Pumping up employee lactation rights

Employers, hear to me now and believe me later — it is unacceptable to force a lactating employee to pump her breast milk in an open stockroom corner or in an open office.

That's precisely, however, what two McDonald's employees allege happened to them in two different stores.

Bankrupcy, labor unions, and remaining union free

Fair State Brewing, one the nation's first unionized craft breweries, just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Meanwhile and elsewhere, Aslin Beer Co. just said that it will voluntarily recognize the union petition filed by a group of its taproom employees to join the SEIU.

Evan Sallee, Fair State's founder and CEO, tells Eater than its union has nothing whatsoever to do with the bankruptcy filing.

WIRTW #706: the “final exam” edition

I left y'all with quite the cliffhanger last Friday. How would Norah do in her semifinal round at the Tri-C High School Rock Off? "No matter what happens tomorrow night, I'm so proud of her." That's what I wrote last week. Of course, however, I really wanted her to advance to the Final Exam. What parent wouldn't?

In the semifinals, the acts draft their performance slot for the night, with the draft order set by ticket sales. Norah ended up drafting 5th. After saying for weeks that she did not want to close the show, she then chose to close the show. The 10th band out of 10. A singer-songwriter choosing to take the stage in a rock 'n' roll competition after 3-plus hours of loud music played by driving rock bands. "A baller move," we told her when she texted us from the Rock Hall. Her response: "Go big or go home!"

Well, she went big. She played the best 15-minutes of music of her life and breezed into the Final Exam. Choosing to close was absolutely the right choice for her to make, especially when your last song is her chill-inducing version of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." You can watch her full set here. 

Tickets for the Final Exam are on sale now. The event is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 2 at 6 pm. Your $20 ticket ($15 for students) not only gets you a few hours of music from some of the best high school rock bands (and high school singer-songwriters) in the country, but also full admission to the Rock Hall during the event. You can buy your tickets here (code: norah). I'd love to see you there, and Norah would love your support.

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

Baning salary discussion bans

🛑 Employers, for the love of all that is holy, STOP BANNING EMPLOYEES FROM DISCUSSING THEIR WAGES!!! 🛑

A supervisor of subsidiary of Duke University is accused of doing just that, and now the employer is in hot water with the National Labor Relations Board.

According to the just-filed NLRB complaint, the supervisor allegedly instructed workers during a meeting "not to discuss their salaries." When one of those employees later raised "concerns about employees' salaries and equity in pay," they were fired.

Remote work as a reasonable accommodation

A former UCLA employee has sued the university, claiming that if fired him in retaliation for requesting to continue to work from home after its "work from home" order ended.

According to his complaint, the 23-year employee, who last worked as a mechanic in the physical sciences machine shop, suffers from disabilities that affect his arms and hands. The lawsuit alleges that his supervisor denied his request to continue working from home after Covid work from home orders ended, despite most other employees continuing to work remotely. After the university later laid him off, he sued.

Courts are generally in agreement on two things related to remote work as a reasonable accommodation: 1) regular, in-person work is an essential function of most jobs; and 2) remote work as a reasonable accommodation is a highly fact-specific inquiry.

Ending gender bias in dress codes

During the recent Super Bowl halftime show, Usher took off his shirt and everyone oohed and aahed over his performance. Twenty years ago, Janet Jackson's breast was accidentally exposed during her halftime performance and the world stopped to nearly ruin her career over a wardrobe malfunction.

We need to have a serious conversation about sex-based stereotypes, double standards, and workplace dress code.

Here are 7 tips to draft a non-discriminatory, gender-neutral dress code for your workplace:

Ending the “ism” of ageism

"Ageism is really one of the last acceptable 'isms' that society tolerates," says AARP senior advisor Heather Tinsley-Fix.

The numbers back her up. According to a recent AARP report, two-thirds of adults over 50 believe older workers face age discrimination in the workplace, and 90% of that group believe ageism is commonplace.

How do we best combat ageism and age discrimination in our workplaces? Here are 6 suggestions.

WIRTW #705: the “3.33 percent” edition

I believe that it's important to celebrate our victories, not just in our careers, but also in our personal lives.

Tomorrow night, my daughter will stand on stage at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in front of 1,000-plus people and play a 15-minute of set of original music and covers. It will be just Norah, her voice, and her guitar. This will be her sixth (and final) time playing the High School Rock Off. She participated for several years as a School of Rock exhibition. Then, in 2020, she entered in two separate bands and took one to the finals.

In total, Norah has played the Rock Hall's stage more than every other artist who is inducted in the Rock Hall combined. At the age of 17, she's a seasoned veteran of the local music scene.

