WIRTW #453 (the “Oxford comma” edition)
Who knew that the l’il ol’ Oxford comma was so controversial? I would have never dreamed that yesterday’s post on the importance of its ...
For want of an Oxford comma
By Jon Hyman
Vampire Weekend once asked , “Who gives a f__k about an Oxford comma?” The answer, apparently, is the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, a whol...
The 11th Circuit’s odd LGBT-discrimination decision
By Jon Hyman
Late last week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Evans v. Georgia Regional Hosp. [pdf] , held that Title VII does not protect sexual-...
Inclement weather policies should prioritize safety over productivity
By Jon Hyman
Snow day! Norah went to bed with PJs on backwards last night (and received her wish; now please use your time wisely to work on homework)....
The 7th nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the “trump”ed up termination
By Jon Hyman
Last Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked for the resignation of 46 U.S. attorneys . Those that refused have been fired. The fac...
WIRTW #452 (the “coffee house” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Do you like acoustic guitar, Green Day, and a 10-year-old girl that is way too cool to be my daughter combining the two? If so, then this vi...
The 6th nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the double-booked recordkeeper
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday’s nominee for the Worst Employer of 2017 may not end up as the last employer standing when I tally the votes at year’s end (at ...
The 5th nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the no-pets-for-vets policy
By Jon Hyman
The EEOC recently sued a Florida trucking company for disability discrimination, alleging it failed to accommodate, refused to hire, and ...
SCOTUS reverses decision to review transgender bathroom case
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, the Supreme Court reversed an earlier decision that would have heard the appeal of a 4th Circuit opinion granting a transgende...
Lessons from a ransomware attack
By Jon Hyman
CNN reports that a ransomware attack has locked the computer network of the Pennsylvania Democratic Caucus. This is what we call a teacha...
WIRTW #451 (the “Graveyard Whistling” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Thank god we got these guitars. In this devil of world. Turn it up make a little noise. – Old 97’s, “Irish Whiskey Pretty Girls”...
President Trump utters the phrase “paid family leave,” but what does it mean?
By Jon Hyman
My administration wants to work with members in both parties to make childcare accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents ha...
U.S. Chamber calls for common sense restoration of the NLRB … and I couldn’t agree more
By Jon Hyman
To say that I have not felt overly optimistic about our nation’s course over next four years would be a bit of an understatement. One area...
Can a hug create a hostile work environment? According to this court, yes.
By Jon Hyman
Edward Prieto, the sheriff of Yolo County, California, likes to hug his co-workers … a lot. According to Victoria Zetwick, a county correc...
I birthed a rock star
By Jon Hyman
On Friday, Rhett Miller, lead singer of my favorite band, the Old 97’s, and undoubtedly one of the good guys, held a Reddit AMA . I asked ...
WIRTW #450 (the “Kurt” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Earlier this week, Kurt Cobain would have turned 50 years old. Uncoincidentally, also earlier this week Norah stepped in for an absent bandm...
What’s good for the goose … NLRB protects employee’s Facebook post critical of his union
By Jon Hyman
It won’t take much searching through the archives to find posts discussing the NLRB’s protections for employees’ Facebook posts critical o...
“If I could press a button and instantly vaporize one sector of employment law?” (redux)
By Jon Hyman
Nearly six years ago, Walter Olson , writing as his Overlawyered blog, asked the following question: “If I could press a button and ins...
"A Day Without Immigrants" protests followed by days without work for fired employees
By Jon Hyman
Last Thursday, in protest against President Trump’s immigration policy, people nationwide participated in “A Day Without Immigrants.” As p...
Paw-ternity leave is a great idea, but please don’t forget about us humans
By Jon Hyman
This is Loula, our vizsla. We love our dog. And, when we brought her home four summers ago, it was a great benefit to our family tha...
WIRTW #449 (the “do-over” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Whether you are left or right, blue or red, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, it’s hard to argue that the first 28 days of...
Andy Puzder, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor, withdraws
By Jon Hyman
Late yesterday, news broke that Andy Puzder, Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor, had withdrawn his name from consideration, ju...
The 4th nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the callous non-accommodator
By Jon Hyman
This is Michael Trimble . Originally from Ukraine, Michael was born without arms as a result of birth defects resulting from the Ch...
Valentine’s Day at work
By Jon Hyman
I am a Valentine’s Day scrooge. Yet, for someone who goes out of his way to avoid this forced and commercialized celebration of love, I’...
Will new EEOC Chair usher in sweeping changes?
By Jon Hyman
With a change in administrations comes a change at the head of various federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commi...
WIRTW #448 (the “promo” edition)
By Jon Hyman
On February 22, I will be co-presenting a free CLE-eligible webinar for LexisNexis, entitled, “Employment Law: Five Areas to Watch in 2017...
“It’s not fair”
By Jon Hyman
Watch this , and then let’s talk about the word fair .
Is your company protected from insider cyber threats?
By Jon Hyman
I’ve previously suggested that your employees are your company’s weakest link, and therefore, your greatest threat to suffering a cyber-a...
How to defend *not* granting leave as a reasonable accommodation
By Jon Hyman
Medical leaves of absence continue to confound employers. Under the ADA, an employer must consider an unpaid leave as a reasonable accommo...
The 3rd nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the direct discriminator
By Jon Hyman
Our next nominee for the Worst Employer of 2017 is the defendant in Mayes v. WinCo Holdings (9th Cir. 2/3/17) [pdf] —WinCo, a Bosie, Idah...
