Are you planning to take advantage of the IRS's employer tax credit for paid family and medical leave?

When Congress reformed the tax law earlier this year, one key change that might have flown under your radar is an employer tax credit for paid family and medical leave.

The IRS has a helpful Q&A available here.

EEOC sues Walmart for not hiring a congential amputee

The EEOC has sued Walmart on behalf of a woman who claims the retailer failed to hire her for a stocker job after it learned that she born without a right hand.

The Houston Chronicle has the details:

"I'm going to need every Saturday off; is that gonna be a problem?"

Darrell Patterson had worked in Walgreens' 24/7 call center for six years without incident. He claims Walgreens fired him for skipping an emergency training session held on a Saturday. He's a Seventh-day Adventist, and it's against his religion to work on the Sabbath (from sundown Friday through downs Saturday). Until his firing, they had worked cooperatively to schedule around this religious prohibitions, without incident.

Patterson's religion and Walgreens' scheduling came to a head in 2011, however, when Walgreens asked Patterson to cover an emergency Saturday training session. When he missed the training class, Walgreens fired him.

5 steps to take when an employee sues your company

I've written a lot over the years about best practices to prevent lawsuits by employees.

The fact remains, though, that no matter how good a company's HR practices are, and no matter how proactive a company is with its legal compliance, a certain percentage of terminations and other employment decisions will turn into lawsuits. It's the simple the cost of doing business.

WIRTW #525 (the “pogo” edition)

I have no idea if he managed to hit the right keys, but he's sure mastered the entertainment part of this rock 'n' roll thing.

View this post on Instagram

Donovan mastering the art of pogo keyboarding #sorcle

A post shared by Jon Hyman (@jonhyman) on Sep 23, 2018 at 4:47pm PDT

Here's what I read this week:

Don't Lindsey Graham your company's harassment investigations

What am I supposed to do, go ahead and ruin this guy's life based on an accusation? I'm just being honest. Unless there's something more, no, I'm not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh's life over this. But she should come forward. She should have her say. She will be respectfully treated.

 – Senator Lindsey Graham

He-said/she-said cases of sexual harassment are difficult. You are making a decision that will impact the lives of two (or more) people often based solely on your evaluation of the credibility of the complaining employee, the accused, and witnesses (if any).

Cuyahoga County bans LGBTQ discrimination

Cuyahoga County, Ohio, my home county, has lately been on the receiving end of some bad press. Season 3 of Serial just landed on your podcast app of choice, and it does not portray my county's criminal justice system in the most positive of lights.

So, today, I thought I'd share something positive from Cuyahoga County.

Yesterday, the County Council passed legislation prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, as well as housing and public accommodations.