WIRTW #722: the 'Até logo' edition

I'll be back with a fresh spirit and fresh content on July 10. This lawyer is officially on vacation.

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

This is why you train your management on how to respond to workplace harassment

During Joyce Morgan's employment at Convenient Food Mar, her co-worker, Todd Wise, subjected her to sustained and prolonged sexual harassment. Morgan complained to both her shift leader and the store manager. When they did nothing, she then complained to the store manager's supervisor. Despite her repeated complaints about Wise and the harassment to which he subjected her and others, no one at the company ever did anything. She ultimately resigned and sued.

Following a jury trial and a verdict in her favor, Morgan won a $221,688.56, which included compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys' fees.

Temporary impairments as ADA disabilities

Does recovery following surgery qualify as a "disability" under the ADA? Well, it depends.

Consider, for example, the recent court of appeals decision in Long v. KeltanBW. Long worked as a floating teacher in a daycare center owned and operated by KeltanBW. Less than one month after starting her job, Long took time off for liposuction surgery. Upon her return to work eight weeks later, the employer assigned her to the preschool rooms to accommodate her temporary post-surgery lifting restrictions. Within a couple of months, however, KeltanBW fired her for poor attendance. 

Long sued, claiming disability discrimination.

Which of the Ten Commandments allows for a reasonable accommodation?

"What do you say to teachers who don't share your religious views?"

 "Don't look at it."

That was the exchange between CNN's Boris Sanchez and Louisiana State Representative Lauren Ventrella, co-author of that state's new law which mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom.

First Amendment issues aside (and there are BIG First Amendment issues here), what happens when teacher of a faith that doesn't believe in the Ten Commandments or who is an atheist objects to the display in their classroom and asks for a reasonable accommodation under Title VII?

WIRTW #721: the 'Left of Boom' edition

Being as active as I am on social media has allowed me to amass some pretty cool friends over the years. I recently had the chance to sit down with two of them virtually, Phil Wilson and Mike VanDervort, on their The Left of Boom Show. We discussed all things going on in the world of labor relations, including Starbucks, 10(j) injunctions and the Supreme Court, the future (or lack thereof) of Chevron deference, and Anchor Brewing.

You can watch or listen here, and also via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

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

Long live Anchor Brewing! We'll have to wait and see about its labor union. ⚓ 🍻

News broke earlier this month that Hamdi Ulukaya, the billionaire founder of Chobani yogurt, purchased the assets of Anchor Brewing after its former owner, international beer conglomerate Sapporo, had unexpectedly shuttered the brewery nearly a year ago. Anchor was one of the country's few unionized craft breweries. Ulukaya has said that he would hire back as many former employees as possible but didn't know whether the union would be part of his new operations. If he hires enough of the former employees, however, he may not have a choice on the union. That issue will depend on whether Ulukaya's Anchor Brewing is a "successor" of Sapporo's Anchor Brewing.

Call me … maybe? 6th Circuit saves FMLA claim of employee who failed to follow employer's call-in rules.

Latrice Crispell, a 23-year employee of FCA working as a floater on its truck assembly line, suffered from major depression and anxiety, which qualified her for intermittent leave under the FMLA. FCA had a strict 30-minute call-in rule, requiring employees to notify their supervisors of any absence at least 30 minutes before their shift, or later with a statement explaining the missed call-in.

Crispell struggled to comply with that rule during severe flare-ups of her condition, which she argued made it impossible for her to call in on time and made her absent or late 15 times during the final three months of her employment. Despite submitting explanations and a doctor's note about how her illness made it impossible for her to comply with the 30-minute rule during flare-ups, FCA disciplined and ultimately terminated her.

Despite the employee failing to meet FCA's call-in requirements for her intermittent leave, the 6th Circuit reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the employer.