Wesley Wernecke, an ex-employee of New York event planning company Eventique, claims in his recently filed lawsuit that the company intentionally alienated him, ostracized him, and shut him out of the business after its CEO learned Wernecke was gay.
NBC News shares the details of the allegations in Wernecke’s lawsuit.
If I had gotten paid for my appearance on Matt Christensen‘s Fraud Not Frog podcast, I could classify it as a side hustle. But I didn’t; I appeared gratis to discuss the legal concerns businesses and employees need to consider when an employee wants to engage in a side hustle.
EEOC v. Nabors Corp. Services involves serious allegations of racial harassment, including the following.
Being addressed at work by co-workers with racial slurs such as “nigger”; being exposed at work to offensive, racially derogatory social media images and material circulated by co-workers and managers; being exposed to racist graffiti, including racial slurs and derogatory drawings concerning Black persons at company facilities in and around Pleasanton, Texas; being referred to as members of the “colored crew” by employees and managers; and in some instances, being subjected to intimidation and physical threats by employees because of race, Black.
The company recently resolved this case, agreeing to pay 10 employees a total of $1,225,000 to settle the EEOC’s claims of racial harassment, race discrimination, and retaliation.
Today is World Kindness Day. Introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, it highlights good deeds in the community by focusing on the positiveness of our common bond of kindness.
It is a day worth celebrating, and one that we sorely need and is sadly necessary.
A couple of months ago, in the 568th version of “What I Read This Week,” I posted 5 of the best songs about work. I had no idea when I listed Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” how divisive Dolly would be. In my wildest dreams I never imagined anyone could take issue with an American icon such as Dolly Parton. Who doesn’t love Dolly? Apparently, however, some of you exist.
Thankfully, I feel vindicated with my inclusion of Dolly. WNYC recently launched Dolly Parton’s America, a nine-part podcast series tracing Dolly’s roots from East Tennessee’s Great Smokey Mountains to country music superstar to cultural icon. It’s a fascinating listen, especially the second episode, all about her metamorphosis from “dumb blonde” sidekick to Porter Wagoner to the biggest star in country music.
I highly recommend you add Dolly Parton’s America to your podcast queue.
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).
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.
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.”
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.
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.)
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.
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.”
Halloween is this week. Truth be told, Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays. It always has been and always will be. I never liked it, even as a kid. Sure, all the candy was fun, but I just never got into the whole dress-up thing. As an adult, I like it even less. Not to be a Halloween scrooge, but I can’t even get into the holiday for my kids.
A lot of people, however, are into Halloween, and some are really into Halloween. It’s the holiday on which we spend more than any holiday other than Christmas.
And, a lot of your workplaces will be having Halloween celebrations. Some will request that you dress up for the occasion. If you happen to work in one of the workplaces, you have my sympathies. You also have my top 6 tips to avoid turning your innocent costume party into an HR horror show.
Kari Phillips did not feel well when she awoke prior to her shift at an Oregon City, Oregon, McDonald’s. She called the restaurant to request that someone cover her shift because of her stomach ailment, but a manager told her she had to come in, but would allow her to use the bathroom whenever needed.
According to Willamette Week, however, that’s not what happened once Phillips arrived at work.
What's a hero? I'm not sure how to define one, but I certainly know one when I see one. And earlier this week, I got to see one.
Dr. Harrison Schmitt is one of only 12 men to have walked on the moon. He was an astronaut on Apollo 17, the last NASA mission to land on the moon. He was also a United States Senator, chair of the NASA Advisory Council, and professor of engineering physics. And, at least according to his remarks, he still actively works with NASA.
He also has a very well developed sense of humor, as he was happy to share this clip of Norm McDonald asking David Letterman how it's possible that any of the Kardashians are more famous than someone who walked on the moon.
I was captivated listening to his remarks about his work on the Apollo lunar project.
The reaction time of someone texting while driving is 35 percent worse than someone driving without any distractions. Compare that figure to the 12 percent deficit a drunk driver faces, and you begin to understand why distracted driving is so dangerous. Indeed, in 2018 alone, 4,637 people died in car crashes related to cell phone use.
OSHA understands this danger as well. Thus, in conjunction with Drive Safely Work Week (which occurred earlier this month), OSHA announced an educational campaign calling on employers to prevent work-related distracted driving, with a special focus on prohibiting texting while driving.
Litigation is painful. It takes a lot of time, costs a lot of money, and has lots of variables that you just can’t control. Especially when the client goes off the rails and says something so ludicrous that you might as well just pack it in and cut a check.
As an example, I offer Evans v. Canal Street Brewing. It’s a race discrimination currently pending in federal court in Detroit. According to the Detroit Metro Times, the plaintiff, who is African-American, alleges “a racist internal corporate culture,” including the repeated used of the “N word”, and management naming its printer the “white guy printer” and the printer for lower-tier employees the “black guy printer.”
The employer’s defense? The restaurant’s general manager, Dominic Ryan, claims that he did not know Evans was black.
Sometime next Spring the Supreme Court will announce its decision on whether Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination implicitly includes LGBTQ employees. It’s poised to be the biggest employment law case of the past three decades. And not just because LGBTQ discrimination is such a hot-button, high-profile issue.
That “sex stereotyping” is no different than “sex discrimination” has been the law of the land since the Supreme Court decided Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins 30 years ago.
What might the American workplace look like if SCOTUS actually reverses Price Waterhouse?
Take a look at workplace training Ernst & Young just required of its female executives (per HuffPost).