"I'm finishing all my CLE credits this week. It amazes me how if you keep up with law changes regularly how out-of-date these CLEs feel."
That's an excerpt of a recent conversation between my friend, Kate Bischoff, and me. Kate is 100 percent correct. I learn very little, if anything from the continuing education courses I take. I take them because the Ohio Supreme Court requires me to check a 24-credit box every two years, not because they offer me any educational value.
I did not receive any advance notice that I would be losing my job. Up to that point, no one at Tesla ever raised any issues with me regarding my performance.
During this call, my manager told me that I would receive a severance offer over an e-mail and urged me to sign a separation agreement to get a severance payment of one week's salary [and two months of health insurance].
He did not sign the agreement.
According to the suit, the employee advised her manager that she needed to bring her fully trained service dog to work to assist her with symptoms caused by PTSD, anxiety and depression. The company's human resources representative met with the employee to discuss her request but concluded the dog would present a safety concern because a coworker or customer might be allergic to or trip over the dog, or the dog might break something. Even though Hobby Lobby allows customers to bring service dogs and other dogs to the store, managers were unwilling to allow the employee's service dog in the store to see whether there was an actual safety concern. Hobby Lobby ultimately terminated the employee when she could not work without her service dog.
I've written before about BrewDog (here and here), the multinational Scottish craft brewery accused by hundreds of former employees of systemic mistreatment through its sexist and misogynist work environment. The brewery's founder and CEO, James Watt, stands at the center of much of controversy and most point to him as the root cause of most of the allegation.
Earlier this week, Watt appeared as a guest on The Diary of CEO podcast. During the interview, Watt blamed his pattern of mistreatment of employees him possibly being autistic.
From the Supreme Court's opinion terminating the constitutional right to abortion … to other Supreme Court opinions allowing and endorsing the open carry of firearms, prayer in public schools, the public funding of religious schools, and global warming … to the grim details of the near end of our republic laid bare by the brave Congressional testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, it's been one hell of an exhausting, sad, and enraging week.
Weeks like this one demand a breather. So today, no law (other than the below list of links to read). Just music.
Enjoy my daughter's cover of Alanis Morissette's "Hand in My Pocket", recorded live at her gig last weekend at Akronym Brewing. (She's quite the busy musician this summer; you'll find all of her upcoming gigs listed on her website, including upstate New York, on July 15.)
A group of Black and non-Black Whole Foods employees claimed that their employer unlawfully discriminated against them because of their race and their association with people because of their race based on their employer's prohibition of the wearing of "Black Lives Matter" face masks starting in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
During a webinar I recently conducted on employee handbooks, someone asked me a question about the best practice between wet signatures vs. e-signatures on handbook receipts. I answered that either was fine, but at least with the digital footprint of an e-signature you avoid the disingenuous "that's not my signature," or the "I don't ever remember signing that" we sometimes hear from plaintiffs in deposition.
Then I read Barrows v. Brinker Restaurant Corp.
At DICK’S, our teammates are the heart of our business, and we are committed to protecting their health and well-being.…
In response to today's ruling, we are announcing that if a state one of our teammates lives in restricts access to abortion, DICK'S Sporting Goods will provide up to $4,000 in travel expense reimbursement to travel to the nearest location where that care is legally available. This benefit will be provided to any teammate, spouse or dependent enrolled in our medical plan, along with one support person.
We recognize people feel passionately about this topic -- and that there are teammates and athletes who will not agree with this decision. However, we also recognize that decisions involving health and families are deeply personal and made with thoughtful consideration. We are making this decision so our teammates can access the same health care options, regardless of where they live, and choose what is best for them.
Regardless of how "hype" or "good" the beer is, stop supporting breweries … who perpetuate problem behavior.
Paula Cole, who had not yet struck it big herself, was Peter's main backing vocalist. She joined that tour for its final two legs, replacing Sinéad O'Connor.
For that final leg of the tour (which included the date I attended), Peter added Don't Give Up to the set, a song originally made famous for Peter's duet with Kate Bush on the So album. The show I attended was one of the first (if not the first) at which the band performed Don't Give Up. Unfortunately, about half-way through, Paula Cole had a bit of a problem with the lyrics and went completely silent through her part while band kept playing.
Peter jumped in. "It's been a while since we've done this one." Paula then composed herself enough to finish the song (beautifully and brilliantly, I might add).
But it's what happened next that stuck with me for the past 28 years.
Workers at the Towson, Maryland, Apple Store made history by becoming the first such store to vote to unionize. It wasn't close, with 65 "yes" votes and 33 "no" votes (12 eligible employees failed to cast a vote). Apple joins Starbucks, Amazon, and REI as major national retailers bit by the union bug, with petitions pending a myriad more Starbucks outposts, other Amazon facilities and Apple Stores, and other retailers such Trader Joe's and Target. In other words, the union wave is becoming a tsunami.
If you're wondering what's fueling this historic drive to organize, the Department of Labor thinks it has some answers.
The DOL believes it all comes down to employees demanding a voice.
I love sharing clips of my daughter playing music. It's made for such a cool catalogue of her growth as an artist over the years. So, here's a snippet of her cover of The Cure's Just Like Heaven from her show a couple of weekends ago.
