Monday, March 4, 2019
Harassment need not be "hellish" to be actionable
Gates v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago (7th Cir. 2/20/19) asks a question that we see time and again in harassment cases—how bad does does the conduct have to be to support a harassment claim. The answer is bad enough, but not so bad so as to be classified as "hellish."
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, February 25, 2019
You're never too small to have an HR department
43 percent of American employees work for companies with 50 or fewer employees. I raise this statistic because it is almost a guarantee that many of these small businesses operate without a dedicated HR department or HR personnel.
Earlier this month, the EEOC settled a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit it had brought against several IHOP franchises operating in New York and Nevada. The allegations were truly awful, including misbehavior such as unwanted touching of female employees' buttocks and genitalia, graphic comments about sexual genitalia, invitations to engage in intercourse, and vulgar name calling, perpetrated by both managers and co-workers.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, February 21, 2019
If you want to stop workplace harassment, start by educating our children
How soon is too soon to start talking about harassment?
If we're talking about your workplace, the correct answer is that it's never too soon. You should start talking to your employees about your anti-harassment / anti-bullying / respectful workplace policies, expectations, and culture on Day One. A discussion should be part of each new hire's on-boarding and orientation.
What about outside of your workplace?
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, February 14, 2019
When the rumor mill creates a sexually hostile work environment
Just in time for Valentine's Day, I bring you the story of a employee rumored to be sleeping with her boss to get a promotion. She wasn't, but the workplace rumor mill sure thought she was.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, February 11, 2019
Emojis are starting to pop up in discrmination and harassment cases 🤔🤷♂️
Law.com recently pronounced, "The Emojis are Coming!" That article got me thinking, are they coming to workplace litigation, too? After all, emojis are a form of communication, and work is all about communication. Which would suggest that we would start seeing them in harassment and discrimination cases.
According to Bloomberg Law, mentions of emojis in federal discrimination lawsuits doubled from 2016 to 2017. Let's not get crazy. The doubling went from six cases to 12 cases. But, a trend is a trend.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Gillette's toxic masculinity ad isn't the problem; toxic masculinity is the problem
Gillette is facing a lot of praise, and a lot of backlash, over its recent ad slamming toxic masculinity culture.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2018
CBS denies Les Moonves every penny of his claimed $120 million severance
Today is your last day to vote for the Worst Employer of 2018. The polls close at 11:00 pm tonight. I'll announce this year's big winner tomorrow.
Before we crown this year's worst employer, I thought I'd mention an employer who did something right.
CBS.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Is your business rethinking its holiday party this year?
During the #MeToo portion yesterday's Best-Ever Year-End Employment Law Review that Five Employment Law Bloggers Have Ever Presented, Robin Shea suggested that the #MeToo Movement has altered employers' holiday-party plans this year.
Indeed, according to the 2018 Holiday Party Survey (conducted by the appropriately named outplace firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas), 35% of employers do not plan to throw a holiday party this year, the lowest number since 2009. Given the current strength of our economy, one would expect an opposite trend, suggesting that something else is causing this uptick in grinchy employers.
The likely culprit? #MeToo.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Forced hugs at work sound like a REALLY bad idea
Ray Kelvin, CEO of UK fashion retailer Ted Baker, is a hugger. According to an online petition seeking to end his practice, "he greets many people he meets with a hug, be it a shareholder, investor, supplier, partner, customer or colleague." And, it doesn't stop with hugs. He asks young female employees "to sit on his knee, cuddle him, or let him massage their ears." He strokes employees' ears. He takes off his shirt in the workplace and talks about his sex life. Even worse, when employees go to HR to complain, they are told, "That's just what Ray's like."
Well, they've had enough "of what Ray's like." More than 2,600 people, including over 300 current or former employees, have signed the online petition calling on Ted Baker to "scrap the forced 'hugs' and end harassment."
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2018
What can you learn from the law firm partner suspended for watching porn at work?
According to The American Lawyer (sub. req.), Hogan Lovells has suspended one of its partners in its London office for watching porn at work. How did it catch the offense?
In IT employee read his internet logs? No.
He forgot to close his browser when he went to the loo and his assistant walked into his office? No.
He visited an unsafe site that spammed his entire office with malware? No.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Sexual harassment prevention 101: NO STRIP CLUBS
Last month, the EEOC held a public meeting on preventing workplace harassment. Entitled, Revamping Workplace Culture to Prevent Harassment, it's the agency's second meeting since forming its Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, and its first in the #MeToo era.