Which is why I was surprised when, in the car on the way to school this morning, Norah told me that she's a little nervous about tomorrow night. "I've never played in front of that many people solo," she said.

No matter what happens tomorrow night, I'm so proud of her. It takes guts anytime you get on stage and perform. It takes a ton of guts to do it solo, without the support of loud rock band backing you, and even more so when you're sharing your inner-most thoughts through your own songs.

It doesn't matter what the judges say tomorrow night, Norah has already won.

(From The Chronicle-Telegram's Rock-Off preview)

If you're planning on attending the Rock Off and don't yet have your ticket, they are on sale here (code: norah). It's the best deal in town for a Saturday night — $20 ($15 for students) for performances by 10 bands plus a full admission to the Rock Hall.

If you can't make the event but want a taste of what you'll miss, last weekend Norah recorded a "tiny-desk style" session. Thanks to Jeff Koteles of Banzai Sound for offering his space and providing the audio mix, and to Digital FX Media for recording the video and supplying the finished product, which you can watch here.

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

The 3rd nominee for the Worst Employer of 2024 is … the supersized sex offender

A McDonald's franchisee has agreed to pay $4.35 million to settle claims brought by a 14-year-old worker raped by a manager.

According to the now settled lawsuit, the franchisee, Rice Enterprises, knew that its manager, Walter Garner, was sexually harassing child employees before Garner raped the plaintiff. Garner, already a registered sex offender during his employment, later pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from the rape and is now in prison.

The allegations are as bad as you might think. 

A DEI smackdown

It's a DEI heavyweight battle of epic proportions that played out of X over the past week.

In the blue corner, hailing from Big D, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban: 

I've never hired anyone based exclusively on race, gender, religion. I only ever hire the person that will put my business in the best position to succeed. And yes, race and gender can be part of the equation. I view diversity as a competitive advantage.

And in the red corner, hailing from our nation's capital, EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas: 

Unfortunately you’re dead wrong on black-letter Title VII law. As a general rule, race/sex can't even be a "motivating factor" — nor a plus factor, tie-breaker, or tipping point.… This isn't an opinion; reasonable minds can't disagree on this point. It's the plain text of Title VII.

WIRTW #704: the “backyard” edition

Live Nation and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced that this year's Rock Off will be the final Rock Off, at least sponsored by Live Nation and held at the Rock Hall. Barry Gabel, the senior vice president of marketing and sponsorship sales at Live Nation and the Rock Off's creator and biggest champion, is pulling the plug after this year's event because of staffing issues. He told Cleveland Magazine, however, that there's hope that the Rock Off will continue in some form in 2025 and beyond.

We're getting tons of calls from so many different venues and people that don't want to see this end, and while I'm not really available to discuss if there can be something that will follow after this year — it most probably will not be with Live Nation — but who knows. There are just too many great venues around town and too many great local clubs and passionate music people that don't want to see the Rock Off end. So we'll see what happens.

Well, Norah and I have an idea to save the Tri-C High School Rock Off in years to come. The Norah and Dad Show Rock Off!

Tickets for this year's Rock Off are available here (checkout code: NORAH). Norah performs next Saturday, Feb. 10.

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

Whether you like it or not, it’s illegal to discriminate against transgender employees

“Do you have female parts?”

“You’re not a real man.”
“If I just say ‘she’, that’s what she is.”

Those are among the allegations that the EEOC made against T.C. Wheelers Bar & Pizzeria on behalf of Quinn Gambino, a transgender man the restaurant employed as a cook. Mr. Gambino complained to management about the harassment, but it continued unabated.

The 2nd nominee for the Worst Employer of 2024 is … the stone-cold stunner

I've never before had a repeat Worst Employer nominee. But never before has there been an employer like Vince McMahon.

Two years ago, I nominated the former Chairman of the WWE for allegations that he paid $3 million in hush money to a terminated, down on her luck paralegal, Janel Grant, with whom he then had an affair. Now, however, the full nature of the paralegal's allegations has come to light, and their sheer depravity require that we re-nominate Vince to this year's list.

Grant claims that she was subjected to "acts of extreme cruelty and degradation" that caused her to "become numb to reality in order to survive the horrific encounters." 

WIRTW #703: the “guitar” edition

Did you know that in addition to being an employment lawyer and a craft-beer lawyer, I’m also a podcaster?

A couple of years ago my daughter and I started a podcast together. While episodes have become more sporadic lately, The Norah and Dad Show is still very much a thing.

We just dropped a brand-new episode — "Rock 'n' Roll High School" — in which we discuss Norah's upcoming gig on Feb. 10 at the 27th annual (and final) Tri-C High School Rock Off at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Tickets here; use code NORAH.)

