Employment Law

Court calls working beyond pay grade intolerable

12/15/2022

Generally, workers must be turned down for a job, demoted or fired before they can sue their employers and allege discrimination as the reason. But as with many things in life, there’s an exception—the concept of constructive discharge holds that if an employer makes the employee’s work life “intolerable,” that justifies quitting. The worker can then sue despite not having been fired.

Court revives claim of HR manager

12/15/2022

A week after an HR manager testified in a lawsuit against a former employer, she was fired. The HR manager then sued the employer who fired her for unlawful retaliation, a violation of Title VII.

EEOC settles with union over forced return-to-office policy

12/15/2022

The American Federation of Government Employees filed a complaint against the EEOC over its mandatory return-to-the-office policy. The EEOC attempted to unilaterally implement a policy requiring staff to return to the office immediately, terminating remote and telework arrangements without negotiating with the union.

Can racial equity training create a hostile work environment?

12/15/2022

A former employee of Seattle’s Human Services Department is suing the city in federal court, claiming a program by the city’s Office for Civil Rights created a hostile work environment for him, as he is white.

Beware ad hoc accommodation approvals

12/13/2022

Every organization should have a well-delineated plan for approving reasonable accommodations. Don’t let direct supervisors make their accommodations casually. These ad hoc arrangements often become almost impossible to revoke later.

Snapshot: Down, down, down: Discrimination claims at EEOC drop

12/13/2022

In 2021, the EEOC received the lowest number of charges from workers in more than two decades—61,331, down 9.1% from 2020.

Microsoft gamers voting on company’s first U.S. union

12/13/2022

Three hundred quality assurance workers for a subsidiary of Microsoft are voting through December on whether to form a union.

Universities ban caste bias; a lawsuit follows

12/13/2022

Brown University has added caste discrimination to its nondiscrimination list, joining other universities that now include caste among protected categories such as race, religion, sex and gender identity.

DOL cracks down on child labor violations

12/09/2022

DOL investigators found 101 teenagers worked impermissible hours at multiple McDonald’s restaurants in Pittsburgh. The DOL fined the franchisee $57,332 for violations of child labor laws at the 13 McDonald’s locations the husband and wife operated.