The EEOC discussed the need for employers to take a holistic approach to change workplace culture to prevent harassment.
Somehow, the EEOC missed "No strip clubs for employees" as one of its anti-harassment talking points.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2018
When you employ a Satanist #HappyHalloween
Rosemary's Baby, the classic 1968 horror film, tells the story of a pregnant woman who (spoiler alert: correctly) assumes that a satanic cult wants her baby. What does Rosemary's Baby have to do with employment law?
In honor of Halloween, I bring you the story of Irving Cortez-Hernandez, a "Catholic-Satanist" who prayed to the Devil for his pregnant co-worker to miscarry, and as a result lost both his job and his religious discrimination lawsuit.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, October 29, 2018
Anti-Semitism at work
The devastating events of this past weekend served as a sobering reminder that anti-Semitism not only still exists, but it's thriving.
The reality is that anti-Semitism never went away. It has always been there, bubbling under the surface. The current climate in our country, however, has given it permission to boil over.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, October 24, 2018
How many n-bombs does it take to create a hostile work environment?
Smelter v. Southern Home Care Services (11th Cir. 9/24/18) answers the question, "How many n-bombs does it take to create an unlawful hostile work environment?"
So as not to bury the lede, the answer is one.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2018
#HimToo is a BAD bandwagon on which to jump in your workplace
#HimToosince she deleted it here’s a screenshot. one of the greatest posts of all time pic.twitter.com/Z6TUKOjH9T— KT NELSON (@KrangTNelson) October 8, 2018
A hashtag started as a reaction to #MeToo, put forth by those who believe that false accusations of rape and sexual assault against men are common and happen way too often.
Employers, #HimToo is dangerous to your workplace.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, October 9, 2018
How does one measure the impact of #MeToo at its first anniversary?
The story, however, goes beyond the rich, and the famous, and the powerful. #MeToo has permeated every corner of our culture.
The EEOC just released its preliminary data on its handling of sexual harassment charges for its 2018 fiscal year—October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018—a year that syncs almost too perfectly with the first year of #MeToo.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, September 27, 2018
Don't Lindsey Graham your company's harassment investigations
What am I supposed to do, go ahead and ruin this guy's life based on an accusation? I'm just being honest. Unless there's something more, no, I'm not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh's life over this. But she should come forward. She should have her say. She will be respectfully treated.
– Senator Lindsey Graham
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, September 17, 2018
Sexual harassment allegations unjustifiably ruin people's lives only if they are false
Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2018
Yesterday, The Washington Post published Christine Blasey Ford's decades old allegations of sexual abuse she claims to have suffered at the hand of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court nominee. You can read the full letter here.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Temporary employees have permanent legal rights
Temporary employees do not leave their legal rights at your door. In fact, they enjoy the same rights as your permanent employees.
Consider, for example, EEOC v. Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, in which an employer recently agreed to pay $65,000 to settle claims brought by a temporary employee that she was subjected to a sexually hostile work environment and fired after repeatedly complaining about it.
The allegations are not pretty.
LaToya Young began working as a temp at Massimo Zanetti in late January 2015. Within 10 days of starting her placement, a male co-worker began making sexually harassing comments to her:
- Telling Young that he had "blue balls" and asking her "Why don’t you help me out with that?"
- Telling Young that he wanted to "suck [her] bottom lip."
- Telling Young that he wanted to have sex with her, often using lewd language.
- Telling Young that he imagined himself engaging in sexual relations with her.
- Telling Young that he would "ball [her] up like a pretzel" and would "have [her] screaming."
- Grabbing his groin area while looking directly at her.
- Blowing kisses at her.
- Licking his lips and biting his bottom lip while looking at her.
Young complained three times to her supervisor. The harassment continued unabated after the first complaint. After the second complaint, Young alleges that her supervisor warned her that going to HR "would jeopardize her employment." After the third complaint, she was fired.
Take heed of this lesson. Your temporary employees have the same civil rights as your permanent employees.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2018
An expensive lesson on disability harassment
With of all of the attention the #MeToo Movement has provided sexual harassment, employers must not forget that all forms of unlawful workplace discrimination include unlawful harassment.
This includes disability harassment.
For example, consider Caldera v. Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (Cal. Ct. App. 7/9/18).
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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