WIRTW #279 (the “stand your ground?” edition)
Having recently settled a nasty harassment case on the day of trial, I read with great interest Molly DiBianca’s post, Why Employers Settle ...
Archive: June 2013
Happy 75th Birthday, FLSA
By Jon Hyman
75 years ago yesterday, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act. By establishing a minimum wage, setting an over...
Vance v. Ball St. narrows employer liability for harassment
By Jon Hyman
In its prologue to yesterday Supreme Court opinion in Vance v. Ball. St. Univ. [pdf] , Justice Alito, writing for the five-member majority,...
BREAKING: SCOTUS decides on but-for causation standard for retaliation under Title VII
By Jon Hyman
In a busy, end-of-term day at the Supreme Court, the Court has issued its decision in University of Tex. S.W. Med. Ctr. v. Nassar . In this ...
BREAKING: SCOTUS issues decision in Vance v. Ball St. Univ.
By Jon Hyman
Hot off the presses, the Supreme Court just issued its decision in Vance v. Ball St. Univ. Via SCOTUS Blog, the Court held that “an employe...
Employee medical information and social media
By Jon Hyman
Hopefully, you know that the ADA protects employee medical information as confidential. According to the EEOC : The basic rule is that wit...
Title VII does not give employees the right to proselytize
By Jon Hyman
I believe that everyone’s relationship with God (whether you call that deity Yahweh, Jesus, Allah, Vishnu, Buddha, or something else) is ...
Classification of obesity as a “disease” has huge employment law implications
By Jon Hyman
News broke yesterday that the American Medical Association voted to re-classify obesity from a condition to a disease . Conventional wisdom...
Paula Deen gave the worst deposition ever
By Jon Hyman
Until now, celebrity chef Paula Deen was best known for high cholesterol and high incidence of diabetes. After this week, however, she might...
Employment Law Blog Carnival: The Summer Blockbuster Edition
By Jon Hyman
It’s hard to believe, but the summer blockbuster—the high budget, slickly marketed, big action, and bigger box-office-return movie that has ...
He’s a lumberjack and, apparently, he’s not okay
By Jon Hyman
An employee who posed in Playgirl magazine is suing his former employer for sexual harassment, reports ABC News . 18 years ago, Daniel Sawk...
Fox Searchlight case confirm that unpaid interns are a dying breed
By Jon Hyman
Out of the millions of page-views this blog has received over the six-years of its existence, the most popular post (by an almost three-to-o...
WIRTW #278 (the “carnival barker” edition)
By Jon Hyman
This coming Wednesday, I’m hosting the Employment Law Blog Carnival. For the uninitiated, a blog carnival a collection of submitted links ar...
Cancer as a protected disability
By Jon Hyman
The Am Law Daily reports that the former CFO of Proskauer Rose is claiming that the international law firm violated the Americans with Disa...
Can you ban foreign languages in the workplace? English-only policies.
By Jon Hyman
USA Today reports that Whole Foods has suspended two employees for allegedly speaking Spanish to each other on the job. For its part, Whole...
What do you do when an employee refuses to complain?
By Jon Hyman
Do you know what to do if you believe an employee was sexually harassed, but refuses to provide any details or other information? Do you hav...
NLRB judge strikes down Red Cross employee confidentiality policy
By Jon Hyman
A couple of months ago, I suggested that there was hope for a friendship between the NLRB and me, following the Board’s pronouncement that m...
WIRTW #277 (the “come on down” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Some of my fondest memories as a child were watching The Price is Right with my Grandmom Annie on the TV in her basement. We’d watch Family ...
Your employees are BYODing, whether you like it or not
By Jon Hyman
According to a survey released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project , 61 percent of Americans own a smartphone. Employe...
Controlling the comparative can control the discrimination case
By Jon Hyman
One of the key analyses in any discrimination lawsuit is whether the plaintiff is “similarly situated” to those whom he or she claims the em...
Facebook posts as evidence of retaliation
By Jon Hyman
I’ve written before about the dangers of employers accessing employee’s social media accounts without appropriate controls in place. One of...
Lactation discrimination = pregnancy discrimination
By Jon Hyman
Last February I reported on EEOC v. Houston Funding , in which a Texas district court held that an employee, fired after asking to pump brea...