The 4 things you cannot do to pro-union employees (hint: number 1 is fire them)

Four former Google employees claim that their ex-employer fired them Thanksgiving week in retaliation for their efforts to organize a labor union. According to CNBC, the NLRB is now investigating the firings. For its part, Google denies that anti-union animus played any roll in the firings.

We dismissed four individuals who were engaged in intentional and often repeated violations of our longstanding data security policies, including systematically accessing and disseminating other employees’ materials and work. No one has been dismissed for raising concerns or debating the company’s activities.

VOTE NOW for the “Worst Employer of 2019” — polls are open

All year long, I’ve been sharing examples of the worst employers in America. My goal? Compile them at the end of the year and then turn it over to you, my readers, to pick the worst of the worst.

Today is your opportunity to help pick the Worst Employer of 2019.

I’ve narrowed this year’s preliminary list down to my choice for the top 10 naughty employers.

Voting will take from today until December 17, at 11 pm. You will be able to vote for up to 3 choices.

I will then tally the votes, and, announce the highest recipient as the very worthy winner of the Worst Employer of 2019.

Vote, share this post with your friends, colleagues, and social networks, and, most importantly, learn something from the mistakes of these 10 very worthy, and cringy, nominees.

The ADA never requires an employer to create a position as a reasonable accommodation

Randona Johnson took a medical leave from his position as a process coach at a Ford assembly plant to deal with back pain, hypertension, and depression. After five months of leave, Ford moved Johnson to inactive status, with no active position at the plant. Two months later, Johnson reapplied for his old job and requested certain accommodations for his various disabilities. According to Ford, however, the assembly plant had no openings at that time, as was the case each time over the next several months Johnson reapplied. Ultimately, 15 months after Johnson first took medical leave, and eight months after he first re-applied, a position opened and Ford rehired him with his requested accommodations.

Johnson sued anyway, claiming in failing to rehire him earlier Ford unlawfully denied him a reasonable accommodation.

WIRTW #579 (the “blank slate” edition)

Next Saturday, December 14, Norah and her Fake ID bandmates will be traveling west to Elyria, Ohio, to play Blank Slate, a very cool all ages, all inclusive, and substance free club. Tickets are only $5 if you buy them in advance (here) or $7 at the door.

Here’s what I read this week.

Discrimination

• Sex and the CEO — via Jonathan HR Law
• Stuffing Discrimination Complaints Into Thanksgiving? Feast on these Cases — via Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
• There’s retaliation, and then there’s locking the complainant in a walk-in freezer. (Allegedly) — via Eric Meyer’s Employer Handbook Blog
• Ohio Fairness Act Takes Important First Step in Ohio House Committee — via Ohio Chamber Blog
• LGBTQ Rights in Employment: Does it Boil Down to the “Bathroom Use” Question Again? — via BeLabor The Point

HR & Employee Relations

• Can Music Increase Your Workplace Productivity? — via HR Gazette
• It’s Perfectly Legal to be an Asshole. — via HR Examiner with John Sumser
• How harmful thought patterns about workplace bullying and mobbing may accelerate the aging process — via Minding the Workplace
• Going Back to Work After a Pregnancy Loss — via Harvard Business Review
• How do I talk to my coworker about her body odor? — via Ask a Manager

Technology

• Facebook built a facial recognition app that identified employees — via Engadget HD
• Shaping Better Workplaces Through Social Media Screening — via Workology
• Cybersecurity in the Age of AI and Why Cybersecurity Isn’t Only a Tech Problem — via Harvard Business Review 
• An Alarming Number of Software Teams Are Missing Cybersecurity Expertise — via Dark Reading
• Seeking Insurance for Cybersecurity-Related Losses — via The D & O Diary

Wage & Hour

• Big Media Finds out that Salary Secrecy is Dead. Spreadsheets Share Everything — via Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
• Compliance with FLSA Overtime Rule Changes 2020 — via Staffing Industry Analysts
• 11th Cir.: Arbitration Clause Requiring Fee/Cost Splitting Violates the FLSA — via Overtime Law Blog

Labor

• Fired Google Employees Vow Federal Labor Complaint — via Forbes
• The NLRB Rules that Unpaid Interns Are Not Employees Under the Act — via Hunton Employment & Labor Law Perspectives™
• NLRB’s LA Specialty Produce Decision Provides More Clarity on Employee Handbook Rule Standards — via Employment Law Worldview
• Buttigieg campaign staffers join union — via CUE, Inc.

