WIRTW #147 (the SCOTUS preview edition)
This week marked the beginning of the Supreme Court’s October 2010 term, which has three important employment cases on its docket. ...
Firing by voicemail isn’t illegal, but…
By Jon Hyman
Joyce Gaskins sued The Mentor Network-REM following her termination. REM’s cardinal sin that led to the filing of this lawsuit was that it ...
Shifting reasons for terminations could leave your business all wet
By Jon Hyman
It only took the U.S. Ryder Cup team a few holes in the pouring rain Friday to realize that their rain suits were not as water-tight as the...
Do you know? Expanded ADA may now cover obesity discrimination
By Jon Hyman
The EEOC has sued a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit, claiming that its termination of a severely obese employee violated the ADA . Traditionall...
Off to see the Chamber, the wonderful Chamber of Commerce
By Jon Hyman
Today, I am traveling to Columbus for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Employment Law Committee meeting. For the uninitiated, the Ohio Chambe...
WIRTW #146 (the trendy edition)
By Jon Hyman
True confession time. I never really considered myself hip. In fact, if you knew me in high school (the bastion of all things hip), you woul...
Honoring National Disability Employment Awareness Month on the Proactive Employer podcast
By Jon Hyman
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Tomorrow, to mark its first day, I’ll be recording on a special one-hour installm...
Productivity, yes; sleeping on the job, no
By Jon Hyman
© Greg Hartmann Tony Schwartz, writing at the Harvard Business Review's The Conversation Blog , thinks that employees would be mor...
Grooming and appearance policies continue to make headlines as fulcrum of religious discrimination lawsuits
By Jon Hyman
Grow your dreadlocks Don’t be afraid of the wolf-pack A tell you, one man a walkin’ And a billion man a sparkin’ ...
Do you know? More on the lack of privacy in social media
By Jon Hyman
There are not (yet) many cases dealing with the discovery of litigants’ social networking information. Thus, whenever a court addresses the...
Silence can be golden in defending discrimination cases
By Jon Hyman
Ben Franklin once said, “As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.” In Young v. Galion, LLC (N.D. ...
WIRTW #145 (the bad legislation edition)
By Jon Hyman
Earlier this week , I urged you, my readers, to take a stand against the Paycheck Fairness Act by calling or emailing your Senators and expr...
Does rampant age discrimination in this job environment make sense?
By Jon Hyman
Motoko Rich writes in the New York Times that older unemployed workers may never work again: Of the 14.9 million unemployed, more than...
Social media isn’t the only media that can come back to haunt you
By Jon Hyman
It seems that every day, there is another example of an employee who got in trouble for something posted on Facebook, or Twitter, or one of ...
Paycheck Fairness Act poised for passage - This is a huge deal for employers
By Jon Hyman
The Washington DC Employment Law Update is reporting that the Senate is set to start debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act, perhaps as early ...
Do you know? Men are entitled to protection from sexually hostile work environments too
By Jon Hyman
The typical sexual harassment case involves a man harassing a woman. Harassment, however, isn’t limited to just man-on-woman. The umbrella o...
More on cancer as a disability
By Jon Hyman
Last week I wrote how businesses would likely see more employees claim cancer as a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilitie...
WIRTW #144 (the shameless plug edition)
By Jon Hyman
For the last three years, the ABA has published its Blawg 100—a list of the best legal blogs as judged the the editors of the ABA Journal ....
Taking more than one bite at the apple in discrimination cases
By Jon Hyman
One of the anomalies of Ohio’s employment discrimination statute is that it provides for individual liability for managers’ and superviso...
Card check is dead … long live card check
By Jon Hyman
The NLRB is set to revisit its rules for secret ballot elections for voluntarily recognized unions. If it reverses course, it will administ...