The NHL has suspended San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane 21 games for violating the League's Covid-19 protocol. His offense: supplying a fake vaccination card.
Fake vaccine cards are out in the world, easy to find, and easy to use. Their use is also a federal crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison and grounds for termination of employment. Yet, as workplace vaccine mandates become more prevalent (and soon federally mandated), more anti-vax and vaccine-hesitant employees will take the risk instead of losing their jobs.
Do you know how to spot a fake vaccine card? Here are some telltale signs.
Late Friday, The Verge reported that Netflix fired one of the leaders of an internal trans employee resource group who was organizing an employee walkout later this week. The employee had been encouraging trans employees and allies to walk off the job in protest of Netflix's handling of the Dave Chappelle special The Closer (in which the comedian and the streamer have been criticized for the special's transphobic content).
According to the report, Netflix fired the employee based on its suspicion that s/he leaked confidential metrics on the Chappelle Special to Bloomberg, including how much Netflix paid for it and how many have streamed it.
This week I rejoined my good friends Marc Alifanz and Kate Bischoff on the Hostile Work Environment podcast to discuss the Season 2 finale of Ted Lasso.
Spoiler alert: you should absolutely avoid listening until you complete Season 2. We discussed the employment law and human resources beats we saw in the episode, including Nate's descent into darkness, the fallout of Sam's big choice, and the actions of Trent Crimm, Independent. You'll also hear talk of mannequins, sky diving, and arugula.
Find it wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
Here are the best things I read online this past week that I think you should be reading, too.
Q: In what ways can/should HR departments capture and record employee vaccination information? What are the HIPAA implications?
A: When it comes to recording this data, it's a good idea to keep it separate from other employee information on file. It should not be part of standard employee records and should be accessible to as few people as possible. Because vaccination records are covered under HIPAA regulations, businesses must ensure they're diligent about securely collecting, recording and storing this information to limit the risk of compromise.
"I don't need the vaccine; I've already had Covid and have superior natural immunity" is a popular refrain from some people who've been infected with Covid and, for that reason or another, are hesitant to get the Covid vaccine.
Does that argument hold up against an employer's vaccine mandate? According to two federal courts that recently examined the issue, the answer is a clear no. Kheriaty v. Regents of the Univ. of Calif. (decided 9/29/21 by a California federal court judge) and Norris v. Stanley (decided 10/8/21 by a Michigan federal court judge) each examined whether an employee was entitled to a preliminary injunction against their employer's vaccine mandate.
In each case, the Court sided with the employer and rejected the employees' pre-existing immunity arguments.
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day. It was also day 579 of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covid-19 has altered all of our lives; all employees are dealing with stress, anxiety, and isolation.
The fact that an employer temporarily excused performance of one or more essential functions when it closed the workplace and enabled employees to telework for the purpose of protecting their safety from COVID-19, or otherwise chose to permit telework, does not mean that the employer permanently changed a job’s essential functions, that telework is always a feasible accommodation, or that it does not pose an undue hardship. These are fact-specific determinations.EEOC's What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws
According to the EEOC, just because an employer previously offered remote work during the pandemic for some or all employees does not mean that remote work is an appropriate accommodation for any specific employee after it recalls employees to the physical workplace.
What does this look like in practice? A lawsuit the EEOC recently filed will test its limits.
The penultimate episode of Season 2 of Ted Lasso ended with an absolute gut-punch of a cliffhanger.
(Spoiler Alert — Turn Back Now If You're Not Caught Up)
If your employer is mandating the Covid vaccine, would you rather get fired or get the shot?
As workplace vaccine mandates continue to dominate the headlines, employees continue to threaten to quit their jobs if forced to get jabbed as a condition of their employment.
Whether that threat is sincere or idle makes a huge difference to employers in the most difficult hiring and labor market of our lifetimes. If employees will really quit when faced with a vaccine mandate by their employers, then those employers need to think long and hard over whether to implement the mandate and risk creating job vacancies that they cannot fill.
Thus, over on my LinkedIn page, I've been running a short, one-question survey to determine employees' attitudes about vaccine mandates.
If your employer is mandating the Covid vaccine, would you rather get fired or get the shot?
Please click here to go to the survey and offer your opinion on this single, multiple-choice question. I'll share the results early next week.
Here are the best things I read online this past week that I think you should be reading, too.
"You're being a Nazi by mandating masks and vaccines."
"'Papers, please.' I refuse as a condition of entering a store or attending a concert."
"What's next, quarantining the unvaccinated into camps?"
"Vaccine mandates violate the Nuremberg Code."
"Do I need to remind you of the late 1930s and into the '40s in Germany and the experiments with Josef Mengele? What was it? A shot? These were crimes against humanity."
And on, and on, and on. I've had enough.
If you've visited me on LinkedIn or Twitter (and if we're not connected on both, please fix that immediately), you may have noticed I describe myself in my bios as the "Master of Workplace Schadenfreude." What is Schadenfreude? It's a German word that is most commonly translated as "enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others." My research, however, reveals that it has as many as four different potential philosophical underpinnings, which I've synthesized as the following: Taking joy in someone else getting what they deserve because of who they are or what they've done, and celebrating that you're not in their shoes.
No matter how you define it, today's share is dripping with Schadenfreude.
Meet sorryantivaxxer.com, a repository of stories of anti-vaxxers who, because of their own un-sound and stubborn beliefs, needlessly died or came close to dying from Covid. It's a who's who of right-wing pundits, QAnon cultists and other fanatics, religious leaders and zealots, and even health care providers, all of whom opposed, shunned, or spoke out against the Covid vaccine and paid the ultimate price as a result.
Any death is sad, but what's especially sad about these is that each was almost 100 percent preventable if they had just done the one thing that could have prevented them from dying from Covid—taking the damn shot.
Please don't end up on sorryantivaxxer.com. If you're not yet vaccinated, do as soon as possible. Serious illness and death is almost entirely preventable. But you do need to join the 182 million of us who are fully vaccinated.
Here are the best things I read online this past week that I think you should be reading, too.