OSHA & Safety

• Workers sue McDonald’s over workplace violence — via HR Dive
• McDonalds to Train Store Employees on Mitigating & Identifying Violence — via Blogging4Jobs
• Attorney Mental Health: ‘Thanksgiving’ Isn’t Just a Holiday — via Law.com - In-House Counsel
• Erasing the Workplace Stigma of Behavioral Health Conditions — via EntertainHR
• Fifth Circuit Provides New Grounds for Employers to Pursue Late Notices of Contest to OSHA Citations — via Workplace Safety and Environmental Law Alert Blog
• How to Take Advantage of OSHA’s ‘Employee Misconduct’ Defense — via HR Hero Line
• OSHA Signals Its Regulatory Priorities in Fall Agenda — via OSHA Law Blog
• No Medical Marijuana in Ohio BWC’s Drug-Free Workplace — via Labor & Employment Law Navigator

Does it violate the ADA to work an employee in excess of a work restriction?

Rita Morrissey is a licensed practical nurse who worked for 15 years for The Laurels of Coldwater, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center. In 2012, she injured her back outside of work, and submitted a note to her employer from her primary care physician limiting her to no more than 12 hours of work per shift. Coldwater refused the accommodation, telling Morrissey that it would not accommodate any medical condition that did not stem from a work-related injury.

Do you know how to calculate the “regular rate of pay” for your employees? (hint: probably not)

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employers pay their non-exempt employees one and one-half times the “regular rate of pay” for any hours worked in excess of 40 in any work week. For an employee paid a straight hourly rate, this calculation is simple and straight forward. A $10 per hour employee earns an overtime rate of $15 per overtime hour. Easy peasy.

Often times, however, employees aren’t just paid a straight hourly rate. Uh oh.

The 20th nominee for the “worst employer of 2019” is … the malignant mogul

The 20th (and final) nominee for the Worst Employer of 2019 is Alki David, heir to the Coca-Cola bottling fortune and owner of several media firms.

The evidence?

This week, a jury awarded over $58 million to a female employee who accused him of thrusting his pelvis into her face, simulating oral sex, moaning, and zipping up his pants and walking away saying, “Thanks, M.K.”

As sure as today is Cyber Monday, your employees are shopping from work

Today is Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the holiday season. In fact, it is estimated that today will be the biggest online shopping day ever, with over $9.4 billion in sales.

And, guess what? Given that most of those doing the shopping will be spending the majority of their prime shopping hours at work, from where do you think they will be making most of their Cyber Monday purchases.

WIRTW #578 (the “credibility” edition)

Yesterday, the NFL upheld the indefinite suspension of Cleveland Browns’ defensive lineman Myles Garrett, who last week assaulted Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Mason Rudolph on the field with his helmet.

At his suspension hearing, Garrett attempted to mitigate his misconduct by claiming that Rudolph had used a racial slur on the field.

Garrett’s problem? It was the first time he had raised that claim in the week following the incident. He didn’t raise it on the field. Or after the game. Or to the media. Or at any time prior to his hearing. Even his teammates were caught off guard by the claim. And that’s a huge problem for the credibility of his defense.

In harassment cases, credibility is everything. And if employee waits until a trial or hearing to raise a claim of harassment, his (or her) credibility, as well as their claim, is shot.

Here’s what I read this week.

“Hairstyle discrimination” laws: a solution in search of a problem

I fully embrace the irony of a local news broadcast holding me out as the expert on hair discrimination. 👨🏻‍🦲

Irony notwithstanding, here I am on last night’s 6 o’clock news discussing why we don’t need to ban workplace hairstyle discrimination. (Big thank you to WEWS’s Mike Brookbank for reaching out and for the interview.)

Is your business prepared for a cyber attack? (probably not, but I can help.)

I’d like to share three scary cybersecurity statistics with you.

1. 60 percent of small businesses fail within 6 months of a cyber attack.
2. 72 percent of small businesses rate their ability to mitigate cyber risks, vulnerabilities and attacks as other than highly effective.
3. 90 percent of data breaches are caused by human error.

