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From Stu to Sue: Transgender Issues at Work

Do you have a policy related to employees who’ve had sex changes? If not, you should consider it, says John Putzier. “Employers are increasingly adopting nondiscrimination policies pertaining to what are now being called GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) workers, who generally have had no legal protection from being fired if they express a […]

The ends don’t justify the means

If you’ve read any of my writing, you know I hold legendary football coach Vince Lombardi in high regard. I’m a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan and have great admiration for the man who coached the team during the 1960s, so I often quote him when I write. One quote often attributed to Lombardi is, […]

EEOC Claim Sounds Like Sitcom Episode

By: Elaine Quayle You don’t want some employees falling asleep on the job—a truck driver, pilot, heart surgeon—or the utility boiler operator in charge of keeping the workplace from blowing up! In reality mirroring a sitcom, when a hospital facilities supervisor arrived at work at 9 a.m. one Saturday morning, he found the “utility systems […]

Another Case for Training Managers and Winning Lawsuits

Woods is a shareholder in the Greenville, South Carolina office of law firm Ogletree Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, PC. His remarks came at BLR®’s annual National Employment Law Update. Employer’s Failure Allows FMLA Claim To Go Forward The Story: A newspaper receptionist, who was allegedly fired for violation of her employer’s attendance policy, had […]

hiring

Looking for solutions to the talent gap? Don’t forget legal concerns

Employers in an array of fields lament a shortage of talent. Sometimes employers are able to attract a flood of eager applicants, but few possess the skills and qualities needed. Other times, employers need people for special, short-term projects, and they don’t want to take on full-time, permanent employees to get the job done. No […]

Social Media: NLRB Says Employees’ Job Complaints on Facebook Are Protected

An employer violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by firing five employees who complained on Facebook — off-hours — about their jobs, an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held. So the employer must do penance by rehiring them and making them whole for any loss of earnings and other […]

What Motivates an Employee’s Lawyer?

by Jeff DeGraffenreid Recently, I met a plaintiff’s lawyer during a particularly expansive mediation. He was on the opposing side, and after we were through, I had the chance to sit down with him over a beer and pick his brain. I’d gone in with the notion that he was “in it for the money.” […]

Declaration to ‘Make Employee Whole’ Very Costly for Employers

By Karen Sargeant You give your employee almost 32 weeks’ pay after terminating his employment without cause. He gets another job two weeks later. You’re off the hook, right? Maybe not. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Brito v. Canac Kitchens, a Division of Kohler Canada Co. has recently said no. Instead, you may […]