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WIRTW #665: the “grim reaper” edition
Earlier this week, I joined the People Problem Podcast to discuss death at work. Grim as it might be, it's an issue that we all face wa...
6th Circuit confirms that private employers can do private employer things
By Jon Hyman
Four employees of the J.M. Smucker Company sought religious exemptions from the company's Covid vaccine mandate. When the company refus...
EEOC lawsuit highlights risks associated with not accommodating service animals
By Jon Hyman
The EEOC has filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against Papa John's Pizza claiming that it denied the request of Michael Barnes,...
What can you do about employee mass protests? (Hint: not much.)
By Jon Hyman
The 25 employees of Mela Kitchen at Jack’s Hard Cider recently walked off the job in protest after owner Donald Hoffman created a new drink ...
WIRTW #664: the “CE” edition
By Jon Hyman
Are you an HR professional in need of SHRM recertification credits? Will you be attending the Craft Brewers Conference in May? If you answe...
Relaxing child labor protections is not the solution to our labor problem
By Jon Hyman
Ohio's Senate recently passed legislation that, if signed into law, would make it easier for businesses to employ 14- and 15-year-old ch...
Someone needs to take away Elon Musk’s twitter access
By Jon Hyman
The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevente...
The 3rd nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2023” is … the awful accommodator
By Jon Hyman
You'd think a nonprofit that provides programs for people with disabilities to build self-reliance through employment services would kn...
WIRTW #663: the “growth” edition
By Jon Hyman
Growth comes in many forms. For my son, it came in the form of a daily injection of growth hormones since the age of seven. Because of his...
Class action lawsuit highlights the risk of AI in hiring and other employment decisions
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, news broke of a class action lawsuit filed against HRIS provider Workday claiming that its artificial intelligence systems and s...
Tweets, honest beliefs, and terminations
By Jon Hyman
@realDonaldTrump I am the VP of HR in a comp outside of philly an informal survey of our employees shows 100% AA employees voting Trump! On ...
Do your business’s philosophy, values, and vision match your mission statement
By Jon Hyman
On this week's episode of The Start A Brewery Podcast , I join hosts Laura Lodge and Candace Moon , along with guests Ren Navarro (the...
The 2nd nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2023” is … the child labor abuser
By Jon Hyman
According to the Department of Labor , Packers Sanitation Services, the country's largest food safety sanitation services, employed at l...
WIRTW #662: the “platform” edition
By Jon Hyman
Platform Beer Co. shook up the local beer industry Wednesday afternoon when its owner, Anheuser-Busch, confirmed that it had permanently cl...
NLRB bans non-disparagement and confidentiality covenants in severance agreements. What now?
By Jon Hyman
Is it time to rip up your stock severance agreement? Consider the following two clauses, which I bet your standard agreement contains in som...
Do you know what to do if employees strike?
By Jon Hyman
Labor strikes by employees were up a shocking 52 percent in 2022 as compared to 2021. That's according to Cornell-ILR Labor Action Track...
The 1st nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2023” is … the foul-mouthed retaliator
By Jon Hyman
"I'm going to fire all the motherf---ers!" That's the threat Department of Labor accused Tamesha Porter, the sole owner ...
WIRTW #661: the “crafty” edition
By Jon Hyman
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of presenting, Crafting Your Craft Brewery's Employee Handbook , a webinar jointly sponsored by Cra...
Do you know the rules for paying remote workers for “downtime”?
By Jon Hyman
Every 10 minutes at some random point that she couldn't anticipate, the company took photos of her and her work, a screenshot of whateve...
No privacy for drug-test pees
By Jon Hyman
Someone on Reddit asks: Is it legal for my new employer to watch my pee for a drug test? I can’t speak for every state, but in my state the...
Employee harassed after coming out at work loses harassment lawsuit
By Jon Hyman
After an employee comes out at work as gay, he alleges that co-workers left him pink nail polish, a nail file, and bath bombs, that someone...
WIRTW #660: the “Freckles” edition
By Jon Hyman
Two weeks ago I shared the story of Freckles, the toad that my daughter rescued from our backyard. On our podcast — The Norah and Dad Show ...
Seminars and Webinars: Employee Handbooks
By Jon Hyman
When was the last time you reviewed and updated your business's employee handbook? If your answer is, "I don’t know," "L...
Post-termination diagnosis is insufficient to support ADA claim
By Jon Hyman
Haley Hrdlicka, a 30-year General Motors employee, began having attendance problems after transferring to its Design Academy. Serious attend...
What does an employer have to do to lose $366 million?!
By Jon Hyman
$366 million dollars. That's how much a jury awarded Jennifer Harris, a Black sales manager targeted and then fired by FedEx after she ...
The problem isn’t “fake” managers, it’s the poorly named “administrative” exemption
By Jon Hyman
"Would you rather be a front-desk clerk or 'Director of First Impressions'? A barber or a 'Grooming Manager'?" CBS...
