The legal and ethical issues of the class action “pick off”
Have you heard that the new owner of the Cleveland Browns has gotten himself into a bit of legal trouble? It’s alleged that Jimmy Haslem’s o...
Archive: April 2013
With social media, all of your employees are brand ambassadors; train them accordingly
By Jon Hyman
A Hockessin, Delaware, restaurant has gotten itself into a bit of hot water after it was discovered that its employees posted offensive phot...
WIRTW #271 (the “too hot to work” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Do you remember the dental hygienist whom the Iowa Supreme Court declared too hot to work ? Earlier this week, she attempted to “redeem” her...
Beware bans on pay discussions among employees
By Jon Hyman
Pop quiz. What’s wrong with the following paragraph, which appeared in the April 17, 2013, Wall Street Journal article entitled, Workers Sha...
NLRB confirms legality of most at-will disclaimers (and employers everywhere rejoice)
By Jon Hyman
The NLRB has confused me with its apparent reasonableness. Last week, the NLRB published an advice memorandum from its Office of General Cou...
Staged RIFs qualify for heightened protection from age discrimination
By Jon Hyman
Employers who eliminate headcount as part of a reduction in force receive special protection under the age discrimination laws. In a bona fi...
NLRB offers further guidance on confidential workplace investigations
By Jon Hyman
Last July, I cautioned employers about the NLRB’s decision in Banner Estrella Medical Center . In that case, the NLRB held that an employer’...
WIRWT #270 (the “… and the home of the brave” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Have you seen the video of the National Anthem at last night’s Boston Bruins’s game? Do you want to get choked up watching 17,565 Bostonians...
There is no such thing as a “license to harass”
By Jon Hyman
To establish an unlawful hostile work environment, an employee must prove, among other factors, that the workplace was subjectively offensi...
SCOTUS: Picking off individual plaintiffs moots wage and hour collective action
By Jon Hyman
The pickoff is one of the most dramatic defensive plays in baseball. It can single-handedly kill a rally. The tying run on first? One deft...
Do you have a workplace emergency action plan?
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday’s tragedy in Boston has left me speechless. I’m frankly not sure what to say, other than I’m sick of these horrible events; what t...
A Muslim walks into a store… Corporate “Look Policies” and religious discrimination
By Jon Hyman
I’ve written before about the tension between companies’ preferences for how employees look and the religious freedoms of those employees ( ...
WIRTW #269 (the “roshambo” edition)
By Jon Hyman
On Wednesday’s edition of DriveThruHR , Dan Schwartz challenged me to a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine, once and for all, who rei...
New bill seeks to extend comp time to private employers
By Jon Hyman
One question employers ask me all the time is whether they can provide employees comp time (extra time off) in lieu of overtime. For private...
Bald is beautiful … unless you’re a Hooters waitress after brain surgery
By Jon Hyman
Sandra Lupo took three weeks off from her job as a Hooters waitress for brain surgery. During her leave, her manager assured her that she wo...
28 days later? Passage of time justifies recertification of intermittent FMLA leave
By Jon Hyman
The FMLA permits an employer to “require that [an] eligible employee obtain subsequent [medical] re-certifications on a reasonable basis.” T...
A “wet one” renders him gay? 5th Circuit to reconsider same-sex harassment case
By Jon Hyman
In EEOC v. Boh Brothers Constr. Co. , ironworker Kerry Woods (male) asserted that his supervisor, Chuck Wolfe, subjected him to all of the ...
WIRTW #268 (the “… in a box” edition)
By Jon Hyman
One of the stops my wife and I made when we honeymooned in Ireland was the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin. Because Ireland is not necessaril...
The results are in: social media password survey
By Jon Hyman
Last month, in response to the introduction of social media password legislation in the Ohio Senate , I posed a survey to gauge whether this...
Can you hear me now? Unilateral deafness is not an ADA disability
By Jon Hyman
I’ve long argued that 2009’s ADA Amendments Act changed the game for how employers defend disability discrimination cases. Because the ADAAA...
Deploy the Girl-Scout-cookie offensive to ward off labor unions
By Jon Hyman
NewsOK reports that some employers have started banning their employees from promoting their kids’ fundraisers at work. At least one story ...
Congress enacts the Americans with No Abilities Act
By Jon Hyman
According to a trusted news source , Congress has enacted the Americans with No Abilities Act: The act … is being hailed as a major victor...