"discrimination" Blog Tag
Second-guessing the advice columns: Get off my lawn!
October 8th, 2019 by Robin Shea at Constangy
Working with older employees is something we all do, just as all of us work with younger employees – it is a function of working with people who aren't the same age as you.
But while there are almost as many "How to Relate to Millenials" workshops as there are opportunities for Than Merrill to make you money in real estate, where are the "How to Relate to the Mother Lode of Work Experience and Life Lessons Standing Right in Front of You" workshops?
Robin Shea provides 5 things Millennialites need to hear (OK, that was my Dad channeling through me).
PS – Robin's totally scientific Age-Based Teasing Matrix (above) is pretty sweet.
IL Artificial hiring, salary history, required training, etc.
September 13th, 2019 by Hannah Sorcic and Adam Weiner at ReedSmith
If you hire artificially, can you pay in Sweet N' Low?
Can you ask about an applicant's salary history? Is sexual harassment prevention triaining mandatory? Every year? Are non-employees protected from harassment by the law? Another mandatory annual reporting requirement every year?
Hannah Sorcic and Adam Weiner answer these questions (well, maybe not about paying in Sweet N' Low) and more.
Retaliation (wait . for . it . . . ) is all about the timing
September 9th, 2019 by Robin Shea at Constangy
You can teach timing. Carol Burnett, comedian
You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing. George McGovern, politician
Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor. Hesiod, father of Greek didactic poetry
In retaliation cases, timing is everything. Or almost everything. Robin Shea, partner, Constangy
NY Additional workplace protections for victims of domestic violence
August 28th, 2019 by Melissa Osipoff at Fisher Phillips
On August 20, Governor Andrew Cuomo expanded the protections employers must provide to employees who are victims of domestic violence.
The amendment expands protections against discrimination and obligates employers to provide reasonable accommodations for certain conditions of leave.
What do you need to know in order to be in compliance before it becomes effective November 18, 2019?
Randy Newman, racism and rednecks
August 28th, 2019 by Fiona Ong at Shawe Rosenthal
FIona Ong discusses how a discrimination claim resulted from a manager apparently trying to protect an employee from racism. No good deed goes unpunished?
Maybe the best part is a federal district court used both the Oxford English Dictionary and Randy Newman to define "redneck".
Look past the laws (pudding) and understand the regs (Oreo)
August 28th, 2019 by Kathy Speaker MacNett at SkarlatosZonarich
The proof is not only in the pudding, it's in the regulations and administrative agency interpretations.
So when the employment laws change, be sure you don't stop there because there may be an Oreo cookie hidden somewhere in the pudding (leftovers from an Oreo pie recipe).
NY 11 employment laws you missed if you blinked (not 10)
August 28th, 2019 by Jennifer Queliz at Cozen O'Connor
Not content to simply stop at 10 new employment laws and regulations, the state that gives us:
- Eleven Madison Park (the #4 restaurant in the world),
- Eleven (a clothing line aiming "to enhance the conversation amongst footballers – the world over")
- 11R (an art gallery that hasn't updated their website since 2017)
pushes over the double-digit threshhold ala Spinal Tap and their magic amps with 11 new employment laws and regulations that have passed of gone into effect this year.
IL Tidal wave (or tsunami) of new laws for Illinois employers
August 15th, 2019 by David Moore and Peter Gillespie at Laner Muchin
Look, I am not one to argue with attorneys because you never know when you might need one, so you decide for yourself the correct roaring-wall-of-water metaphor.
Regardless, any Illinois employer that either has or deals with:
- employee handbooks
- confidentiality
- cannabis
- policies
- salary (history, sharing info, pay equity)
- REQUIRED ANNUAL TRAINING (sexual harassment)
- employees (probably should have just lead with that)
would be well advised (attorney-speak for "just do it") to read what David Moore and Peter Gillespie have to say and then execute said prescribed actions elucidated (attorney-speak for "just do it") (attorneys have a rather extensive alternative vocabulary).
Make your workplace a SUE-free zone
August 14th, 2019 by Robin Shea at Constangy
To be clear (for those of you who don't look at the pictures in my posts, which frankly is a little hurtful), I am not referring to SUE the T. Rex (and yes that is the correct spelling, just ask The Field Museum).
I am referring to getting a piece of certified mail that may make you wish you were battling SUE and not being sued.
We turn again to Robin Shea for five of ten ways employers get themselves sued, as she weaves together medicine, Stranger Things, needles, nachos, the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and hygiene,
NY Reporting immigration status can be unneighborly . . . at best
July 31st, 2019 by Subhash Viswanathan at Bond, Schoeneck & King
As of October 27, 2019, New York employers will not only be unneighborly if you:
"threaten, penalize, or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against any employee by threatening to contact or contacting United States immigration authorities or otherwise reporting or threatening to report the citizenship or suspected immigration status of an employee or an employee's family member in retaliation for an employee's complaints about alleged violations of the New York Labor Law"
you might also go to jail.
And write a check for $10,000. Or $20,000 if you are extremely unneighborly and it is your second "threaten, penalize, discriminate, retaliate" offense.
Oh, and back pay. Did I mention back pay?
RIF - Reductions In Force Require Initial Fundamentals
June 20th, 2019 by Jean Ohman Back at Schwabe
Reading Is Fundamental has been a part of children’s literacy since 1967. Reductions In Force have been a part of the labor landscape since the 1980s. We just made up Require Initial Fundamentals.
RIF requires volunteers and donations - consider providing your support. RIFs require a sequential list of fundamentals needed to help a company refocus and rebuild while avoiding legal liability - consider Jean Ohman Back your support (for the Reduction in Force stuff).
