The 9th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the active shooter
“This is it. I’m done.” That’s how one elderly employee described to police her recent experience in an active shooter drill conducted by he...
WIRTW #639: the “Gr8” edition
By Jon Hyman
How does your organization help build collegiality among employees? At my kids' school they do it in the Lower and Middle School with F...
The wage and hour implications of employee electronic surveillance
By Jon Hyman
Every now and again I come across a story that make me question how any in-house counsel blessed a workplace policy or practice. The followi...
Pro athletes should never get a pass on harassment
By Jon Hyman
Kenny Lofton is one of the most beloved players in history of the Cleveland Guardians, née Indians. He spent the best years of 17-year care...
“Gaslighting” in the workplace
By Jon Hyman
“That’s not how I told you to complete that project. Why did you do it that way? It’s all wrong.” “Why didn’t you show up to the meeting? Of...
Lessons from Platform Beer’s mass layoff
By Jon Hyman
According to Scene Magazine , late last week Platform Beer Co. notified between 25 and 30 of its local brewery employees that their employm...
WIRTW #638: the “DriveThru” edition
By Jon Hyman
Episode 2 of Labor Relatedly , my new podcast endeavor with Mike VanDervort is live everywhere you listen to podcasts. In this episode we di...
How do you respond when your employees are threatened?
By Jon Hyman
Boston Children's Hospital has a scary situation on its hand. Its hospital staff has received aggressive phone calls, emails, and death ...
Walmart wins discrimination claim brought on behalf of pregnant employees unable to work
By Jon Hyman
Consider the following two policies: Employees injured on the job will be offered Temporary Alternative Duty ("TAD") — light duty...
The CDC is the tail wagging the public’s dog
By Jon Hyman
Last week the CDC updated its Covid isolation guidelines . The agency says it's "to help the public better protect themselves and ...
HR may not be employees’ “friend,” but it’s also not their enemy
By Jon Hyman
As the former Microsoft VP of HR I can assure you that HR is not your friend. That headline from a BusinessInsider article written by Chris...
WIRTW #637: the “down on the farm” edition
By Jon Hyman
I grew up in Philadelphia and attended City of Philadelphia public schools. My high school had 4,500 students and was surrounded by barbed w...
Consistency matters when applying anti-harassment rules
By Jon Hyman
Can an employer legally fire an employee who writes "whore board" on an overtime sign-up sheet? Let's explore. Following unsuc...
Employee too distraught to work over Dobbs decision loses job
By Jon Hyman
I haven't been shy about hiding my disgust over Dobbs , the end of constitutional protections for abortion, and the threat to reproducti...
Do you know what to do and not to do when federal agents arrive with a search warrant?
By Jon Hyman
The front door to your business opens, and in walks a column of federal agents with boxes, computer imaging equipment, and a search warrant....
Does craft beer have a labor problem?
By Jon Hyman
Does craft beer have a labor problem? Julie Rhodes , writing at PorchDrinking , sure thinks so. She cites low wages and labor conditions as...
WIRTW #636: the “what the heck” edition
By Jon Hyman
Another week, another podcast appearance. This week you can catch me on What the Heck is Happening in HR , discussing all things employee ha...
Alex Jones trial offers a teachable moment on the issue of "inadvertent disclosure”
By Jon Hyman
Suppose you're sitting in your office and your associate excitedly runs in, yelling, "We got 'em! The other side just sent us t...
You won’t like OSHA when it’s angry
By Jon Hyman
OSHA has proposed nearly $1.25 million in penalties against two Ohio Dollar Tree stores. The specific violations cited include hazards rela...
Accountability starts at the top, even for the NFL
By Jon Hyman
NFL disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson has suspended Deshaun Watson for six games for his violation of the league's personal conduct ...
NLRB dismisses charges against lawyers for alleged “union busting” against the employees of its client … but let’s not celebrate yet
By Jon Hyman
One law firm has been at the center of most of the recent high-profile anti-union organizing efforts in large multi-state employers such as ...
WIRTW #635: the “larp” edition
By Jon Hyman
Every now and again a story is so bizarre it's worth taking a minute to pause, reflect, and marvel. Let me introduce you to the 4th of ...
Unlike ordering at Chick-Fil-A, legal compliance isn’t chosen from a menu.
By Jon Hyman
"We are looking for volunteers for our new Drive Thru Express!🚘 Earn 5 free entrees per shift (1 hr) worked. Message us for details...
Have you listened to Labor Relatedly yet?
By Jon Hyman
Over the past few years, I've toyed with the idea of launching my own legal podcast. Two things have held me back. First, I don't re...
