IVF discrimination = sex discrimniation

With in vitro fertilization all over the news for the past week, it's time for this important public service announcement — IVF discrimination = sex discrimination.

Courts have long held that Title VII's definition of "sex" (as expanded by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act) unequivocally includes infertility treatments.

WIRTW #707: the “mojo” edition

One, two, three, four
There's a plague on the planet
And they went to law school
A bunch of hornswogglers
Treat us like fools
Know who I'm talkin' about
Let me hear you shout

Destroy all lawyers

Destroy all lawyers

Bunch of evil weasel poseurs

Destroy all lawyers

Watch them push them papers

And bend them laws

Will the chump with the most money

Buy them all?

Grab them by their tails

Spit in their eyes

Well they charge you by the minute

While we get paid by the hour

What I want to know

Is how they steal all this power?

[Chorus]

They got, they got their own bar

Where they drink pints of greed

Let's spay and neuter 'em

So that they can't breed

So let us

Is at the bottom of the sea

Well they're not even evil

Yeah, they're worse than the devil

Gonna blow up the planet

Charge God double

[Chorus] 

R.I.P. Mojo Nixon. 

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

Pumping up employee lactation rights

Employers, hear to me now and believe me later — it is unacceptable to force a lactating employee to pump her breast milk in an open stockroom corner or in an open office.

That's precisely, however, what two McDonald's employees allege happened to them in two different stores.

Bankrupcy, labor unions, and remaining union free

Fair State Brewing, one the nation's first unionized craft breweries, just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Meanwhile and elsewhere, Aslin Beer Co. just said that it will voluntarily recognize the union petition filed by a group of its taproom employees to join the SEIU.

Evan Sallee, Fair State's founder and CEO, tells Eater than its union has nothing whatsoever to do with the bankruptcy filing.

WIRTW #706: the “final exam” edition

I left y'all with quite the cliffhanger last Friday. How would Norah do in her semifinal round at the Tri-C High School Rock Off? "No matter what happens tomorrow night, I'm so proud of her." That's what I wrote last week. Of course, however, I really wanted her to advance to the Final Exam. What parent wouldn't?

In the semifinals, the acts draft their performance slot for the night, with the draft order set by ticket sales. Norah ended up drafting 5th. After saying for weeks that she did not want to close the show, she then chose to close the show. The 10th band out of 10. A singer-songwriter choosing to take the stage in a rock 'n' roll competition after 3-plus hours of loud music played by driving rock bands. "A baller move," we told her when she texted us from the Rock Hall. Her response: "Go big or go home!"

Well, she went big. She played the best 15-minutes of music of her life and breezed into the Final Exam. Choosing to close was absolutely the right choice for her to make, especially when your last song is her chill-inducing version of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." You can watch her full set here. 

Tickets for the Final Exam are on sale now. The event is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 2 at 6 pm. Your $20 ticket ($15 for students) not only gets you a few hours of music from some of the best high school rock bands (and high school singer-songwriters) in the country, but also full admission to the Rock Hall during the event. You can buy your tickets here (code: norah). I'd love to see you there, and Norah would love your support.

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Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.

Baning salary discussion bans

🛑 Employers, for the love of all that is holy, STOP BANNING EMPLOYEES FROM DISCUSSING THEIR WAGES!!! 🛑

A supervisor of subsidiary of Duke University is accused of doing just that, and now the employer is in hot water with the National Labor Relations Board.

According to the just-filed NLRB complaint, the supervisor allegedly instructed workers during a meeting "not to discuss their salaries." When one of those employees later raised "concerns about employees' salaries and equity in pay," they were fired.

Remote work as a reasonable accommodation

A former UCLA employee has sued the university, claiming that if fired him in retaliation for requesting to continue to work from home after its "work from home" order ended.

According to his complaint, the 23-year employee, who last worked as a mechanic in the physical sciences machine shop, suffers from disabilities that affect his arms and hands. The lawsuit alleges that his supervisor denied his request to continue working from home after Covid work from home orders ended, despite most other employees continuing to work remotely. After the university later laid him off, he sued.

Courts are generally in agreement on two things related to remote work as a reasonable accommodation: 1) regular, in-person work is an essential function of most jobs; and 2) remote work as a reasonable accommodation is a highly fact-specific inquiry.