We reminisce about Norah's past appearances at the event and lament the end of the Rock Off as an annual event. Norah also shares a story about buying a new guitar, which she'll be showcasing from the Rock Off stage.

You'll find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Overcast, on the web, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

Join me at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference

If you google “brewery harassment” you’ll polish off an entire six-pack before you finish reading all of the horror stories.

 

🤮 “Breweries named in wave of sexual harassment claims; CEO steps down.”

🤮 “Brewery ownership group ‘steps back’ after sexual harassment claims.”

🤮 “’This behavior should not be endorsed or tolerated’: harassment allegations explored as brewery reportedly closes.”

🤮 “Couple who helped start major brewery accuse owner of sexual harassment.”

🤮 “Brewery founder steps away from operations amid allegations of sexism and racism.”

🤮 “Findings of investigation into toxic brewery workplace are ‘troubling and heartbreaking.’”

And on … and on … and on. It’s an epidemic in our craft beer industry.

Which is precisely why I am so excited to be returning to this year’s Craft Brewers Conference to present, “Crafting a Harassment-Free Craft Brewery.”

Just because something isn’t “illegal” doesn’t mean it’s acceptable

“This is very basic, elementary communication. This has nothing to do with training or understanding, this is daily required functioning.”

That’s just part of an email that a law firm partner sent to a Black associate. In her recently-filed lawsuit, she alleges that the firm terminated her in retaliation for complaining to HR that she believed that email was racially motivated.

In response to her internal complaint, HR told her that its investigation revealed that while the email was “inappropriate,” it was not racist because the partner treated everyone the same way. Thus, he was not singling her out because of her race.

These 6 steps will help keep you out of sexual harassment hot water

A teenage, female restaurant employee bends over to pick something up and a male co-worker snaps a photo of her buttocks and then shares it with his coworkers. She reports the misconduct conduct to her manager and noted “that it made her feel uncomfortable.” The company investigates, and even though it does not find the photo on the co-workers, it still fires him six days later for myriad issues with his employment.

The complaining employee then sues for sexual harassment, alleging that the taking and sharing of the photo constituted a hostile work environment. The court disagreed: “Johnson alleges two isolated incidents—Shawn took a picture of her buttocks and showed it to her coworkers. Although Shawn’s conduct was rude and boorish, his actions fall well short of conduct so severe as to alter or change the terms of her working conditions.”

WIRTW #702: the “conference” edition

I don't just go to beer conferences to drink beer. I promise. I also go to speak and share my knowledge about the legal issues that impact craft breweries.

This week, I've been at the Ohio Craft Brewers Conference in Toledo. Yes, I drank some beer. But I also spoke, not once, but twice.

Yesterday, I spoke on avoiding the top 10 legal mistakes made by craft breweries, and on current industry and legal trends impacting DEI.

It was a great conference with wonderful people and networking, a lot of learning and knowledge … and, yes, some beer. 🍻

A huge thank you to Mary MacDonald and the entire Ohio Craft Brewers Association team for a fantastic event. Let's do it again in Columbus next year!

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

Hiring undocumented workers

"Illegal immigrant co-worker got fired for asking about her check." 

That's the headline on Reddit.

Here's the rest of the post: 

"I have a co-worker who doesn't speak English at all so I've always communicated with her through google translate. A week ago, she asked me if I had gotten paid yet and told me that she hasn't seen a penny of her check despite working 50 hours a week since late November. I talked to my manager about it and my manager told me that she would send the check to her later. My co-worker texted me a few days ago and told me that she was fired for being an illegal immigrant and that she won't be paid because of it."

WIRTW #701: the “last dance” edition

My daughter, Norah, has been chosen as one of 30 acts to compete in the 2024 Tri-C High School Rock Off at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Norah (who performs as norah marie) takes the Rock Hall stage on Feb. 10 as part of the second of three semifinal rounds. Four acts from each round will advance to the Final Exam on Mar. 2, where a panel of industry judges will crown the "Best Band in the Land."

This year's winner will be the last "Best Band in the Land," as Live Nation has announced that this year's High School Rock Off will be the final High School Rock Off. This news saddens me, as it's such a unique event for Cleveland and a great opportunity for the youngest members of our music community. Having attended the Rock Off for years, it's always a great time showcasing a ton of talent and great music.

The Tri-C High School Rock Off is one of biggest competitions in the country for high school rock musicians. We're so lucky to have held it for so many years. This year's prizes for the winning act include the opportunity to perform at the 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. It's a big deal.

Norah performs on Feb. 10. Tickets are digital-only and available for purchase via the Rock Hall website, here. At checkout, use the code NORAH. Each ticket includes a full Rock Hall admission during the event.

We'd love to see you there.

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.