the discrimination.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

An attendance love story


14 years ago today, my wife and I married.

The ceremony started at 11 am, and by 10:55 I was nervous. Not your normal, “I’m about to get married,” nervous, but the, “What the hell, we start in 5 minutes and my bride-to-be isn’t here yet” nervous. It was 2003, before the prevalence of iPhones. Without a cell phone on me, I just had to take it on faith that Colleen was on her way. Nevertheless, I was most definitely jittery.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Letter to employees during EEOC investigation may violate discrimination laws


Suppose an employee files an EEOC charge of discrimination against you. And, further suppose that during the investigation, you receive a request from the agency for the name and contact information for all similarly situated employees. You correctly assume at the EEOC may use the information to contact your employees for investigatory interviews.

Do you—
  1. Allow the EEOC process to proceed; or
  2. Inform your employees of the nature of the charge, the EEOC investigation, that the EEOC may contact them, and that their participation would be 100 percent voluntary?
If you choose option “2”, you may have violated federal discrimination laws, at least according to a Connecticut federal judge.

Friday, August 25, 2017

WIRTW #473 (the “sweet children” edition)


Last week I offered by eight-word meaning of life: Be kind to others and do good things.

Today, I further offer “Corollary One” to said meaning of life: And do all you do with joy.

Earlier this week, I took my family to see Green Day (easily the best arena concert I’ve ever attended). Yet, as good as Green Day was (and they really were that good), my personal highlight was looking right to bear witness to how much pure fun Norah was having. This is what pure joy looks like.

A post shared by Jon Hyman (@jonhyman) on

Here’s what I read this week:

Thursday, August 24, 2017

The 16th nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the rapid retaliator


The EEOC has sued an Atlanta cemetery company for firing an employee the day after the agency interviewed her as part of an on-going investigation.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

NLRB offers rare win for employer confidentiality policy


It’s been a rough few years for workplace policies at the NLRB. From communication policies, to social media policies, to conduct policies, to confidentiality policies, the NLRB has, time and again, struck down facially neutral, garden variety employer policies as overly restrictive of employees’ section 7 rights to engage in protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act.

Employer wins on this issue have been few and far between. As a result, when we get a win, it’s reason to celebrate. Well, employers, pop those champagne corks, because earlier this week, in Macy’s, Inc. [pdf], we received just such a win.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

The 15th nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the one-day leave denier


According to a lawsuit the EEOC recently filed against Macy’s, Inc., the retailer allegedly violated the ADA by firing an employee instead of granting her a one-day absence for a medical emergency.

Monday, August 21, 2017

A deep dive on social media, employee privacy, and the workplace


When history closes its book on 21st century America, Charlottesville may go down as one of its most significant chapters. If justice has any place in our world, it will prove to be a turning point on race relations in our nation. Or at least that is my hope. In the wake of this tragedy, journalists have spilled, and will continue to spill, a lot of ink.

One of the favorite articles I read in the past week was, Can an employee be fired for activities outside the workplace?, by Kathryn Moody at HRDive.com (and not just because the article is an interview with me; thanks to Kathryn for the interview). 

Friday, August 18, 2017

WIRTW #472 (the “back to school” edition)


A post shared by Jon Hyman (@jonhyman) on

Here’s what I read this week:

Thursday, August 17, 2017

The meaning of life (in eight words)


A few months back, while riding in the car (we do a lot of riding in the car, mostly to and from music lessons, rehearsals, and gigs), I fielded a question from the back seat. I don’t recall the context of the conversation, or the genesis of the question that followed.

Norah asked, “What’s the meaning of life?”

Pretty deep for a then 10-year-old.

I paused, thought for a second (or three), and answered.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

How much wasted work-time is too much?


According to a recent survey conducted by OfficeTeam, on average, employees spend 8 hours per workweek on non-work activities.

What does this non-work time look like?

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Does a LinkedIn request violate a non-solicitation agreement?


In Bankers Life and Casualty Company v. American Senior Benefits (Ill. Ct. App. 8/7/17), Bankers Life sued a former sales manager, Gregory Gelineau, for violating the following non-solicitation agreement after he jumped ship to American Senior Benefits, a competitor:
During the term of this Contract and for 24 months thereafter, within the territory regularly serviced by the Manager’s branch sales office, the Manager shall not, personally or through the efforts of others, induce or attempt to induce: 
(a) any agent, branch sales manager, field vice president, employee, consultant, or other similar representative of the Company to curtail, resign, or sever a relationship with the company; [or]
(b) any agent, branch sales manager, field vice president or employee of the Company to contract with or sell insurance business with any company not affiliated with the company. 

Monday, August 14, 2017

When you discover that you employ a Nazi


In the wake of Friday and Saturday’s horrific, evil events in Charlottesville, the twitter account YesYoureRacist posted many riot photos and identified many of the rioters. And, as a result, some have lost their jobs.


Question: Does one participating in a Nazi rally enjoy any job protections from said participation?

Friday, August 11, 2017

WIRTW #471 (the “free press … sort of” edition)



Thursday, August 10, 2017

Apparently the labor rights of strikers trump the non-harassment rights of employees


There exists only one workplace environment in which a white employee can keep his job after yelling the following at a group of African-American employees.
  • “Hey, did you bring enough KFC for everyone?” 
  • “Go back to Africa, you bunch of f***ing losers.”
  • “Hey anybody smell that? I smell fried chicken and watermelon.”
A gold star for you if you answered a picket line, when the comments are made by striking workers and are directed at a group of replacements crossing said picket line. Or at least this is the majority finding of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. NLRB [pdf].

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Diversity is not an ideology


By now, you’ve likely heard about the male Google employee (James Damore) who circulated within the company a 10-page memo entitled, “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” In this memo, he critiqued Google’s efforts at maintaining gender diversity within the ranks of its employees, arguing that women are underrepresented in tech not because of workplaces biases and discrimination, but because of inherent psychological differences between the sexes.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Avoid “FLSA roshambo” to win off-the-clock overtime claims


Defending claims for off-the-clock work is one of the most difficult tasks employers face under the Fair Labor Standards Act. An employee (or worse, group of employees) says, “I (we) worked, without compensation, before our shift, after our shift, or during our lunch; pay me (us).” Often, these employees have their own personal, detailed logs supporting their claims. And the employer has bupkis. It then must prove a negative (“You weren’t really working when you say you were”), which places the employer in a difficult and often unwinnable position. It’s a wage-and-hour game of rock-paper-scissors, where paper always beats air.

When we last examined Allen v. City of Chicago—a case in which a class of Chicago police officers claimed their employer owed them unpaid overtime for their time spent reading emails off-duty on their smartphones—an Illinois federal court had dismissed the claims, holding that most of the emails were incidental and non-essential to the officers’ work, and, regardless, the employer lacked specific knowledge of non-compensated off-duty work.

Last week—in what is believed to be the first, and only, federal appellate court decision on whether an employer owes non-exempt employees overtime for time spent off-duty reading emails on a smartphone—the 7th Circuit affirmed [pdf].