Discrimination in the air
Consider the following comments relating to the promotion of female officers within a police department: The chief will never have a fe...
Is the sky falling? The reality of wage and hour lawsuits
By Jon Hyman
There is no doubt that wage and hour litigation is “the” hot topic in employment law. Dan Schwartz at the Connecticut Employment Law Blog ...
Update on ADA Amendments Act: EEOC Proposed Regulations are Now Available
By Jon Hyman
Earlier today I wrote on the EEOC’s proposed regulation implementing the ADA Amendments Act. This evening, those proposed regulations finall...
Do you know? What is a “disability” under the recent ADA Amendments Act
By Jon Hyman
The ADA Amendments Act, which became effective January 1, 2009, is intended “to reinstate a broad scope of protection” by expanding the defi...
Religious accommodation versus public image
By Jon Hyman
According to an EEOC press release , the agency has filed suit against Ohio-based retailer Abercrombie & Fitch for alleged discriminatio...
WIRTW #96
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, I wrote about Ohio’s proposed law that would ban discrimination based on gender identity . Earlier this week, Dan Schwartz at the...
Ohio House passes bill banning sexual orientation discrimination; fight moves to Senate
By Jon Hyman
In yesterday's Columbus Dispatch, Jim Siegel reports that the Ohio House passed a bill that would prohibit employment discrimination bas...
Is “fat” the new protected class?
By Jon Hyman
This week, Michael Haberman, at HR Observations , continues his series on “isms” with a post on what he calls “ fatism ” (or discrimination ...
Do you know? Affirmative action and reverse discrimination
By Jon Hyman
Many employers have affirmative action plans. However, just because you have a plan does not mean that the plan should be the only decision-...
Muslims perceived as suffering the worst discrimination
By Jon Hyman
We are a few days past the 8th anniversary of what many consider to be the worst day in the history of our country. According to a recent su...
WIRTW #95
By Jon Hyman
Molly DiBianca at the Delaware Employment Law Blog reports on a CareerBuilder.com survey that 56% of employers either use or intend to use ...
Contradictory explanations buys an employer a jury trial on sex discrimination claim
By Jon Hyman
There is nothing inherently wrong with an employer having more than one reason for making an employment decision. For example, you could fir...
Pretext as a four letter word
By Jon Hyman
Pretext is a commonsense inquiry: did the employer fire the employee for the stated reason or not? This requires a court to ask whether t...
Do you know? Forced retirement is a no-no
By Jon Hyman
It’s still a fairly popular misnomer that businesses can force employees to retire at a certain age. For example, last week Law.com reporte...
WIRTW #94
By Jon Hyman
Time constraints lead to a shorter than usual review this week. But, I am here for my readers with what I think are the top 5 posts from the...
Study of American working conditions presents opportunity for employers to tune up legal compliance
By Jon Hyman
Cars need routine maintenance: an oil change every 3,000 miles, an annual inspection of the systems, and more serious TLC every two or three...
Sexual orientation is not a proxy for religious discrimination
By Jon Hyman
Until Congress gets its act together and passes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act , it is still legal to openly discriminate against emp...
Do you know? Fake job references?
By Jon Hyman
More people are out of work at any time in the past 25 years. And, it appears that some are taking desperate measures to find new jobs. ABCN...
6th Circuit re-affirms mixed-motive causation under the FMLA
By Jon Hyman
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court did away with the notion of a mixed motive termination in an age discrimination case. In Gross v...
WIRTW #93
By Jon Hyman
This week’s review starts with some of fellow blogger’s thoughts on the passing of Ted Kennedy: The Word on Employment Law with John Ph...
Ohio Supreme Court avoids the issue of whether sex discrimination includes lactation
By Jon Hyman
Totes/Isotoner Corp. fired LaNisa Allen for taking unauthorized, extra breaks during her work day. Allen claimed that her termination consti...
Court finds no liability for conclusions reached during harassment investigation
By Jon Hyman
Can an employee sue you for conclusions reached during an internal harassment complaint? According to the 6th Circuit in Courie v. Alcoa Whe...
Beware of discrimination risks when rehiring ex-employees
By Jon Hyman
As the recession continues to show signs of ending, companies that had previously laid off employees will need to re-staff. According to CNN...
Do you know? What are an employer’s rights when an employee fails to give timely notice of FMLA leave?
By Jon Hyman
Employees cannot simply take FMLA leave on a whim. They must provide their employers at least some notice, depending on the circumstances. A...
A lesson on reasonable accommodations
By Jon Hyman
My family and I went to Sesame Place last Friday. As we were preparing to leave the park, my three-year-old daughter noticed a queue for Coo...
WIRTW #92
By Jon Hyman
Apparently, my incessant linking has labeled me as a potential spammer according to Blogger. Annoyed but undeterred, here’s what I’ve been r...
On redemption and second chances
By Jon Hyman
It’s been a week since my beloved Philadelphia Eagles shocked the sports world by signing convicted felon Michael Vick to a two-year contrac...
Announcing the next KJK Breakfast Briefing: Google and Facebook and Twitter, Oh My! Emerging Workplace Technology Issues
By Jon Hyman
Do you know what your employees are doing on-line? Join KJK’s team of employment lawyers to learn: What are Facebook, Twitter, and Link...
Government updates swine flu guidance for businesses
By Jon Hyman
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the federal government has updated its flu guidelines for businesses. Ann Beauchesne at The Cha...
Refusal to take drug test bar workers’ comp retaliation claim
By Jon Hyman
Many companies require employees to submit to drug tests after suffering a workplace injury. The rationale is simple – intoxication is one o...
Do you know? Harassment by a non-employee
By Jon Hyman
Last week, an Orlando, Florida, jury convicted a Pennsylvania tourist of groping Minnie Mouse. Apparently, the man thought it was okay to ...
Papering a personnel file as evidence of retaliation?
By Jon Hyman
When Carolyn Upshaw started filing EEOC charges against her employer, Ford Motor Company, it began to document her on-going performance prob...