"AN EMPLOYMENT CAROL" - The Ghosts of Sex Harassment in the Workplace
Does your business culture actually support discrimination and harassment in the workplace? If so, how can you make meaningful changes and limit your liability? Take a lesson from Dickens: Scrooge's three ghosts represent choices and their consequences: (1) the past that has shaped a business culture, (2) the present climate of awareness, forward momentum, and change of which you can be a part, and (3) the future that you will certainly face if you are in denial and fail to implement reforms.
Employer's Good Faith Belief--though Incorrect--Leads to Termination: No Title VII Retaliation Found
When Getting Busy at Work Can Get You Fired (And Why Employers Need an Electronic Communications Policy)
SERVICE ANIMALS AND THE ADA
TITLE VII: "Take Five"
DOJ Says Federal Law Does Not Ban Sexual Orientation Discrimination
On July 26, 2017, the Department of Justice filed an Amicus Brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit taking the position that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is the primary government agency that enforces Title VII, takes the opposite position that discrimination based on sexual orientation is covered under the federal law.
Colonial Williamsburg Sued for Failure to Accommodate Boy with Gluten Allergy
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has been sued for failing to accommodate a boy during a school field trip. The Complaint claims that the boy's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act were violated, when a restaurant operated by the foundation, excluded the boy from the historical experience because his allegies required that he eat his own food prepared outside of the restaurant.
Maryland Employer Sued for Failing to Accommodate Employee's Religious Holiday
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently sued the company XPO Last Mile, Inc., in federal court in Maryland, for discriminating against a new hire because he could not start work on a Jewish Holiday. The company pulled its offer letter for Tzvi McCloud after he said he could not start working on October 3, 2016, which was the Jewish High Holy day of Rosh Hashanah.
Court Expands Sexual Orientation Protections
In the landmark case of Kimberly Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, an Appellate Court (covering Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) concluded for the first time that the federal Civil Rights Act protects against discrimination in the workplace based on one's sexual orientation.