WIRTW #659: the “99 problems” edition
By Jon Hyman
I got 99 problems, but being a podcast guest ain't one. I love the People Problems Podcast so much. And they must love me, too, since t...
“Entitlement to FMLA leave” is not a prerequisite to an FMLA retaliation claim
By Jon Hyman
The 6th Circuit revived the FMLA retaliation claim of an attorney fired immediately after she requested unpaid leave to care for her two-yea...
Union avoidance vs. union busting
By Jon Hyman
"A company that opposes a union organizing and presents both sides of this complex issue is 'union busting.'" This is what...
Lessons from coaching high school mock trial
By Jon Hyman
When you try a case, there’s not much within your control. You can’t control the judge. You can’t control the jury. You can’t control your o...
WIRTW #658: the “Toad Jesus” edition
By Jon Hyman
On the latest edition of The Norah and Dad Show , we discuss Freckles, Norah's newly rescued-from-the-backyard pet toad, who may be slee...
Update on Creature Comfort Brewing’s union organizing
By Jon Hyman
Last week I reported that the employees of Creature Comforts Brewing Co. formed their own independent labor union, the Brewing Union of Ge...
Offensive social media posts doom airline employee’s discrimination claim
By Jon Hyman
"If I were Black in America, I think I'd get down on my knees every day and thank my lucky stars that my ancestors were brought ove...
The BIG risk of misclassifying employees as independent contractors
By Jon Hyman
A national auto parts distributor has reached a settlement with the Department of Labor to pay a total of $5.6 million in back pay and liqu...
WIRTW #657: the “Let me buy you a beer” edition
By Jon Hyman
From Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, the Ohio Craft Brewers Conference is taking place in Cleveland. My firm and I are playing a prominent role. On Jan....
What does Creature Comfort’s union announcement mean for your craft brewery?
By Jon Hyman
The employees of Creature Comforts Brewing Co. recently held a rally to announce their intent to form a labor union. They also announced t...
Dress codes and gender biases
By Jon Hyman
Women are prohibited from showing their bare arms. Women are required to cover their dress with a second layer. These are two new rules the ...
Dr. King’s struggle has not ended
By Jon Hyman
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by t...
WIRTW #656: the “Dilenogate” edition
By Jon Hyman
Until now, I've avoided writing about Dilenogate, the story that has gripped the Cleveland legal community and the nation. To sum it up...
Employers, for the love of God, please stop banning employees from discussing their wages
By Jon Hyman
I came across the following recent post on the legaladvice subreddit . Work for a brewery. GM and owner … informed everyone that we needed...
Settlement highlights wage and hour risks of remote work
By Jon Hyman
The City of Cleveland has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle the wage and hour claim of a City Hall employee who claimed that she wasn't p...
A supersized harassment settlement highlights the extra care employers must take when employing minors
By Jon Hyman
How bad must sexual harassment be for an employer to settle a harassment case for $2 million? This bad. AMTCR—the owner of 18 McDonald's...
WIRTW #655: the “FTC did WHAT?!?!” edition
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, the FTC broke the employment law internet when it announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, if it takes effect, would ban...
While I was away, Congress pumped life into workplace rights of pregnant employees and new moms
By Jon Hyman
Two laws — the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act — took effect wh...
Just because the law may not require first aid training in your workplace doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea
By Jon Hyman
There is no law or regulation that requires employers to have a person or persons trained to provide first aid in the workplace. Instead, OS...
Do you know what to do when an employee suffers a severe accident at work?
By Jon Hyman
It was like nothing we've ever seen in a televised sporting event … and hope we never see again. During last night's Monday Night F...
’Twas the Employment Law Night Before Christmas (2022 edition)
By Jon Hyman
In what has become an annual tradition for my final post of the year, I bring you the holiday classic, 'Twas the Employment Law Night B...
Announcing the WINNER of the Worst Employer of 2022
By Jon Hyman
The votes have been counted … and in the end it wasn't all that close. The WINNER of The Worst Employer of 2022 is The Murder Enabler
Avoiding liability missteps with year-end bonuses
By Jon Hyman
As employers plan for year-end bonus payments to employees, you need to learn the difference between nondiscretionary bonuses, discretionary...
Your religion isn’t a license to discriminate (but we may need to accommodate you anyway)
By Jon Hyman
Pronouns confuse me. It's not that I want to misgender anyone. In fact, quite to the contrary, I try really hard to get people's pro...
WIRTW #654: the “gifts” edition
By Jon Hyman
What's the best holiday gift you've ever given or received? With the holidays quickly approaching, this is the question Norah and I ...
Reasonable accommodations are for actual disabilities, not unhinged conspiracies
By Jon Hyman
If I've learned one thing from my 25+ years of practicing law it's that when a court describes your arguments as a "rambling an...
Today is your LAST chance to vote for 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮
By Jon Hyman
If you haven't yet cast your ballot for The Worst Employer of 2022, time is quickly running out. Polls close at the end of today. In c...