Free Speech, Social Media, and Your Job

One of the biggest misconceptions that employees hold is that the First Amendment grants them free speech rights in a private workplace. Quite to the contrary, the First Amendment right to free speech grants private-sector employees zero constitutional rights or protections.

Today, I bring you a guest post by Ellen Gipko of HubShout, which takes a deep look at this important issue, with a special focus on online speech and social media.

Fox Settles Sexual Harassment Suit with Gretchen Carlson

What do you get when you add a high profile sexual harassment suit, a highly compensated employee, and a well known target?

$20 million.

That is the number that Gretchen Carlson is receiving in settlement of her sexual harassment lawsuit against her former boss, deposed Fox News chief Roger Ailes.

Associational disability discrimination claims are rare, yet dangerous

I have been blessed with employers that are sympathetic to the fact that my son was born with some life-long medical issues. I’ve never had an issue taking time for a doctor’s appointment, or an unexpected illness, or the three weeks he spent inpatient at the Cleveland Clinic five (very) long years ago.

Some employees aren’t so lucky.

WIRTW #428 (the “science is fun” edition)

I never thought I’d be the parent of private school kids. I am a proud survivor of the School District of Philadelphia, and always assumed that my kids would also attend public school. Then we found Lake Ridge Academy. Without sounding like too much of an advertisement for the school, it was the best decision and investment we made for our family.

Case in point — the fifth grade starts every school year with an overnight science trip to Stone Lab, an Ohio State teaching and research lab on Lake Erie. They study marine life, fish (and dissect fish), otherwise explore nature, and bond. Norah reports that she’s been looking forward to the experience since, as a kindergartener five years ago, she saw the fifth graders leaving with their overnight bags. By the looks of things, she’s not disappointed with the experience.

We made the 10:30 ferry! #millerboatline #learningisfun #stonelab pic.twitter.com/OCDmrJc0D9

— LS Technology (@LRATechnology) September 1, 2016

Here’s the rest of what I read this week:

The ADA and prescription meds: what you need to know

Can an employer include prescription medications in its drug screening of job applicants and employees? Here’s a good lawyer answer for you. It depends.

Last week, the EEOC announced that it had sued an Arizona car dealership for disability discrimination after it rescinded a job offer when a pre-employment drug test revealed a prescription drug used to treat a disability.

Did the NLRB do more harm than good by permitting teaching and research assistants to organize?

Last week, in Trustees of Columbia University [pdf], the National Labor Relations Board upended decades of precedent by holding that federal labor law covers graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants, and graduate research assistants. This case has received wide spread national coverage (such as here and here). It is academically and politically interesting, and worth your time to read even if your business doesn’t involve academia. Moreover, the Board’s willingness to so easily depart from such well established precedent should be troubling to all employers.

The aspect of the decision I want to focus on in Member Miscimarra’s dissent, specifically his argument that because of the NLRB’s recent super-expansion of the doctrine of protected concerted activity, this decision will harm the very students it intends to protect. 

What employers can learn from EEOC's new Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation

Yesterday, the EEOC published its final Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues. It’s the agency’s first formal guidance on this issue since 1998, and was long overdue. After all, according to EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang, “Retaliation is asserted in nearly 45 percent of all charges we receive and is the most frequently alleged basis of discrimination.” She adds, “The examples and promising practices included in the guidance are aimed at assisting all employers reduce the likelihood of retaliation.”