I hate tooting my own horn. It usually comes off as self-serving and tasteless. But, sometimes it’s unavoidable. Today is one of those days. I’m being honored by the Cleveland-area chapter of the National Association of Social Workers as its Public Citizen of the Year.  Full disclosure. When I received the first email about this I thought it was some kind of scam. Why is a management-side employment lawyer receiving such an honor?  Here’s why— …

Buddy Phillips injured his ribs while playing with his grandchildren. Over the next two weeks, he called his employer, United Trailers, to report he would miss work. Eventually, however, he stopped making these phone calls. When he failed to show up at work for three straight days without giving notice, United fired him under its attendance and reporting-off policy. He sued, claiming that United interfered with his rights under the FMLA by failing to advise…

An African-American employee claims he suffered rampant discrimination at the towing company at which he worked, including being called racial slurs. But that’s not what qualifies A&B Towing for its nomination as the Worst Employer of 2020. It’s what happened to Michael Fesser after he complained to his boss about the discrimination and harassment that is truly eye-opening and offensive. NBC News has the details: West Linn police began investigating Fesser in February 2017 after…

Family businesses are difficult to manage. They become even more difficult when the owners are spouses, and an employee accuses one of sexual harassment. For example, consider Allen v. Ambu-Stat. D’Marius Allen worked as an EMT for Ambu-Stat, owned by husband and wife Santos and Rita Ortiz. During the four months Allen worked for Ambu-Stat, she claimed that Santos subjected her to sporadic instances of verbal sexual harassment. For example, he told her she…

Firing people SUCKS. And anyone who tells you that they take pleasure from it shouldn’t be doing it. It’s the absolute worst part of any manager’s job. Sure, there are exceptions. An employee sexually harasses, or steals, or assaults someone? I’m not feeling badly about their termination. But otherwise, it’s awful having to communicative to someone that they no longer have a job. The first person I ever fired broke down in tears and begged…

Earlier this year, Amazon threatened to fire two employees who spoke out against the company’s stance on climate change. In addition, the company also issued a new employee communications policy. The protest started last April when a group calling itself Amazon Employees for Climate Justice published a letter signed by more than 8,700 employees. It called on Amazon to adopt a company-wide plan to address climate change. As the protests intensified, Amazon ultimately reacted with…