Suppose you fire an employee who you fear might have been exposed to the virus. She exhibits no symptoms, but because she had recently traveled to an area in which she could have been exposed, you think it’s better safe than sorry not to have her work for you anymore. She sues for disability discrimination, claiming that you “regarded her” as disabled. Does she win her case? The outcome might surprise you.
We’ve sadly reached the point in history at which legends of the entertainment world are going to start passing. Someday, we’ll lose Paul, and Betty, and Mick. And the world will gasp, and mourn, and remember. This week was one of those weeks.
We lost Terry Jones, one of the founding members of Monty Python. He was a comedy genius, most famous for depicting middle-aged housewives, usually with hilariously falsetto voices. One of those housewives, Brian’s mom in Life of Brian, uttered one of the greatest lines in movie history—”He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.”
I discovered Monty Python’s Flying Circus as a pre-teen, late at night on our local PBS station. Staying up late to watch it made me feel part of a special, subversive cult. Flying Circus is now readily available, on Netflix, BBC America, and IFC, I’m joyfully introducing it to my 11-year-old son, who loves all things silly. And above all else, Python was always silly.
And Jones’s characters were some of the silliest. The nude organ player. Cardinal Biggles of the Spanish Inquisition. Mr. Creosote, the obese and vomiting diner in Meaning of Life. Holy Grail‘s Sir Bedevere. And Brian’s mum.
Rest in peace, Terry Jones. The world is better for all of the laughs you brought through the characters you created, and skits and movies you birthed.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety fired Morris Johnson, an African American state trooper, after he sexually harassed multiple women while on duty. He claimed that his termination was because of his race, and pointed to David Johnson, a White trooper, who he claimed committed similar harassment but was not fired.
Joey Kramer, Aerosmith's founding and longtime drummer, is suing his band mates after they blocked him from joining them at upcoming high-profile events, including this weekend's honor as the 2020 MusiCares Person of the Year and its Lifetime Achievement Award at this weekend's Grammys.
Kramer claims that Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, and Brad Whitford are not allowing him back in the band following a temporary disability from minor injuries he suffered last year. According to TMZ, Kramer claims the band required him to audition to prove he was "able to play at an appropriate level" before he could regain his drummer role. He further claims that in this audition is unprecedented in the band's 50-year history, during which each of other members had to step away for various reasons.
This story got me thinking about an employer's rights when an employee seeks to return to work after a medically-related leave of absence.
Crescent Metal Products fired Donald Tschappatt for a variety of instances of poor work performance. He made "negative comments" about co-workers. He stood around doing nothing and disappeared from his work area. He took extended bathroom breaks. And he made various assembly and packing errors.
After the company fired the 55-year-old Tschappatt, he sued for age discrimination.
The problem with Tschappatt's claim? Crescent Metal Products replaced him with someone six years older. That's not a great fact for an employee claiming age discrimination.
Last year I asked y’all to share your tips on travel to Italy. And you came through. So, I thought I’d try again this year, with Portugal. We’ll be there for 8 days in late March, and are planning to visit Lisbon, Sintra, and Porto.
If you’ve been—
What other towns are worth visiting?
Can’t miss things to see and do?
Must eat foods / restaurants?
Thanks! I figure it never hurts to crowdsource your vacation planning.
In 2005, Monika Starke filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC alleging that her employer, CRST Van Expedited, Inc., subjected her to sexual harassment. The EEOC expanded that initial charge into a federal-court lawsuit over whether CRST engaged in sexual harassment against myriad of its female driver trainees.
What followed was 14 years of litigation, severaltrips to the court of appeals, one trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, and an attorney-fee award of over $3.3 million against the EEOC for frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless conduct in the filing and prosecution of the underlying claims.
Joint employment is a legal theory in which the operations of two employers are so intertwined that each is legally responsible for the misdeeds (and the liabilities that flow from those misdeeds) of the other. It’s also a legal theory with which federal agencies and courts have struggled over the past several years.
I watched with great interest yesterday story on CBS Sunday Morning about an employer’s obligation to accommodate an employee’s pregnancy. The report told the stories of various women who lost their jobs because their employers refused to reasonably accommodate their pregnancies, all in the context of a call to pass a federal law mandating reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers.
According to CBS News: “[U]nder the current federal law, while employers are prohibited from firing or refusing to hire pregnant workers, they aren’t always required to make any on-the-job accommodations, such as offering more bathroom breaks or temporary desk jobs.”
That statement, however, distorts and undersells the current state of the law.
On Feb. 1, my daughter's band, Fake ID, will compete in the 2020 Tri-C High School Rock Off. The Rock Off is in its 24th year and is one of the biggest (and most prestigious) competitions for high school rock bands anywhere.
Tickets are only $10, include full access to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (where the event is held, and usually a $28 admission ticket on its own), and help support the band you buy them from. Email me if you'd like tickets.
There is no law in the state of Ohio that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Ohio Fairness Act—otherwise known as House Bill 369 and Senate Bill 11—seeks to change this legal abomination.
You might recall Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood, a 2018 NLRB case in which the Board held that offensive graffiti scrawled on an employee’s timesheet (“whore board”) constituted a lawful exercise of protected concerted activity.
Recently, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the NLRB shirked its responsibility by not considering addressing any alleged conflict between its interpretation of the NLRA and the Company’s obligations under state and federal equal employment opportunity laws to maintain a harassment-free workplace.
If there’s a better way of starting 2020 than with the first nominee for the year’s worst employer, I’m not sure what it is.
Meet Dru DiSilvestro, the manager at an electrical contractor in Elmer, NJ, accused of sexually harassing Kimberly North, a 23-year-old employee, while in the midst of litigation brought by another employee accusing DiSilvestro of flashing his penis and leaving a dildo on her desk. And that wasn’t even the first lawsuit accusing DiSilvestro of harassment. His employer settled another even earlier suit accusing him of sexually crude language.
In what will become an annual tradition for my last post of the year, I bring you the holiday classic, ’Twas the Employment Law Night before Christmas.
To all of my readers, thank you for a great 2019.
I’ll see everyone on January 6, 2020, with fresh content to kick off the new year.
’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the office
Not a creature was stirring, well, just one of the bosses;
The bonuses were paid by the company with care,
In hopes that no ungrateful employees would swear.
Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a Bic across my head
Found my way downstairs to make a cup
And looking up I noticed… there were three elderly Asian people in my kitchen!
This actually happened to me Monday morning. And technically, it was two elderly Asian people in my kitchen and one in my bathroom.
I had accidentally left the garage door open the night before, and they had accidentally wandered into the wrong house. After a lot of dog barking, and yelling, and confusion, they wandered out into the early morning darkness. I have no idea who they were, where they came from, or where they went. It was most definitely the strangest morning of my life, and maybe the strangest home invasion of all time.
After a year of gathering 20 very worthy nominees, whittling it down to 10 awful finalists, and compiling hundreds upon hundreds of your votes, today is the day to declare the Worst Employer of 2019.
While all of the year’s nominees were worthy adversaries, the winner truly stood head and shoulders above the competition. But, before naming the winner, let’s count down the non-winners.
