Is a labor union liable for damages caused by its members during a strike

Suppose your employees walk off the job in protest of stalled negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement. Further suppose that their union (allegedly) coordinates the strike with the precise time your concrete is being mixed and delivered for the day, causing the destruction of your product.

Can you hold the union liable under state law for their alleged tortious conduct?

According to the State of Washington's Supreme Court, the answer is "no."

Show this story to your employees who start clamoring for a union

When a labor union is engaged in organizing your employees, you are allowed to present facts to your employees to attempt to convince them to vote union "no." Here's a big ol' fact for you to file away if the need ever arises.

EEOC Sues Teamsters Local Union #455
for Sexual Harassment

What are you doing to address Bullying Prevention Month in your workplace?

October is Bullying Prevention Month.

Over 90% of employees say that they have been bullied by a co-worker or manager.

Yet, unless a bully is harassing someone because of a protected class (race, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, age…) bullying is probably lawful.

As the Supreme Court has famously said, our workplace discrimination laws are not meant to be a "general civility code." In layman's terms, our laws allow people to be jerks to each other at work as long as it's not because of a protected reason.

The question, however, is not whether the law protects the bullied, but instead what you should be doing about it in your workplace.

The 12th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the hurricane haranguer

You might know Joy Gendusa, the CEO of PostcardMania, from her April 2020 video in which she called out employees who had reported her company to the local authorities for not following Covid-19 safety protocols. But that's so 2020 Worst Employer.

Gendusa is back in the news, this time for asking her employees to bring their families and pets into the office so that they could continue working during Hurricane Ian. 

In her words, communicated to employees during a Zoom call: "I honestly want to continue to deliver and I want to have a good end of quarter. And when [the hurricane] turns into nothing, I don't want it to be like, 'Great, we all stopped producing because of the media and the maybe that it was going to be terrible.'"

WIRTW #644: the “whitewater” edition

"What's the first film you remember seeing?"

That’s the lead off question on each episode of Films to be Buried With — Brett Goldstein's (aka Ted Lasso's Roy Kent) podcast. Each episode is a long form interview of a celebrity in which they their life story through films. It's a podcast worth celebrating this International Podcast Day and all other 364 days of the year.

The first movie I remember seeing is Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, a 1977 Peanuts film in which the gang goes to summer camp and takes on a group of bullies in the annual river raft race.

I saw this film at the Woodhaven Mall with Uncle Ron and Aunt Rita … who were most definitely not my uncle and aunt. In fact, I had never met them before that day. I was four years old, and they ran a bus that took groups of kids to the movies during the summer. My parents paid to put their terrified four-year-old on a bus with two strangers to see a movie. I don't remember a thing about that film other than being completely freaked out on that bus and by the entire experience. In fact, it's the scariest movie I've ever seen about a river rafting trip. Thanks, Mom and Dad. 😞

What's the first film you remember seeing? Did it involve two strange adults picking you up at your house on a bus? Or was it an experience as memorable yet less creepy?

Here's what I read this past week that I think you should be reading, too.

Correlation isn’t necessarily causation … except when it is

According to a recently filed EEOC lawsuit, Dollar General violated Title VII by firing a sales employee because of her pregnancy. More to the point, Dollar General, the EEOC alleges, fired her immediately after she advised her manager of her pregnancy. It listed "health" as the reason for her termination on her separation notice, after advising her of concerns for her safety.

Never say “nevermind” when child pornography is involved

You may not know who Spencer Elden is, but you almost certainly know what he looked like as a newborn. Spencer, in all of his glory, graces what is perhaps the most famous album cover of all time, or at least of the last 30 years — Nirvana's iconic grunge masterpiece, Nevermind.

Spencer Elden was also recently a plaintiff, as he sued Kurt Cobain's estate, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl for child sexual exploitation based on their use of naked baby image. (He lost, btw, not once, but twice.)

While the lawsuit and its 30-year-old claim certainly seem like a b.s. money grab, it did get me thinking, do you know what to do if you discover child pornography in your workplace, on your network, or on one of your devices?

Here are four thoughts.