While none of us at hrsimple.com have a favorite Reduction In Force, here are some of our favorite chilldhood books:
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Dear Dumb Diary
- Harold and the Purple Crayon
- Amelia Bedelia
- Goodnight Moon
- The Giving Tree
- Have another you would like to share?
"Fat shaming" at work can cost more than money, a lot of money
April 22nd, 2019 by Robin Shea at Constagy
Fat-shaming at work (and everywhere, but we do pander to the SEO gods) is rude, offensive, clueless, inappropriate, (insert your own adjective(s)), and expensive.
Not always expensive, but never helpful.
Robin Shea provides some background, including some help with the behaviour requirements for a legal claim of "intentional infliction of emotional distress" (spoiler alert - did this particular case reach the burden of proof? - OK, not really a spoiler alert) and a bit of potent advice" "Employers should never ignore such behavior".
I forgot ignorant. So ignorant.
One step beyond March Madness
April 4th, 2019 by Fiona Ong and Nick Vogt at Shawe Rosenthal
It's March, so Madness is sure to follow. Or is it One Step Beyond March Madness?
Regardless, the NCAA tournament is here, brackets and all, and if you aren't one step ahead, you could be playing from behind.
Fiona Ong and Nick Vogt cover the spread on: gambling, computer use and cybersecurity, productivity, dress code and civility policies, attendance policies.
And a bonus for those of you who wondered if the English ska band Madness was still around (spoiler alert – they are).
Why You Should Care About Employment Law
January 23rd, 2019 by Jenny Goltz at Cozen O'Connor
Common Pitfalls for Emerging Companies Founders of emerging companies are often first-time employers and find themselves having to wade through the dense patchwork of state and federal labor and employment laws. This can be a confusing undertaking that often requires legal counsel. However, there are a few very common employment law pitfalls that all emerging com...
Workplace Christmas Quiz (this is legit and will secondarily eat up some time before you get to go home)
December 24th, 2018 by Robin Shea at Constangy
One of our favorites, Robin Shea, invites you into her Christmas HR world with a Christmas-themed quiz featuring:
- Santa
- Bob Cratchit
- circumnavigating the globe in one evening in a sleigh pulled by reindeer
- Ralphie
- Rudolph
- Baby It's Cold Outside
- The Grinch.
Thanks Robin!
And to all a good night!
MeToo, avoiding women, and the modified Mike Pence Rule
December 7th, 2018 by Robin Shea at Constangy
One way to for men to avoid a sexual harassment claim is to avoid women. Not coincidently, that is also a way to run right into a sex discrimination claim.
So is the so-called two-step "Mike Pence Rule" (the Vice President reportedly (1) doesn't have dinners alone with women, and (2) doesn't attend parties unless his wife comes with him) a way or no way?
Robin Shea tweaks the Mike Pence Rule while debunking some "avoid" myths.
Discrimination CHARGE! – Step 3 Cause or no cause, because you gotta do something
November 28th, 2018 by Kristin Gray at FordHarrison
So you have not CHARGED forward spewing and waving, but instead have taken a deep breath, straightened your spine, not panicked, asked the right questions (if not, please see Step 1 Don't panic, ask questions) then went Kim Possible and asked more questions (if not again, please see Step 2 Go Kim Possible for the investigation phase).
Well done. Now time to find if the EEOC for cause or no cause because that is what they do. Regardless, which is kind of unfair to the EEOC cause they are just doing their job, you aren't finished:
- A no cause finding! So that's it?
- A cause finding! Now what?
If you are a skip-to-the-last-page reader, it really is worth going back and picking up the first two steps.
Step 1 Don't panic, ask questions
Discrimination CHARGE! – Step 2 Go Kim Possible for the investigation phase
November 28th, 2018 by Kristin Gray at FordHarrison
So you have not CHARGED forward spewing and waving, but instead have taken a deep breath, straightened your spine, not panicked and asked the right questions (if not, please see Step 1 Don't panic, ask questions). Well done. Now time to go all Kim Possible for the investigation phase by answering more questions:
- So the parties did not resolve the charge at mediation. Now what?
- What are the best practices for responding to the charge?
- What if the EEOC requests additional information?
See Step 1 if you skipped it above and then to Step 3.
Step 1 Don't panic, ask questions
Discrimination CHARGE! – Step 1 Don't panic, ask questions
November 28th, 2018 by Kristin Gray at FordHarrison
When you receive a charge of discrimination, take a deep breath, straighten that spine and DO NOT respond by CHARGING! forward cursing and waving your arms while proclaiming your innocence.
Don't panic. You and 84,254 (2017 numbers) other employers have or will share the same sense of shock, misery and a slight stomach drop this year. Kristin Gray will calmly walk you through the three steps you need to take. This first step is to find the answers to some important questions:
- Who is the EEOC?
- Is my business covered?
- Is the charge timely?
- How should I respond to a request to mediate?
And then on to Steps 2 and 3.
Step 2 Go Kim Possible for the investigation phase
Step 3 Cause or no cause, because you gotta do something
Disability/pregnancy practices – what not to practice
October 16th, 2018 by Robin Shea at Constangy
If nothing else, you want to read Robin Shea's blog because she makes a good in-context Kate Gosselin reference. Of course there is "else" which includes stuff you need to work through:
- DON'T automatically terminate
- DON'T automatically terminate (no, I DIDN'T stutter, there are two)
- NO 100% recovered policy
- "TEMPORARY" can mean a lot of things, like "disability" and "protected"
- Medical exams/questionnaires – 10 words for you: STOP CHILDREN WHAT'S THAT SOUND EVERYBODY LOOK WHAT'S GOING DOWN.
There is also a picture that is not the Official "Grumpy Cat".
