WIRTW #186 (the carnival edition)
This week marks the 186th edition of What I Read This Week , where I share the best what caught my eye as I surfed around the blogosphere (m...
Find the sweet spot when firing a bad employee
By Jon Hyman
There is a balance between providing a poor-performing employee sufficient time to improve and waiting to long to fire someone. Cohen v. CHL...
You’d think a businesses named “Menorah House” would know something about accommodating the Sabbath
By Jon Hyman
The EEOC is alleging that Menorah House, a Boca Raton, Florida, nursing home, violated Title VII when it fired an employee who wanted time o...
Can you hear me now? Don’t forget mobile devices in your social media policy
By Jon Hyman
You think you’ve crafted the perfect social media policy for your employees. You let employees have the freedom to engage in limited and r...
Retaliation is the Hannibal Lecter of employment claims
By Jon Hyman
How often do you see a perfectly defensible employment claim go up in flames because of retaliation? Take, for example, MacDonald v. UPS (...
WIRTW #185 (the “3 is the magic number” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, my son turned three. For those of you who follow regularly, you’ll understand why yesterday was just a little more special to our...
We’ve come a long way … and we still have a long way to go
By Jon Hyman
In 1968, United Artists pulled 11 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from televised syndication, deeming their portrayal of Africa...
How NOT to respond to an employee’s pregnancy
By Jon Hyman
If an employee with low sales numbers announces her pregnancy, do you: congratulate her and continue to treat her the same as before th...
The obligatory post about Google+
By Jon Hyman
On June 28, Google launched its latest foray into social networking, Google+ . Since its lauch, Google+ has created quite the buzz around t...
WIRTW #184 (the scholarly edition)
By Jon Hyman
A few days ago I received the following request, via Twitter, from a Jason Tenenbaum ( @t10nbaum ), a law student at Hofstra University: ...
ADA’s associational disability provision does not shield poor-performing employees from termination
By Jon Hyman
Eugene Stansberry, who sued his former employer for disability discrimination, is not disabled. His wife, however, is, suffering from Polyar...
EEOC announces record settlement in ADA case challenging rigid attendance policy
By Jon Hyman
Last month I reported on the EEOC’s public meeting on leaves of absences as ADA reasonable accommodations . At the time, I recommended the f...
The “when” of counting employees for damage caps in federal discrimination cases
By Jon Hyman
Counting is wonderful, Counting is marvelous, Counting’s the best thing to do. Counting is happiness, Counting is ecstas...
Time after time, time alone is not enough to prove retaliation
By Jon Hyman
More than three years ago, I discussed that an employee needs to prove something more than the mere closeness in time between protected acti...
Apparently it’s a short trip from Wal-Mart to breast feeding
By Jon Hyman
Last Friday, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis released the following statement about the Dukes v. Wal-Mart decision on the DOL’s Work in Progres...
WIRTW #183 (the “to catch an (alleged) adulterer” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Chris Hansen’s Dateline NBC series To Catch a Predator was one of my guilty pleasures. It was eye-opening to watch a bunch of creeps try ...
“You’re pregnant. We can’t hire you.”
By Jon Hyman
There are some things you just shouldn't say to a pregnant job applicant—such as, “You’re pregnant. We can’t hire you.” But, that's ...
“Despicable” does not always equal “severe or pervasive” in a racial harassment claim
By Jon Hyman
In Williams v. CSX Transp. Co. (6/28/11) [pdf] , the 6th Circuit upheld the dismissal of a racial harassment claim, confirming the long-sta...
Public policy is in the eye of the beholder
By Jon Hyman
Consider the following two wrongful discharge cases, both recently decided by different Ohio appellate courts, and think about which you bel...
“Twitter is like making a press statement”
By Jon Hyman
Social Media Today published some eye-opening stats on social media’s penetration into the public consciousness: One out of every six ...