How much can you do - and not do - about your employees' personal appearance and grooming? Take this quiz and find out! As usual, I'll have the answers at the end, so if you get one wrong, no one but you will know.

QUESTION 1: If I operate in a jurisdiction that doesn't have a law against appearance discrimination, I can make any rules about appearance and grooming that I want. 

TRUE

FALSE

QUESTION 2: My employees are required by OSHA to wear masks on the job. The masks are no good unless there is a proper seal around the employee's mouth and nose. Since facial hair prevents a good seal from forming, we have a no-beard policy. I have one employee who is Sikh and wears a beard for religious reasons. What should I do?

A. Let him keep his beard and pray that the mask will work without the proper seal.

B. Tell him he has to shave the beard off or lose his job.

C. Meet with him and explain that the mask is required by OSHA and the safety rationale for the rule. Talk with him about reasonable accommodations, which might include use of a different type of mask that works with a beard, or transfer to another position that doesn't require use of a mask. After you've talked and perhaps consulted with vendors or safety experts, make a determination of what to do that won't violate the law or endanger his safety while accommodating his beliefs as much as you can.

The OFCCP's Final Rule on sex discrimination will take effect August 15. Are you ready?

On June 14, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued its Final Rule on sex discrimination. These new substantive regulations align with the latest legal developments and interpretations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Cara Crotty, the head of ...

I was on vacation last week, and so we have a lot of catching up to do. Here's what's been going on, from most to least recent:

*David Phippen has been keeping us up to date on the U.S. Department of Labor's Persuader Rule and what that will mean for employers. On Wednesday, a federal judge in Minnesota refused to preliminarily block enforcement of the rule. There are two other challenges ...

The Washington Post "Fact Checker" column gave Two Pinocchios last week to the "79-cent pay gap factoid." That's the factoid that says women make only 79 cents for every dollar that men make. Debunking that dubious statistic has been my life's work.

And "factoid" was the Post's word, not mine!

I am not just a blogger. I am a prophetess.

The gender pay gap is 22 cents on the dollar! Something must be done!

. . . would you believe 15 cents on the dollar?

. . . . . . er, how about a nickel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hd2e_tRBlY

A new pay equity study conducted by Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Chief Economist for Glassdoor.com, has performed an invaluable service in taking the roughly 21-cent pay gap between men and women ...

Big news for employees and employers in North Carolina -- the General Assembly enacted a bill on Wednesday (signed by Gov. Pat McCrory (R) within hours) that was primarily intended to preempt a certain high-profile municipal "bathroom" ordinance. (More on that in a sec.) But included in the bill is a provision that eliminates the wrongful discharge/public policy cause of ...

I have to admit, I was afraid that I might need to go into hiding after I expressed doubts last week about that study claiming that female lawyers don't do well when their bosses are male Republicans. But the reader feedback has been positive, with the possible exception of an ambiguous comment on LinkedIn (more on that below):

From Commenter Oaktown Coug

This is a study you ...

I don't know what to make of the study, conducted by business professors from the University of Michigan and Temple University, that purports to find a negative correlation between political conservatism among some law firm partners and the advancement of the careers of female attorneys in reporting to those same partners.

To put that in plainer English: According to this study

Law360 reported yesterday morning that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a transgender discrimination and harassment lawsuit (not our Detroit-area funeral home case). Although the employer entered into the consent decree voluntarily, we now have a pretty good idea of what the EEOC thinks employers should do in dealing with employees who are ...

Did you know that unequal pay causes depression and anxiety?

Neither do I. A recent study has received a lot of publicity after it found a correlation between relatively low pay and rates of clinical depression and anxiety disorders among those who were lower paid.

Guess what? The lower-paid, depressed/anxious people turned out to be predominantly female ...