Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


With a shorter week in the office this week because of Thanksgiving, I will keep this post shorter and to the point.  (Perhaps post Thanksgiving dinner, readers can peruse a few of these articles).

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


An Employee Gets Sick? It Is Probably Advisable to Have Them Stay Home If At All Possible

We have all been there at one point:  You wake up in the morning and feel out of sorts.  Maybe it is constant sneezing or coughing, having the chills, running a temperature, etc.  Inevitably, the question arises whether you should tough it out and go into work.  As Daniel Victor at The New York Times advises, employers should encourage employees that are sick to stay at home until they get better.  Of course this is easier said than done for many employees.  Being out of the office/workplace means the work will back up, deadlines could be missed, conference calls will have to be re-set, etc.  However, the potential risk to other employees coming in contact with a sick employee (and subsequently catching the cold) put an employer's entire workforce at risk.  If it cannot be avoided and the sick employee shows up to work, Daniel has a few suggestions on what can be done to minimize contact and potential exposure to other employees.


Bike Rider Fired For Giving President Trump's Motorcade the Middle Finger

File this one under "think before you act".  Readers might have heard that a bike rider gave President Trump's motorcade the middle finger a few weeks ago.  After the White House press pool took a picture of the bike rider engaged in said act, the bike rider used the photo as a social media avatar.  The picture quickly spread online and in the news and after the bike rider told her employer, a government contractor, she was subsequently fired.  According to the employer, employees cannot have "lewd" or "obscene" things in their social media, not to mention that as a government contractor, the employer was worried it could hurt their business.  Employees, what you do on your own time is in essence your own business.  However, when you "publicize" your own bad conduct (note, the bike rider's face was not visible in the picture...so unless she went out of her way to identify herself as the middle finger waving bike rider, no one would have likely known), and your employer is a government contractor, expect to have things go south.

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