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By: Amy Epstein Gluck As the late, great Amy Winehouse sang: They tried to make me go to rehab I said, “no, no, no” Employers, if an employee seeks leave to go to rehab, your refrain is more likely to be, “yes, yes, yes.” Why? If an employee seeks help to treat an addiction, said employee is likely protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) or, for small employers (with less than 15 employees),…
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By: Amy Epstein Gluck The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently entered into a consent decree with a Tex-Mex restaurant in Gainesville, Virginia (up to an hour from the DMV—without traffic) settling a lawsuit alleging that restaurant employees, including other servers and kitchen staff, subjected a gay male server to “unwelcome harassing and offensive behavior” that included the use of homophobic slurs and insults about his sexuality. The employees also harassed the server’s straight friend,…
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By: Amy Epstein Gluck Your anti-discrimination, -harassment, and -retaliation policies must be enforced to be effective. It’s likely that this is no news flash, but in practice, people tend to forget. Case in point: yet another public memo to a household name company demonstrating that all that glitters may not be gold. What am I talking about? Well, this past weekend, I read this article by a new mama at Google who penned a memo…
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Here’s a new case that will make you shake your head in wonder. Seems that a Wisconsin inpatient residential health facility was just sued by the EEOC for alleged disability discrimination. Nothing new here … I’ve been writing forever that the EEOC seems to be targeting health care professionals and facilities for disability or pregnancy discrimination.   Does the EEOC sees such health care folks as fat, juicy targets, for example, accusing the “helping” or “caring” professions,…
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By Amy Epstein Gluck Hello, and happy end of summer! Like Rich, I am excited to participate in an EEOC panel in Baltimore at the EEOC Training Institute’s seminar about the Future of HR. Details: Where: Crowne Plaza Baltimore at the Inner Harbor, 105 W. Fayette Street When: August 26, 2019, at 9 a.m. Topic: The Future of HR is Today! What I’ll be talking about: What employers want to know about cannabis and medical…
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By Amy Epstein Gluck Employers, do you have a workplace violence prevention plan? If not, you may want to consider creating one regardless of your size. After the shooting in Virginia Beach, I wrote about recognizing signs of possible impending workplace violence. I also promised to provide additional information for employers and HR to consider, but, like everyone else, I got busy—work deadlines, end of the year stuff for the kids, vacation plans. However, with…
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Whoever said that elected officials are savvier than the average citizens? Indeed. I just read a piece out of Michigan which reported that several commissioners from one county are objecting to a proposal for mandatory sexual harassment prevention training for themselves. The proposal “would require county commissioners to attend an orientation within 45 days of taking office that included a sexual harassment training from the human resources director. …[and] would also require commissioners to receive a…
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By: Amy Epstein Gluck Did you know that California passed a law last year that establishes voluntary standards for workplace mental health? No? I didn’t either, and we should talk about this. What Kind of Law? Under the law, the state is creating guidelines to help companies strengthen access to mental health care for their employees, put strategies and programs in place, and reduce the stigma associated with mental health. The point: normalize workplace…
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Well, another panic button law was just passed – this time in New Jersey. The first state to pass such a law! Just a few weeks ago I posted about a union local in Seattle representing 5,000 hotel and hospitality workers, which reacted to guests sexually harassing room cleaning and room service staff and pushed for and got enacted a new law which requires, among other things, that hotels with 60 or more rooms must issue “panic buttons” to…