These numbers mean that most of you reading this post work for a company that is not doing nearly enough to mitigate your cyber-risk. Coupled with the truth that data breaches are a when issue, and not an if issue, these numbers also mean that everyone’s data is way too exposed, and no matter what you are currently doing in this space, everyone can do more.

Meyers Roman is here to help.

It’s not realistic to expect employees not to discuss politics at work, but it is to require them to do so professionally

According to a recent survey conducted by SHRM [pdf], American workers cannot hide from politics at work.

• 42% of U.S. employees say they have personally experienced political disagreements at work
• 44% say they have witnessed political disagreements at work
• 34% believe that their workplace is not inclusive of differing political perspectives
• 12% report they have personally experienced political affiliation bias or discrimination based on their political views
• 56% state that political discussions at work have become more common over the past four years

Gay man claims he’s the victim of intentional discrimination because of his sexual orientation … and that’s the least of his employer’s problems

Wesley Wernecke, an ex-employee of New York event planning company Eventique, claims in his recently filed lawsuit that the company intentionally alienated him, ostracized him, and shut him out of the business after its CEO learned Wernecke was gay.

NBC News shares the details of the allegations in Wernecke’s lawsuit.

WIRTW #577 (the “side hustle” edition)

If I had gotten paid for my appearance on Matt Christensen‘s Fraud Not Frog podcast, I could classify it as a side hustle. But I didn’t; I appeared gratis to discuss the legal concerns businesses and employees need to consider when an employee wants to engage in a side hustle.

You can listen here, or better yes, listen by subscribing to Matt’s podcast in your app of choice.

Here’s what I read this week.

EEOC settlement provides expensive lesson on including social media in your anti-harassment policies and training

EEOC v. Nabors Corp. Services involves serious allegations of racial harassment, including the following.

Being addressed at work by co-workers with racial slurs such as “nigger”; being exposed at work to offensive, racially derogatory social media images and material circulated by co-workers and managers; being exposed to racist graffiti, including racial slurs and derogatory drawings concerning Black persons at company facilities in and around Pleasanton, Texas; being referred to as members of the “colored crew” by employees and managers; and in some instances, being subjected to intimidation and physical threats by employees because of race, Black.

The company recently resolved this case, agreeing to pay 10 employees a total of $1,225,000 to settle the EEOC’s claims of racial harassment, race discrimination, and retaliation.

Celebrating “World Kindness Day” at work #WorldKindnessDay #ChooseKindness

Today is World Kindness Day. Introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, it highlights good deeds in the community by focusing on the positiveness of our common bond of kindness.

It is a day worth celebrating, and one that we sorely need and is sadly necessary.

#MeToo does not always equal #FireHim

Just because an employee complains about harassment does not mean that if the allegations are founded the employer must fire the harasser.

Consider, for example, Abbood v. Texas Health & Human Servs. Comm. (5th Cir. 11/7/19).

The 19th nominee for the “worst employer of 2019” is … the barbaric boss

The headline is scary enough.

South Carolina Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for 

Forcing Man with Intellectual Disability to Work at Restaurant

But for this nominee, the devil lives in the details.

WIRTW #576 (the “Dolly” edition)

A couple of months ago, in the 568th version of “What I Read This Week,” I posted 5 of the best songs about work. I had no idea when I listed Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” how divisive Dolly would be. In my wildest dreams I never imagined anyone could take issue with an American icon such as Dolly Parton. Who doesn’t love Dolly? Apparently, however, some of you exist.

Thankfully, I feel vindicated with my inclusion of Dolly. WNYC recently launched Dolly Parton’s America, a nine-part podcast series tracing Dolly’s roots from East Tennessee’s Great Smokey Mountains to country music superstar to cultural icon. It’s a fascinating listen, especially the second episode, all about her metamorphosis from “dumb blonde” sidekick to Porter Wagoner to the biggest star in country music.

I highly recommend you add Dolly Parton’s America to your podcast queue.

Here’s what I read this week.

“Smoking gun” email revives employee’s disability discrimination lawsuit

Maryville Anesthesiologists fired Paula Babb, an experienced Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, because it thought she suffered from a visual impairment.

How do we know why it fired her? Because the day after Babb’s termination, one of her co-workers confirmed it in an email (written at the direction of one of the employer’s owners).