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The horrific Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre has brought the gun control debate front and center.  But gun violence is not just in our schools.  In August, a former employee shot and killed a co-worker near the Empire State Building before being shot by police himself, and eight bystanders were injured in the shoot-out.  A 30-person Minneapolis sign company was decimated in September when an employee who was discharged shot and killed six people, including the company’s founder and a UPS delivery driver, and wounded two others before taking his own life.  In November, an Apple Valley Farms employee shot four co-workers at a chicken processing plant in Fresno, California, killing two of them, before turning the gun on himself.  Not long after, a ConAgra Foods employee in Indianapolis fatally shot his co-worker outside a break room, then killed himself.  Two other workplace violence incidents, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas (an employee fatally shot her co-worker) and Manteno, Illinois (an employee shot and wounded his co-worker), took place in July, 2012.

As the Department of Labor (DOL) reminds us, October is the month the Office of Disability Employment Policy encourages employers, employees, educators, unions, and other organizations to focus on disability awareness.  National Disability Employment Awareness Month is an awareness campaign that, among other things, provides employers with a reminder that the employment of individuals with disabilities requires Human Resources managers to (i) regularly check for legal updates, (ii) conduct policy reviews, (iii) implement thorough training of personnel, and (iv) consult with competent legal counsel to ensure all of the appropriate controls are in place to ensure compliance with a potentially tricky and elastic legal landscape.

In several prior posts, we have highlighted the growth of retaliation actions, including retaliation under Title VII and the FMLA.  We have also provided suggestions for minimizing the likelihood of your company being found liable for retaliation.

There are many other statutes that also provide employees with protection from retaliation for bringing a claim.  In particular, the trend in recent years has been for statutes containing whistleblower provisions to couple those whistleblower provisions with retaliation provisions.  This provides employees with further confidence and assurance that it will be “worth it” for them to come forward—either to their employer or to the government—with information concerning a violation of the statute.

When you are conducting a workplace investigation, do you instruct employees interviewed not to discuss the investigation with other employees?  You probably do.  It protects the fairness, integrity and truth-gathering function of the investigation.  It allows you to do the best possible investigation.

Did you know, however, that giving that instruction to employees — to not discuss the investigation with co-workers — may be illegal?  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently said it is.  Read on for their explanation and what you can do about it.

We are thrilled that you read our blog and hope that you are finding it informative, entertaining and beneficial to you and your work.  If you have comments, suggestions or ideas, please let us know.  We love feedback and we want to be sure the blog is what you, our readers, find most useful.

Of course, there are plenty of newsworthy stories on human resources and labor and employment law issues that we are not able to get to in our blog posts.  Here are some links to recent stories and articles that we have found interesting, and thought you might enjoy as well:

  • The National Labor Relations Board finds that Costco’s social media policy is overbroad, affirming guidance released by the Board’s acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon.  Inside Counsel

When an employee takes FMLA leave there is usually nothing to write home about.  The employee requests leave properly, provides the required medical certification in a timely fashion, and returns to work when she says she will.  All is well.

But what do you do if an employee takes intermittent FMLA leave before a long weekend and then shows up Monday with a nice new tan?  What if an employee takes leave to care for a sick family member, but the workplace begins buzzing that he was really at the big game?  Many employers experience, or at least suspect, FMLA abuse.  When you have a case of potential abuse on your hands, however, you must tread carefully. 

Does any employee believe that interrupting a meeting of company executives and mooning them would not get you fired?  Well, we found one who does, and he even went to court over his belief.  His story is a good reminder about handling awful behavior and terminating employees the right way.

As reported yesterday, Jason Selch worked for an asset management company that, through some mergers, became a subsidiary of Bank of America.  He was upset with his proposed compensation after the merger.  He got even angrier when a co-worker he liked was fired after refusing to accept a lower compensation plan.  So, Selch decided to protest in his own, special way — he burst into a meeting of executives and, after confirming he was not subject to a non-compete, he mooned the executives and left.

Back in March, we warned you that for-profit businesses using the services of unpaid interns were at risk due to the increased scrutiny being given to whether such unpaid internships violate federal and state wage and hour law.

Since then, there have been several developments (two by a serial plaintiff) that have only increased the risks faced by for-profit businesses using the services of unpaid interns, including, but not limited to, the fact that:

  • Plaintiffs in a lawsuit in federal court in New York (Eric Glatt, et al. v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc.) have expressed their intention to add claims on behalf of unpaid interns who worked for News Corp.’s Fox Entertainment Group unit;

I love the Little League World Series.  Classic Americana.  Teams from all over the U.S. and the world play, and proud parents watch them.

Billie Ann Tomei’s son Cole and his team from California (which was coached by her husband Trevor) were good enough to play in the Little League World Series.  But when Billie Ann, an office manager for a CPA, asked for time off to travel to see Cole play, her boss said “No.”  According to Billie Ann, he told her, “If you go, write yourself your last [pay]check.”

Well, Billie Ann wrote herself that check and went to see her son play.  Do you think she regrets her decision?