Posting about litigation (actual or potential) is a terrible idea
By Jon Hyman
Until yesterday, Erin Overbey worked as an editor at The New Yorker . Shortly after her termination, Overbey took to Twitter to write abou...
Cursing in the workplace
By Jon Hyman
According to one survey , 57% of American employees admit to swearing at work. (Count me in the "yes" column.) Where is the line b...
WIRTW #634: the “%@$&*!” edition
By Jon Hyman
Vacation 💑 I love trivia, even if it doesn't always love me back. For example, in 1993 my collegiate trivia bowl team lost in the unive...
We need to talk about litigation holds and spoliation of evidence
By Jon Hyman
The situation playing out in real time between Congress and the Secret Service over text messages related to the Jan. 6th insurrection is qu...
A modest proposal to revamp continuing legal education credits #CLECreditsforBlogging
By Jon Hyman
"I'm finishing all my CLE credits this week. It amazes me how if you keep up with law changes regularly how out-of-date these CLEs ...
Abortion travel benefits don’t discriminate against non-abortion-seeking pregnant workers
By Jon Hyman
Within hours of the Supreme Court releasing its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and reversing Roe v. Wad e, DICK...
This is why I (almost) always recommend that employers provide terminated employees a reasonable severance package
By Jon Hyman
Roosevelt Jointer worked as a maintenance supervisor at Tesla from September 2017 until last month. That was when his manager called him ove...
WIRTW #633: the “what I’m listening to” edition
By Jon Hyman
I'm weird. I travel to my office for work every day possible. Not my "home office," but my actual office, inside my law firm, ...
A Q&A on service animals at work
By Jon Hyman
The EEOC has sued Hobby Lobby, accusing the arts-and-crafts retailer of refusing to reasonably accommodate a cashier by declining her the us...
Having a disability is NOT an excuse for mistreating others
By Jon Hyman
I've written before about BrewDog ( here and here ), the multinational Scottish craft brewery accused by hundreds of former employees o...
Forced religion and work do not mix
By Jon Hyman
I believe that everyone's relationship with God (whether you call that deity God, Yahweh, Jesus, Allah, Vishnu, Buddha, something else, ...
WIRTW #632: the “it's been a week” edition
By Jon Hyman
From the Supreme Court's opinion terminating the constitutional right to abortion … to other Supreme Court opinions allowing and endor...
Court dismisses employees’ race discrimination claims against Whole Foods based on prohibition of BLM masks
By Jon Hyman
A group of Black and non-Black Whole Foods employees claimed that their employer unlawfully discriminated against them because of their race...
“Abortion discrimination” = illegal pregnancy discrimination … even after Dobbs
By Jon Hyman
Is it legal to fire an employee who has an abortion? This is question that a lot of employers and employees will now be asking in light of t...
Federal appeals court rejects reliability of electronic signatures on employment agreements
By Jon Hyman
During a webinar I recently conducted on employee handbooks, someone asked me a question about the best practice between wet signatures vs. ...
The best response to the end of Roe v. Wade came from a company called DICK’S
By Jon Hyman
Within hours of the Supreme Court announcing its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , Lauren Horbart, the President an...
WIRTW #631: the “(not so) Good Ship BrewDog” edition
By Jon Hyman
Job interview: "Are you planning on having kids? Do kids feature in your five-year plan? Because we want someone in this role for a min...
THIS is how you help a struggling employee
By Jon Hyman
Peter Gabriel sits on my personal Mount Rushmore of musical artists. He's also its longest resident, first etched during my high school ...
Is there a statute of limitations on old social media posts?
By Jon Hyman
"LET ME SALUTE TO HITLER THE GREAT. He said 'i would have killed all the jews of the world, but I kept some to show the world why i...
Apple becomes the latest national retailer to succumb to the union wave
By Jon Hyman
Workers at the Towson, Maryland, Apple Store made history by becoming the first such store to vote to unionize . It wasn't close, with 6...
The 8th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … Vince McMahon
By Jon Hyman
Over the years ( for now former ) WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has been accused of some awful treatment of employees. For starters, wr...
WIRTW #630: the “just like heaven” edition
By Jon Hyman
I love sharing clips of my daughter playing music. It's made for such a cool catalogue of her growth as an artist over the years. So, he...
The 7th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the murder enabler
By Jon Hyman
"It is with a deep sadness and a heavy heart I share one of our students, Riley Whitelaw, passed away over the weekend. Currently, we a...
Making threats vs. stating facts during union organizing
By Jon Hyman
"Just know that if you unionize, when you are negotiating your benefits, you could gain, you could lose, or you could stay the same....
Ohio decides arming teachers is the solution to mass shootings in schools; Ohio is very wrong
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a new law that will lower the training hours school personnel to be armed from about 700 hours t...