WIRTW #447 (the “Gorsuch” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Did you hear that Donald Trump appointed 10th Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill to SCOTUS seat vacated by the death of ...
Ohio again tries to restore sanity to its bonkers employment discrimination law
By Jon Hyman
It was almost one year ago to the day that I penned, Now is the time to restore balance to Ohio’s employment discrimination law: Endorsin...
Does the FLSA cover unpaid “gap time”?
By Jon Hyman
As we all should know, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employers pay non-exempt employees overtime at a rate of one and one-ha...
Unions membership is up in Ohio; is your business prepared?
By Jon Hyman
Union membership numbers for 2016 are out , and while most employers should be encouraged, Ohio employers might think otherwise. In Ohio...
Trump’s un-American travel ban and the workplace
By Jon Hyman
I’ve had an internal debate all weekend long over whether I should blog about Trump’s executive order that that bans immigration from sev...
WIRTW #446 (the “I wish I wrote that” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Every now and again, someone writes a blog post that I wish I had written. This week brought us one such post. Could “The Last Jedi” ...
The 2nd nominee for the “worst employer of 2017” is … the recorded retaliator
By Jon Hyman
Our next nominee for the Worst Employer of 2017 comes from my very own backyard—Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Here in Northea...
Make password security a priority for your employees in 2017
By Jon Hyman
Do you know the top 10 passwords used to “secure” enterprise-connected devices in 2016 ? Sadly and unsurprisingly, here they are, along wi...
Andrew Puzder’s view of women should disqualify him as Secretary of Labor
By Jon Hyman
On Saturday, millions worldwide ( 2.6 million, according to USA Today ) marched for women’s rights. On February 2, the Senate Health, Educa...
On the news: Hyman on reckless employee tweets and our new President
By Jon Hyman
Last Thursday morning I received a call from Mike Brookbank , a reporter for WEWS, our local ABC affiliate. “I saw your quotes on Money.com ...
WIRTW #445 (the “dynamic duo” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Last weekend was School of Rock weekend for the Hyman family. My kids showed a packed club what they’ve been working on for the past four mo...
A not-so-subtle reminder about the need for cybersecurity training
By Jon Hyman
I feel like I’ve written a lot lately about the need for cybersecurity training for employees (for example, here , here , and here ). Yet...
OSHA suggests employer best practices for anti-retaliation programs
By Jon Hyman
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published recommended best practices to protect from retaliation employees who repor...
Pets in your workplace? Assess the risks and draft a policy.
By Jon Hyman
A reader recently emailed the following question: Some people need service dogs to get to work. But many more simply want to take the...
SCOTUS to review NLRB ban on class-action waivers
By Jon Hyman
One of the biggest issues on the NLRB’s hit list over the past few years has been class-action waivers. In D.R. Horton , a 3-2 majority of...
WIRTW #444 (the “training” edition)
By Jon Hyman
The workplace training video. I hope yours go better than this example . Here’s what I read this week:
… and an early contender for worst employer of the year
By Jon Hyman
We already have a nominee for worst employee of 2017 , so why not share the love and nominate a worst employer. Drum roll…
Tread carefully if stripping employees of their pay
By Jon Hyman
Wait, not this kind of stripping? Stevens v. Oval Office (E.D. Wisc. 12/29/16) [hat tip: Walter Olson’s Overlawyered ] poses an intere...
Cleveland Clinic doctor feeling ill after anti-vax blog post stirs trouble
By Jon Hyman
A wellness physician at the Cleveland Clinic is in hot water following his blog post on Cleveland.com , in which he argued that parents av...
Failure to follow employer’s reporting rules dooms employee’s FMLA claim
By Jon Hyman
F-M-L-A: four letters that cast fear in the heart of any HR professional. So many rules to follow, so many ways to mess up and cost an emp...
WIRTW #443 (the “gigs” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Holy cow, has it really been three weeks since I last posted a weekly roundup? It’s also early January, which means it’s School of Rock sh...
Mandatory flu shots cost employer bigly
By Jon Hyman
You may recall that in September I reported on a lawsuit the EEOC filed against a Pennsylvania hospital, alleging that it unlawfully fire...
An early contender for employee of the year
By Jon Hyman
It’s only the 4th day of January, and we already have an early contender for employee of the year. I can not do this story any justice be...
Why it doesn’t matter that Ohio’s concealed-carry law removed its discrimination protections
By Jon Hyman
We are going to begin 2017 near where we brought 2016 to a close—gun-owner protections. Shortly before the end of Ohio’s 131st legislati...
The 12 Days of Employment Law Christmas (2016 edition)
By Jon Hyman
For the past four Noels, I've concluded my posting year with “The 12 Days of Employment Law Christmas.” As this has become a year-end tr...
12 myths about independent contractor misclassification
By Jon Hyman
Earlier this week, the Department of Labor published a new web guide on the issue of independent contractor misclassifications . The DOL’...
From the archives: Santa’s Employee Handbook
By Jon Hyman
While I’d like to believe that every post I’ve ever written is indelibly embossed on the brain of every person that’s ever read my blog, I u...
Take a gander at my recent cyber security webinar
By Jon Hyman
Today I thought I try something different. Instead of reading what I have to say, I thought I’d give you a chance to listen to what I have ...
WIRTW #442 (the “Good with God” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Any week my favorite band—the Old 97’s —release new music is a week to be celebrated. (I know, Old 97’s music two Fridays in row. Deal wit...