Happy 12th Anniversary to the Ohio Employer Law Blog

Twelve years ago today I launched the Ohio Employer Law Blog.

On May 9, 2007, I published, The Song Remains the Same — Has Burlington Northern Really Changed the Landscape of Retaliation Claims? Not my finest work, but everyone’s gotta start somewhere.

In the dozen years since, I’ve published 3,135(!) posts, which you have read millions of times. It’s truly astounding to me, and I thank all of you who have read, clicked, shared, commented, and connected with me over the years. The absolute best part of this endeavor is the relationships I’ve built and friendships I’ve made.

Workplace civility shouldn’t be something we have to legislate

Workplace harassment isn’t illegal unless it is harassment because of some protected characteristic (sex, race, age, religion, national origin, disability, or any other class protected by law). Generalized workplace bullying or other mistreatment is not illegal unless it falls into one of those categories. Indeed, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly reminded us, workplace discrimination laws are not “a general civility code.”

Lessons from Game of Thrones on an employee’s duty of loyalty #spoileralert

If you haven’t yet watched this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, consider yourself warned. There are spoilers below. Turn back now if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Your employees do not understand their (lack of) free speech rights

Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech….

So reads the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.

Take note that it does not say, “You have absolute freedom of speech in all things at all times.” It only prohibits government-imposed restrictions on speech.

Yet, just last week, President Trump tweeted the following:

I am continuing to monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms. This is the United States of America — and we have what’s known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH! We are monitoring and watching, closely!!

I promise you that if the President of the United States does not understand how the 1st Amendment works, your employees don’t understand it either.

WIRTW #551 (the “he went for the head” edition)

#DontSpoilTheEndGame

Really! DON’T SPOIL ENDGAME.

A Friendswood, Texas, Domino’s employee learned this lesson the hard way. He was cited by police after he assaulted a co-worker for revealing an Avengers: Endgame spoiler.

According to ABC13, no one at Domino’s wanted to talk about the incident, and the employee did not respond to inquiries.

Here’s what I read this week:

A cautionary tale on why we background check employees

A cautionary tale on why employers should conduct thorough background checks on employers.

In late 2013, Kristl Thompson, Ashley Raby, and Corbie Leslie filed a lawsuit against The Scott Fetzer Company (doing business as “The Kirby Company”), Crantz Development, and John Fields. The women claimed Fields had sexually assaulted them (including verbal abuse and harassment, inappropriate touching, forced sexual acts, and rape) on numerous occasions between May 2012 and January 2013. A number of these allegations resulted in felony and misdemeanor convictions against Fields.

Handshakes, children’s poems, and the loss of responsibility

Handshakes could be BANNED under new workplace rules to avoid expensive sexual harassment claims

So reads a headline in The Sun. No one is actually considering banning handshakes. Instead, it’s a cautionary “what if” from an “employment expert,” saying what could happen if employers take sexual harassment precautions to far.

I thought of that story as I read a different story yesterday, one about book of children’s poems banned from Costco because a “concerned mom” did not like the content of one of the poems.