Let’s Work and Play Well Together™
Sexual Harassment: The Market Theory Finally at Work
No position of power, not even the passage of time—the statute of limitations, if you like—can keep the facts from daylight.
Bread, Trucks and Overtime: A Unified Theory
Last Friday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion covering the Motor Carrier Act exemption from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In Other News: Sex Means Sex
The law never seemed to include stereotypes about who people ought to couple with in their personal lives. Until now.
A Case For Workplace Civility
I want to go on the record and say that I’m a little bothered by the suggestion that we need peer-reviewed research to instruct/remind us that jerks-at-work-don’t-work.
Race Harassment and the Duty of Reasonable Care
It’s hard to believe this is really 2017 and that we’ve had laws against this stuff since the sixties.
Power, Abuse, and the Failure to Protect
We’ve once again learned about yet more super-sick sex abuse by an incredibly powerful man perpetrated against women.
Raising At-Risk Women and Their Babies: Men Need Not Apply?
Does The Children’s Home Network really believe that men cannot serve as role models for young and expecting mothers?
Obama’s Overtime Rule—A Game of Texas Hold’em.
Where does one draw the line between administrative rule making and legislation?
Racism in Charlottesville; Diversity at Google
Did we need reminders that race and diversity are not well in hand in our culture? Cuz we still pay lip service to both.
Should You Be Paying Your Managers Overtime?
Wait, managers who are paid salaries are supposed to be exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, right?
Facebook Rants About Customers-Protected Activity?
If your employees posted rants about your customers on Facebook using profanity, could you fire them? Well, it depends.
Do You Think about Work All the Time?
“The really idle man gets nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much farther.”
Solicitation Is In the Eye Of the Beholder—LinkedIn and Noncompetes
Employers use noncompetes to prohibit employees from engaging in a range of post-employment competition.
If You Slept Through a Brazilian Wax, Could You Sue for Harassment?
Nobody sleeps through a Brazilian (er, so I’m told), so let’s change the question.
Gender Pay Equity—A Storm on the Horizon?
As an employment lawyer practicing in the Southeast, my experiences defending claims under the Equal Pay Act historically have gone smoothly—but I wonder whether that is just because of our sunny weather.
Is Your Uber Driver an Employee or an Independent Contractor?
Do you remember when you downloaded an App for one of these companies, used it (one of my parents just did on a trip to D.C.), and loved it? Saw who was coming to pick you up?
“Stick-Up” Overtime Class Action Suit the Worst of the Employment Bar
Most of us would tell you that the salary basis “test” for the overtime rule is what it has been for decades: that a salaried worker who makes at least $23,660 per year is not entitled to overtime for hours worked over forty in a given work week.
Department of Labor Withdraws Independent Contractor Guidance—For Employers, It’s Not a Good Thing
No new guidance was offered, so this was “repeal,” but not “replace.”
BigLaw Makes Feeble Efforts to Address Mental Health and Addiction
A recent ABA Law Journal digests a WSJ (sub. req.) discussion of BigLaw’s efforts to address mental health and addiction occurring in law firms.
Gender Dysphoria—Covered Under Americans with Disabilities Act
Gender Dysphoria protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Is Pregnancy a Disability?
If you are a character in The Handmaid’s Tale, it probably is, but if you are an Associate at Wal-Mart, it depends.
Noncompete Agreements: If Handled Properly, They’re Fair
A recent New York Times article entitled Signing Away the Right to Get a New Job paints a picture of noncompete agreements.
So, What Has Big Law Got Against LGBT and Disabled Lawyers?
“First of its kind” study investigating the biases faced by LGBT+ and disabled lawyers.
What Can Employers Learn from James Comey’s Termination?
Short answer: Get your story straight and don’t change your answer. But there’s more.