Amended medical marijuana bill offers employers higher protections

Last month, I reported on the introduction of Ohio House Bill 523, which would legalize medical marijuana in Ohio. I suggested that the bill’s protections for employers, which go further than those of either of the two competing November ballot measures, are a good start, but would likely need some tweaks to provide employers all of the protections they need.

Yesterday, employers got some much needed help, with an amended H.B. 523 [pdf], which significantly expands the rights of employers in regard to employees legally using marijuana.

Transgender bathrooms is a solution in search of a problem

In the blogging world, when you snooze, you lose. Yesterday, my fellow bloggers were all over the EEOC’s publication of guidance on bathroom access for transgender employees:

• Eric Meyer’s Employer Handbook Blog: Not letting transgender employees use the restroom of their gender identity is sex discrimination 
• Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space: EEOC issues transgender employee fact sheet 
• Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider: EEOC posts fact sheets on LGBT discrimination, transgender issues 
• Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog: Bathroom Access Rights Guaranteed By Title VII
• The Russ Runkel Report: EEOC & OSHA on transgender bathrooms access

Here’s the bottom line.

Looks like the DOL just put its new salary test on the discount rack

It’s been a few weeks since we last peeked in on the DOL’s upcoming increase for teh FLSA’s salary test (Winter is coming … for the FLSA’s salary test). It’s long been expected that the DOL would increase the salary test for the administrative, professional, and executive exemptions from $23,660 per year (or $455 per week) to an expected $50,440 per year (or $970 per week). Now, however, it’s been reporting that the DOL has had a change of heart, and will step up the salary threshold to $47,000 per year (or a nice, round, $903.85 per week).

Maternity leave vs. “Me-ternity” Leave, and what it means for work-life balance

I read with great interest the following story in the New York Post, entitled, “I want all the perks of maternity leave — without having any kids.”

The story, written by Meghann Foye, a self-professed overworked, yet childless, woman in her mid-30s (and author of a recently published novel called “Meternity”), argues that all women deserve “me” time away from work, and that maternity leave shouldn’t be limited just to new moms.

WIRTW #410 (the “odd jobs” edition)

What is the oddest job in America? It might be the folks who blur to the naughty bits on Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid. From The Seattle Times:

“This is a totally weird work environment,” said Shaun O’Steen, the 45-year-old leader of the team, which calls itself the Blur Man Group. “I mean, what job can you say, ‘Oh, my God, look at that penis,’ and not have to worry about HR?” …  For O’Steen, the task is slightly complicated by one more fact: His desk is opposite that of a 27-year-old who is the only woman and, by far, the youngest member of the blurring group. She is also his wife.

No matter how weird you think your job is, I’m going to bet it’s not this weird.

Here’s what else I read this week:

Let’s not forget about damages when litigating our cases

When employers are sued, they do not put enough thought into damages. The typical response is, “We didn’t discriminate; we aren't liable.” But, the reality is, unless you win a case on summary judgment (sadly, an unlikely result), you need to think about what a case is potentially worth and how much a plaintiff can potentially cover. For starters, it will drive settlement discussions. Moreover, and more importantly, if a case does not settle, you will want to whittle that number down as low as possible to limit the potential exposure at (gasp) trial.

Ohio tries again to add LGBT rights to employment discrimination law

As I’ve said more times than I can count, I think it’s repulsive that, in 2016, it is lawful under Title VII and the employment-discrimination laws of most states to discriminate because of one’s LGBT status.

S.B. 318 [pdf], introduced in late April, looks to change this aberration in Ohio.