“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).

Recent decision about a positive drug test has a lot to say about the future of medical marijuana and employer drug testing

Richard Turner worked as a crane operator for Phillips 66. The company’s substance abuse policy allowed for random and post-accident drug testing for “Cannabinoids, Cocaine, Opiates, Phencyclidine (PCP) and Amphetamines,” and mandated termination for any positive test.

On April 24, 2017, Turner was selected for a random drug test, and provided a urine sample. Three days later he was involved in a workplace accident and was again tested.

The following day, Phillips 66 learned that Turner’s April 24 sample tested positive for amphetamines. As a result, the company fired him.

When it comes to racial preference, the customer is never right

An Illinois Buffalo Wild Wings has fired all employees involved in an incident in which staff acceded to the request of a Caucasian “regular” to relocate a group of African-American diners to a different table. The reason—he “didn’t want to sit near black people.”

NBC Chicago has the details.

An employee’s disability is not a “get out of jail free” card for workplace misconduct

Does a medical leave of absence grant an employee a free pass for pre-leave misconduct discovered during the LOA? This question is squarely at the center of the court’s decision in Williams v. Graphic Packaging International (6th Cir. 10/31/19) [pdf].

WIRTW #575 (the “3.5” edition)

Being a parent is the world’s hardest job. But it’s also the most world’s most rewarding one. Which is why we keep doing it. The rewards are worth celebrating.

Last Friday night, I got to watch my daughter and her band absolutely blow the glass-pyramid roof off the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at Cleveland Magazine’s Best of Cleveland Party.

“An example,” you ask? Here’s their latest original song, called “3.5” (which, in this proud dad’s very unbiased opinion, rips).


I love seeing the looks on people’s faces when the realize the sounds they are hearing are coming from a bunch of kids. At the Best of Cleveland event, I really loved seeing the band that followed them transform from, “We have to follow some kid band” (which was the look on their faces before soundcheck), to “How in the hell are we supposed to follow that?!” (which they actually said as they were walking onto the stage for their set.)

Here’s some photo memories of the evening, set to the soundtrack of a local radio show’s A+ review of Fake ID.


If you’re so inclined to check out all of Fake ID’s goings-on, they have a website, FakeIDofficialband.com.

Here’s what I read this week.

Must you tell employees when you are surveilling their devices?

It’s unusual these days for an employee not to have a device issued by their employer, or on which they can access their employer’s information — cell phones, tablets, laptops, and other computing devices.

Conventional wisdom (California notwithstanding), is that if the employer owns the device, the employee has zero privacy rights in that device, its use, or the information stored on it.

That conventional wisdom, however, might be changing.

“Tone down your gayness” = $20 million

A jury has awarded a St. Louis County police officer nearly $20 million over allegations that his superiors repeatedly denied him a promotion because they thought him too gay.

According to The Washington Post, the sergeant had more than 15 year of experience when he applied for a promotion. “The command staff has a problem with your sexuality,” he was told. “If you ever want to see a white shirt [i.e., get a promotion], you should tone down your gayness”, which was “way too out there.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch adds that a captain had also referred to the plaintiff as “fruity.”