WIRTW #343 (the “trick or treat” edition)
True confession—I do not like Halloween. I never did. As a kid, I tolerated the holiday because it brought a bounty of candy. As I aged out ...
Archive: October 2014
EEOC files historic lawsuit challenging biometric testing by employers
By Jon Hyman
It’s no secret that health insurance costs are out of control. To help combat this surge, many employers have turned to biometric testing fo...
Court of appeals decision highlights risk of (mis)classifying employees
By Jon Hyman
I once handled a wage-and-hour investigation in which the employer, before retaining my services, hired an HR consultant to help classify it...
The times they are a changin’ for LGBT discrimination
By Jon Hyman
Last week, the The U.S. Office of Special Counsel announced a landmark determination that the Department of the Army engaged in “frequent, p...
Does social media hold the cure for your malingering, hooky playing employees?
By Jon Hyman
In one of the better earlier episodes of The Office , the Assistant to the Regional Manager, Dwight Schrute, thinks that one of his co-work...
WIRTW #342 (the “family photo” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Photo by Jenny Gildea Photography (who I cannot more highly recommend). Here’s what I read this week: Discrimination “How Can We Accom...
“He liked breasts” is never an appropriate response to a harassment complaint
By Jon Hyman
Ruby Blackmon claimed that for a ten-month period, her second-level manager inappropriately stared at her breasts three to 10 times per day,...
“Honest belief” isn’t a defense to an FMLA claim, says federal court
By Jon Hyman
The honest-belief rule is one of most effective shields available to employers in discrimination cases: As long as an employer has an ho...
Cop caught sleeping on the job awarded $1M in ADA lawsuit — what could this employer have done differently?
By Jon Hyman
A federal jury awarded nearly $1 million to a former police officer, allegedly fired after sleeping on duty. According to the McPherson Sen...
What if…? Internet use as a disability
By Jon Hyman
Last year I reported on the possibility that Internet use could become an ADA-protected disability. Now, we have one of the first documente...
WIRTW #341 (the “impeachment by blog” edition)
By Jon Hyman
I’ve been blogging for more than seven years, and I’ve never had opposing counsel try to impeach one of my clients with something I’ve writt...
When #Ebola impacts your workplace
By Jon Hyman
If you employ people at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, Frontier Airlines in Cleveland, or Kent State University, congratulations, you’re among t...
Two all-beef patties, special sauce … and a noncompete?
By Jon Hyman
While the law of noncompete agreements is state-specific, generally you need three things to enforce such an agreement: reasonableness as t...
Do personality tests pass the ADA-compliance test?
By Jon Hyman
The ABA Journal (hat tip: Overlawyered ) is reporting that the EEOC is investigating whether several well-known companies are violating the...
“Faithfully” considering performance obligations in employment contracts
By Jon Hyman
Ken Adams, writing at his always insightful blog, Adams on Contract Drafting , comments on the use of terms such as “faithfully” to describe...
WIRTW #340 (the “punting” edition)
By Jon Hyman
The federal court that recently announced its intent to dismiss the EEOC v. CVS severance agreement case has finally issued its written op...
Are post-work security checks compensable? #SCOTUS and Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in its first employment law case of this term, Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk . To w...
Sexual discrimination vs. sexual favoritism
By Jon Hyman
The Employment Matters blog recently posted about a 10th Circuit case that upheld the dismissal of a sex discrimination case that alleged s...
Don’t fire employees on the heels of a cancer diagnosis
By Jon Hyman
You can’t escape the fact that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month . Pink is everywhere. Women are wearing pink everything. Buildings a...
For want of a well-placed pickle: will your termination pass the red-face test?
By Jon Hyman
Have you ever refused to eat at fast food sandwich because the pickles were off? Not “off” as in omitted, or “off” as in taste, but “off” as...
WIRTW #339 (the “iWork” edition)
By Jon Hyman
What’s it like to work for the richest and most admired company in the world? Boy Genius Report writes that being an Apple employee might n...
BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Supreme Court to take up issue of workplace religious accommodation
By Jon Hyman
It’s day one for the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014-2015 term, and the Court has already made big employment law news. The Court has accepted th...
Add “no loitering” to the list of potentially unlawful work rules, per the #NLRB
By Jon Hyman
It’s no secret that the NLRB is waging a war against facially neutral employment policies. You can add “no loitering” rules to its list of v...
EEOC wastes its scarce resources by filing lawsuits without claimants
By Jon Hyman
The National Law Journal reports that Texas Roadhouse has sued the EEOC, demanding background on the agency’s prior age discrimination suit...