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Employment Law

CROWN Act would ban bias on basis of hairstyles

03/24/2022
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would prohibit workplace discrimination against employees on the basis of hair texture or hairstyles commonly associated with a particular race, ethnicity or national origin.

EEOC warns against caregiver stereotyping

03/24/2022
The EEOC has issued new guidance that warns against making assumptions based on the possibility that an applicant or employee might one day have to take time off to assume a caregiving role. The EEOC guidance offers these scenarios as examples of situations that could create employer liability.

Illegal harassment vs. legal (but still wrong) bullying

03/17/2022
Nate’s mistreatment of Will in Season 2 of the hit TV show Ted Lasso is uncomfortable to watch and horrendous management. But is it illegal? The answer is no.

Shields up! Feds warn of Russian cyberattacks

03/17/2022
As the world tightens its economic grip on Russia in response to the Ukraine invasion, tech experts are citing heavier-than-usual cyberattacks on small and mid-sized U.S. businesses that are originating in Russia and China.

War puts national origin bias in the spotlight

03/17/2022
After 9/11, workplace harassment of Muslims increased in the United States. During COVID, the EEOC reported a spike in discrimination against workers of Asian descent. Now legal experts are warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing some Russian-American employees in this country—and even simply employees with Eastern European accents—to be harassed and discriminated against based on their national origin.

Workers can’t sign away their rights to overtime

03/17/2022
A California home care agency was ordered last month to pay $315,000 in unpaid overtime to 158 workers. The owner unlawfully required hourly workers to sign an agreement to be paid straight time for each pay period.

Jury finds discrimination, but awards no damages

03/17/2022
It always pays to document poor performance in detail and contemporaneously. If you ultimately need to terminate the employee, you will have the backup you need to justify your decision, even if the employee claims that you somehow discriminated against him.

Disabled new hire? Prepare to grant time off

03/17/2022
If a new employee reveals what may be a disability and asks for time off, you have to consider that request as you would any other request for a reasonable accommodation. That’s true even if the request comes shortly after you make the job offer.

Accommodate covid-related disabilities

03/17/2022
Now that the pandemic seems to be loosening its grip and something resembling pre-covid life begins to take shape, your organization may be considering bringing more workers back into an office setting. Some employees will welcome the move. Others, however, may seek disability accommodations for the first time. Here’s how to handle covid-related requests for reasonable accommodations.

House votes down federal protection for ethnic hairstyles

03/15/2022
The House of Representatives failed to pass a bill that would have made it unlawful to discharge or fail to hire someone “based on the individual’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin.”