This article from yesterday’s NY Times on the continued importance of business travel contains some great advice from Don Lents, chairman of the Bryan Cave firm:
“You should never engage in a disagreement electronically. If you are going to disagree with somebody, you certainly don’t want to do it by e-mail, and if possible you don’t [...]
Great advice on using e-mail
Beware of stereotyping employees!
As reported on Work Place Prof Blog, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Minnesota) issued an interesting opinion in a sex stereotyping/appearance case this week. In Lewis v. Heartland Inns, the court found that the plaintiff had presented enough evidence to suggest that she was fired for not conforming to stereotypes about how women [...]
Testing the limits of FMLA leave
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled last week that the Family and Medical Leave Act does not provide protection to an employee who took a seven-week trip to the Philippines to participate in a faith healing event with her husband.
Maria Tayag worked as clerk at Lahey Hospital. Her husband had a number of serious chronic [...]
Male on male sexual harassment: it may be about intimidation, not sex
Late last year, the EEOC settled a sexual harassment charge that reminds us that not all harassment is committed by men against women.
Six male employees of the Cheesecake Factory received $345,000 in settlement of their claims that they were subjected to repeated sexual harassment at one of the company’s restaurant. According to the EEOC, the evidence [...]
COBRA subsidy extended through February
You may have missed it during the holiday rush, but on December 21 Congress passed an extension through February 28, 2010 of the popular COBRA subsidy. More information about the extension, as well as some employer fact sheets, are available on the DOL’s website: www.dol.gov/cobra.
Plans subject to the Federal COBRA provisions must provide a General [...]
Creative Motion Practice
Reading this motion – To compel defense counsel to wear shoes without holes at trial – has got me thinking about all sorts of other motions that I’ve overlooked in the past. To wit:
Motion to require counsel to use mouthwash;
Motion to prohibit counsel from wearing that hideous tie (you know which one I mean);
Motion to [...]
The next protected category: Gender Identity
The federal government recently added language to its jobs website banning discrimination in federal hiring on the basis of gender identity (i.e. transgendered status). While the government has apparently prohibited such discrimination for several years, the move is nonetheless being hailed by civil rights groups and denounced by conservative ones.
Minnesota employers know that the [...]
OSHA is driving nicer cars
U.S. marshals last week seized a black 1992 corvette at the home of the president of Brocon Petroleum after the company failed to pay $7,500 in back wages to a former employee. The back wages were the result of a consent judgment filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to resolve a [...]
