Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


Ironically, this summer has turned into a busy time at work with a lot of travel and trips out of town.  Having been in Phoenix a few weeks ago, John Hall's note on OSHA tips for dealing with heat exposure jumped out at me.  Whether you have employees in Phoenix, Minneapolis, Manchester, or anywhere in between, I think John's article is well worth a quick review to stay informed on the matter.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


EEOC Reaches Settlement on its First Sexual Orientation Bias Lawsuit

Over at The Employer Handbook, Eric Meyer wrote an update on the EEOC announcing a settlement on its first sexual orientation bias lawsuit.  Back in March, the EEOC filed its first lawsuits in which an employer had allegedly violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating based upon sexual orientation.  Recently, the EEOC announced it had settled one of those lawsuits for $200,000.00.  Eric does a good job breaking down the specifics of this case...and the wide reaching impact this settlement has.


With An Increase in Temperatures, OSHA Tips For Heat Exposure

John Hall over at HR Hero has a good note on OSHA's willingness to cite employers for employees' heat exposure under Section 5(A)(1) of the OSH Act.  John even goes so far as to include a couple examples of when employers have been cited for heat exposure issues.  However, perhaps the most informative part of the article are links to a few OSHA guidance measures that employers can follow to help protect their employees and limit heat exposure problems.


An Employee's Right to Have Representation in a Disciplinary Meeting

Michael Haberman wrote a recent article on the Weingarten Rule, a/k/a an employee's right to have a union representative present for a disciplinary or investigative hearing.  The article includes references to how the NLRB has dealt with the issue under both the Clinton and Obama administrations and what the current Board could be expected to do on the matter.  Well worth a read.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations
Post a Comment
Read more

NLRB: Former Employee Cannot Be Barred From Work Premises After Filing Wage Suit

MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC - NLRB Facts :  MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC d/b/a Grand Sierra Resort & Casino ("GSR") operated a facility that included a hotel, casino, restaurant, clubs, bars, and a pool which were all open to the general public.  Tiffany Sargent ("Sargent") was briefly employed by GSR as a "beverage supervisor" in December of 2012.  After her employment ended, Sargent continued to socialize at one of the clubs.  GSR had a long standing practice of allowing former employees to patronize its facility and did not prohibit Sargent from doing so.  In June of 2013, Sargent and another employee filed a class and collective action against GSR for alleged unpaid wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Nevada law.  In July of 2014, GSR denied Sargent access to an event at one of the clubs.  GSR followed up with a letter and stated that with the on-going litigation (from the wage suit), it decided to bar Sargent from the premises. ...
1 comment
Read more