Today, “[t]here is a temptation to simplify matters by viewing all harassers and their offenses as equally awful . . . .” (NY Times: How Should We Respond to Sexual Harassment?) This reflex
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DLA Labor Dish Editorial Board
Walk-Backs: Learning to manage employees by watching America’s political leaders?
Posted in Employment Litigation, Employment Policies
Managers often confront workplaces rife with a history of unenforced policies and mistakenly believe that the solution is merely to enforce those long-ignored rules. Legally, the results of such efforts can be disastrous.
In Curry …
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How to use the new trade secrets act: tips for employers
Posted in Employment Litigation, Employment Policies
US businesses lose $300 billion annually in stolen trade secrets; employees can steal thousands of documents with the push of a button; and the FBI acknowledges it cannot stop this hemorrhage on its own. In…
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The Elephant in the Corner … Do You Have to Pay Employees for Checking Work Email?
Posted in Employment Litigation, Employment Policies
Connectivity is addictive. Managers text and email staff 24/7; workers check their phones incessantly 24/7. How often? Okay, here are the actual numbers from a recent Gallup poll: 11% check it every few minutes; 41%…
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Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk: Best Practices for Handling Nursing Employees
Posted in Employment Litigation, Employment Policies
“First comes love, then comes marriage [or not – no judgment], then comes the baby in the baby carriage” and then – for nursing working mothers – comes expressing milk at the workplace. Nursing employees…
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Is There Really An Obligation To Provide Miranda Warnings In Employee Interviews?
Posted in Employment Litigation, Employment Policies
Investigations of employment-related claims routinely require employee interviews. Reports of sexual harassment, picket line misconduct, or whistleblowing all trigger such investigative interviews. Conventional wisdom suggests that employers and their counsel should ask the interviewees to…
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Defining ADA Disabilities in a DSM-V World
Posted in Employment Litigation, Employment Policies
Charles Dickens and his characters lived in a pre-ADA world. Yet, those struggling with the definition of “disability” under the ADA share the same frustration as Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist: “‘If the law…
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Brave New World: Evolving Protections For Transgender Employees
Posted in Employment Litigation, Employment Policies
Aldous Huxley wrote in his novel Brave New World that “If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely.” With increased visibility (Orange is the New Black’s Laverne Cox; Caitlyn Jenner), transgender people are…
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Innovations In Settling Wage Hour Class/Collective Actions
Settling Rule 23 opt-out class actions is straightforward: the agreed-upon settlement is presented to the court for preliminary approval of a Rule 23(e) settlement class and — if the settlement is not approved — the…
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Want To Save Your Policies From The NLRB’s Sickle? Add Examples.
Posted in Employment Policies, Union Organizing
Employers who don’t want their policies sliced down by the National Labor Relations Board’s sickle, something that can spur union organizing and undermine disciplinary structure, should revise their policies (in handbooks or elsewhere) with specific…
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