Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Transgender bathroom access remains a solution in search of a problem


Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of a school district challenging the right of a transgender student to use the bathroom that corresponded to his gender identity, leaving in place the landmark 4th Circuit opinion holding that transgender bathroom restrictions constitute illegal sex discrimination.

This decision falls in line with the EEOC's recent statement on this issue for employers.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Coronavirus Update 6-28-2021: Television meteorologist April Moss correctly fired for on-air rant against employer’s Covid policies


WWJ CBS Detroit fired meteorologist April Moss after objecting on-air against her employer's COVID-19 policies. Moss paused her Father's Day weather forecast to say, "And speaking of a brand new week, I will be sitting down this week with Project Veritas to discuss the discrimination that CBS is enforcing on its employees. Tune in to Project Veritas for my full story." (Project Veritas is a controversial far-right activist group that uses hidden camera footage to attack its targets.)

Friday, June 25, 2021

Coronavirus Update 6-25-2021: Post-Covid pet-friendly workplaces?


"Does returning to the office mean bringing pets to work?" is a question that recently caught my eye as I was scrolling through my feed on LinkedIn (thanks David Miklas).

What the heck do we do with our pets as we return to the office? If Loula and Dante could talk, they'd tell you, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease don't take my parents away; we've gotten so used to having them at home with us every single day." 

For this reason, and as an enticement to get people back to the office, some businesses are considering going pet-friendly and opening their space to employees' four-legged companions.

Are you thinking about opening up your business to employees' pets? 

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Coronavirus Update 6-24-2021: Crowdsourcing new ideas on how to get more people vaccinated


  • State-sponsored vaccine lotteries.
  • Relaxed or eliminated mitigation rules for the fully vaccinated.
  • Paid time off for vaccines and side effects.
  • Gift cards and other monetary incentives.

Governments and employers seemingly have tried everything to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Yet, we are failing. 

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Coronavirus Update 6-23-2021: We now live a Covid-bifurcated society — the vaccinated and the will-get-sick


I spent last weekend visiting my parents in Philadelphia. Because of the pandemic we had not seen them in 20(!) months. It was a glorious five-day visit.

During our trip to Philly we mixed in a visit to Donovan's cardiologist (whom he had also not seen in 20 months). We learned two things from that appointment. 

First, Donovan's (formerly) narrow pulmonary valve responded amazingly to his October 2019 procedure

Secondly, Covid is still spreading like wildfire among the unvaccinated, even kids. We learned that pediatric ICUs are full of unvaccinated children with serious and dangerous COVID-19 infections. According to Donovan's cardiologist, "It is now painfully clear that you will either get vaccinated or you will get COVID."

Further proof of our Covid-bifurcated society? Consider the Manatee County, Florida, IT Department, which was just ravaged by a COVID-19 outbreak. According to CNN, of the six people infected, five were hospitalized and two died. They were all unvaccinated. The only exposed employee who did not get infected happened to be the only vaccinated employee.

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Coronavirus Update 6-22-2021: Workplace things Covid has not changed—you can still fire dishonest employees


Suppose an employee leaves work claiming Covid-like symptoms. He then calls off work for the next two weeks, claiming he is quarantining at home at his doctor's recommendation. Can you fire the employee during that quarantine period? Does your opinion change if you learn during the quarantine that the employee's doctor never recommended the quarantine and the employee lied about receiving that recommendation?

Those are the basic facts of O'Bryan v. Joe Taylor Restoration, and upon which a federal court jury in Southern Florida recently entered a verdict in favor of the employer.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Explaining the EEOC’s brand-new LGBTQ+ resources in three words


Yesterday, Bostock v. Clayton County—the Supreme Court decision which held that Title VII expressly covers and protects gay and transgender employees—celebrated its one-year anniversary. 

To commemorate this event, the EEOC released new resources on the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity workplace rights. These materials include a new landing page that consolidates the EEOC's information on these issues and a new technical assistance document to help explain Bostock and the EEOC's positions on it.

As sure as I believe love is love, I'm sure every BigLaw firm will be publishing detailed summaries about this new technical assistance document. 

I can summarize it, however, in three short words.