WIRTW #153 (the redux edition)
Except for two huge stories (the failure of the Paycheck Fairness Act and on-going coverage of the NLRB’s complaint challenging a Connectic...
The failure of the Paycheck Fairness Act ends the golden age of employment law
By Jon Hyman
The Democrats swept into office in January 2009 with promises of paradigm-shifting labor and employment law reforms : card check union recog...
Three steps to avoid a discriminatory hiring claim
By Jon Hyman
Bartlett v. Gates (6th Cir. 11/16/10) [pdf] involved a plaintiff who claimed that he was passed over for a promotion because of his age an...
Do you know? Post-employment retaliation
By Jon Hyman
The typical retaliation scenario involves an employer firing an employee who complained about discrimination or engaged in some other protec...
What dryer drums have to do with unpaid wages (or, a scathing judicial indictment of class action lawsuits as extortion)
By Jon Hyman
Thorogood v. Sears, Roebuck & Company (7th Cir. 11/2/10) [pdf] involves the attempted litigation of multiple class action lawsuits in...
WIRTW #152 (the Facebook firing edition)
By Jon Hyman
Last week, I wrote about the NLRB’s complaint against a Connecticut company claiming that its social networking policy violated federal labo...
Court makes clear that an ADA reasonable accommodation does not require preferential treatment in filling open positions
By Jon Hyman
In Garcia v. Whirlpool Corp. (N.D. Ohio 11/5/10) [pdf] , the trial court dismissed a disability discrimination claim because the plaintiff ...
The 5 most interesting things about GINA
By Jon Hyman
To have Gina, Gina all for my very own It’s much too wonderful, so very wonderful To know that Gina is mine alone – Gina, Johnny M...
Do you know? FMLA & bereavement leave (or, what to do when a supervisors calls an unauthorized leave request “cool”)
By Jon Hyman
The FMLA covers a lot of family emergencies. Death, however, is not one of them. There is no situation in which the FMLA, on its face, provi...
Are businesses cracking down on bandwidth?
By Jon Hyman
I cannot work in silence. I never could, and I likely never will be able to. In high school, I did all my homework with the stereo blaring i...
WIRTW #151 (the election recap edition)
By Jon Hyman
Here’s my 140-character recap of Tuesday’s election: Obama did not learn from Clinton’s 92 – 94 mistakes. Cost Dems huge. We’ll see if Boehn...
6th Circuit holds that an individual must be disabled to challenge a selection criteria under the ADA (but does it matter?)
By Jon Hyman
Employee use of prescription drugs has been in the news lately. Last week, the New York Times ran a piece discussing the drug testing of e...
Does your social networking policy violate federal labor laws?
By Jon Hyman
It was only a matter of time before the NLRB inserted itself into the intersection of social networking and employment relations. It has Twi...
Reading the tea leaves: Staub v. Proctor Hospital and the “Cat’s Paw”
By Jon Hyman
Before we get into the specifics of the Staub case, let’s first discuss the relationship between a cat’s appendage and employment discrimin...
Do you know? 10 provisions to include in severance and separation agreements
By Jon Hyman
Last week, I wrote about problems in enforcing non-disparagement clauses in separation agreements . It got me to thinking—what other clauses...
You deserve to be told who to vote for today … at McDonald’s
By Jon Hyman
A McDonald’s franchisee in Canton finds itself in trouble this election season for including inside employees’ paychecks a pamphlet urging t...
Is it illegal to ask employees to promise not to sign union authorization cards?
By Jon Hyman
While the Employee Free Choice Act has stalled in Congress, it does not mean that it is no longer newsworthy. For example, tomorrow, four ...
WIRTW #150 (the sesquicentennial edition)
By Jon Hyman
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been writing these wrap-ups for 150 weeks. When I started this feature on October 12, 2007 , I never imagined...
Best remedy for sick day abuse is a clear policy
By Jon Hyman
In a 2006 episode of The Office , Dwight goes undercover to spy on co-worker Oscar when he suspects sick day abuse. He discovers that Oscar...
Court concludes that “common slang” does not violate non-disparagement clause in severance agreement
By Jon Hyman
I’ve seldom, if ever, negotiated a separation or settled an employment dispute for an employer without insisting that a non-disparagement cl...