Ricci v. DeStefano: Supreme Court rules on discriminatory Hobson’s choice
Perhaps no decision has been more eagerly anticipated this year by employment lawyers than the Supreme Court’s opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano...
Archive: June 2009
No wonder fighting sexual harassment is an uphill battle
By Jon Hyman
How are employers supposed to fight workplace harassment when employees are bombarded by images like this, an actual ad for Burger King’s ne...
WIRTW #85
By Jon Hyman
Last week, Bozeman, Mont., began requiring all job applicants to provide a list of all “current personal or business websites, web pages, or...
Workplace smartphone etiquette – smartphones versus smart use
By Jon Hyman
When I started my first legal job during law school, the biggest distraction was minesweeper on my desktop PC. Today, distractions are big...
When is a failure to accommodate an employee’s religion actionable?
By Jon Hyman
If an employee approaches your HR department and asks for an accommodation for his or her religion, you might think that your company has an...
Do you know? Handling a chronically ill employee
By Jon Hyman
In the June 19 New York Times , Lesley Alderman provided chronically ill employees some practical information on how to protect their jobs w...
Have you thought about these four issues before you fired that employee?
By Jon Hyman
BLR’s HR Daily Advisor recently published a helpful checklist of the 10 Questions You Must Ask Before Firing ( part 1 and part 2 ). I have ...
WIRTW #84
By Jon Hyman
Last week I posted a clip from one of my favorite movies, Office Space . This week, Dan Schwartz at the Connecticut Employment Law Blog tea...
No buts about it: Supreme Court rejects mixed motives for age discrimination cases
By Jon Hyman
Employees have three traditional methods to prove intentional discrimination: (1) direct evidence (comments that evidence a discriminatory a...
Proposed law would grant working moms breastfeeding rights
By Jon Hyman
Last year, I wrote that even though Ohio has one of the country’s most liberal breastfeeding laws, it likely does not protect a mom’s workpl...
Do you know? “Salting” the wounds of labor organizing
By Jon Hyman
“Salting” is a common organizing tactic used by labor unions. It refers to union organizers applying for jobs with non-union employers. The ...
Examining our prejudices
By Jon Hyman
As my wife and I were loading our kids into the car for a trip to Lowe’s last Thursday night, we noticed someone we didn’t recognize talking...
WIRTW #83
By Jon Hyman
Every now and then a story slips through the cracks. Such is the case with Lima v. State , decided this week by the Ohio Supreme Court, in w...
Big verdict underscores importance of background checks
By Jon Hyman
One would think that businesses with whom people entrust children or the elderly would conduct routine criminal background checks of its emp...
Drafting a social networking policy: 7 considerations
By Jon Hyman
I could draft a perfect social networking policy using only a few words: “Be mature, be ethical, and think before you type.” Ultimately, you...
Do you know? Facebook and Twitter and blogs, oh my! What is social networking and why should you care?
By Jon Hyman
Cave drawings were likely the earliest form of social networking. Today people tweet their thoughts for the world to see. In between we’ve ...
Let’s start the week with a laugh
By Jon Hyman
So much of the news is doom and gloom, I thought I’d start everyone’s week with a little humor from one of my all-time favorite movies, Offi...
BREAKING NEWS: En banc panel of 6th Circuit reverses prior holding in Thompson v. North American Stainless and rejects associational retaliation claims
By Jon Hyman
There are many types of relationships among employees in a workplace besides being co-workers. Many employees develop close friendships. Man...
WIRTW #82
By Jon Hyman
I have a confession to make. I’ve never watched an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 . I know that I am confessing to being a pop-culture Nea...
3 lessons in handling workplace harassment
By Jon Hyman
Gallagher v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide (6th Cir. 5/22/09) [PDF] offers an excellent example of how businesses get themselves into trouble by...
Ohio Supreme Court confirms 180-day statute of limitations for most age discrimination claims
By Jon Hyman
Ohio has what can best be described as a disjointed statute for age discrimination claims. Chapter 4112 of the Ohio Revised Code has four di...
Do you know? Sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination
By Jon Hyman
It strikes me as appalling that in the year 2009 there are still minority groups against whom it remains legal to discriminate. An employer ...
Confidentiality of personnel records help protect employers from defamation liability
By Jon Hyman
Most people are not confrontational by nature. Maybe that is why many employers are lax about accurately documenting employees’ performance ...