Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I bring you the story of a employee rumored to be sleeping with her boss to get a promotion. She wasn’t, but the workplace rumor mill sure thought she was. Evangeline Parker began working for Reema Consulting Services, Inc., as an entry-level clerk. She received six promotions during her first 15 months of employment, ultimately to the position of Assistant Operations Manager. Two weeks after her final promotion, Parker…

The way we work in America is changing. The relationships between companies and their workers are more fluid and varied than in decades past. Our task in this appeal is to apply traditional legal protections to one such relationship.  So starts the 6th Circuit’s opinion in Acosta v. Off Duty Police Servs., which applies the traditional “economic realities” test to determine whether private security and traffic control officers are employees or independent contractors. One…

Does an employer have an obligation to return an employee to work following an extended unpaid leave of absence granted as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA? You might be inclined to say, “Of course.” The answer, however, is nuanced, and depends on the length of the leave, the composition of your workforce at the time the employee seeks to return to work, and your efforts to engage in the ADA’s interactive process with the…

Law.com recently pronounced, “The Emojis are Coming!” That article got me thinking, are they coming to workplace litigation, too? After all, emojis are a form of communication, and work is all about communication. Which would suggest that we would start seeing them in harassment and discrimination cases. According to Bloomberg Law, mentions of emojis in federal discrimination lawsuits doubled from 2016 to 2017. Let’s not get crazy. The doubling went from six cases to…

Purl is an online-only Pixar short about a ball of yarn appropriately named Purl who gets a job in a bro-tastic workplace. As the only female, and only ball of yarn, working at B.R.O. Capital, she struggles to fit and yearns for acceptance from her all male, all human, co-workers. Purl’s story has a lot to say about diversity and inclusion, and is well worth the just under nine minutes of your time.[embedded content]Here’s what…

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently issued its Report on Selected Cybersecurity Practices – 2018 [pdf]. The Report identifies five common cybersecurity risks and outlines recommended practices for each: Branch controls Phishing attacks Insider threats Penetration testing Mobile devices  While FINRA only regulates securities firms, the five topics its Report covers should be required reading for any employer that wants to understand how to implement cybersecurity best practices. Branch Controls If you have…

Yesterday was the 26th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act being signed into law. During last night’s State of the Union Address, President Trump called for Congress to make paid family leave a federal law. I am also proud to be the first president to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave — so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child. The devil…