Posts tagged Kent Hirozawa.

This is my "Labor Day" post. (hehe)

Maternity Ward.flickrCC.MikeKline
You see, she's in labor . . . and she's laboring . . . do I have to draw a picture?

Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer announced this week that she is expecting twin girls, and Yahoo's stock reportedly took an immediate dive. (H8rs!) Mayer said that she plans to take only two weeks off, and she can probably manage that because she has a nice nursery right off her CEO ...

SmithMtnLake.EmptyBench.flickrCC.vastateparksstaff
Alison and Adam, rest in peace.

What could WDBJ7-TV have done to prevent Wednesday morning's tragic on-air murders? Unfortunately, probably not a thing.

I'm a second-guesser, and I have spent much of the last 48 hours racking my brain about what the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, could have done differently. Based on what I've been able to discern, the station did everything ...

Hey, EEOC, there's this newfangled technique known as "track changes." Look into it!

Last Thursday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its amended guidance on pregnancy discrimination and accommodation in light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Young v. UPS, issued in March 2015. The EEOC's original guidance was issued in July 2014, but now the ...

Some employers really, really hate to fire employees. That doesn't mean they won't do it - but they'll do just about anything to avoid calling it what it is.

A few months ago, I wrote about "bogus RIFs" - when an employer tries to avoid "firing" an employee by claiming it's really a "reduction in force."

There's another kind of "alternative" separation called a constructive discharge.

The National Labor Relations Board's so-called "quickie election" rule, providing for expedited union votes, took effect yesterday. I can't improve on what David Phippen of our Metro-Washington D.C. office posted about it here in December after the rule was first issued, so here ya go!

Thanks very much to David Phippen from our Metro D.C. Office for letting me get some depositions taken this week and allowing me to republish his analysis here.

As we have previously reported, the National Labor Relations Board in recent years has put employee handbooks and policy manuals under a magnifying glass, searching for any provision that might, in its view, violate the ...

It's been a while since we've had an employment law quiz, so let's do it! This one is on retaliation. As always, the answers will be provided after each question -- you have our "no-pressure" guarantee.

1. What is retaliation?

A. Getting even with somebody because he did something you don't like.

B. Denying somebody a reward (such as a pay raise) because he did something you don't ...

Where are we these days with respect to mind-altering substances and the workplace? Here's the latest, with the "substances" discussed in alphabetical order. This blog post is guaranteed accurate™ for at least the next five minutes.

ALCOHOL. Alcohol is legal, which means that it is generally recognized as the most abused of substances. Employers can prohibit its use in the ...

Do nice guys really finish first?

Yesterday morning, I tweeted a thought-provoking article by Travis Bradberry in Forbes on "Why Your Boss Lacks Emotional Intelligence." According to the article (and no big surprise), a study found that people in higher management and executive level positions have less emotional intelligence than lower-level managers because in those ...

By David Phippen of our Metro D.C. Office.

While the year is still young, here are 15 New Year's resolutions that employers may want to make:

1. Make sure your "independent contractors" are really independent contractors. "Independent contractors" are under scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, state and local agencies, plaintiffs' lawyers, and union organizers. A misclassification can cost you back taxes, back pay (including overtime), and back benefits, as well as penalties and interest. 

2. Review your email policies. The NLRB recently found that employees generally have a right to use employer email systems during non-working time in support of union organizing and concerted activity. The Board's decision means that many employer email use policies, as currently drafted, would probably be found to violate the National Labor Relations Act if an unfair labor practice charge were filed or a union tried to organize employees and argued that the employer's email policy interfered with the organizing efforts. In light of the new "quickie election" rule that the NLRB issued last month, both union and non-union employers would be well advised to review their email policies and revise as needed. (The "quickie election" rule is scheduled to take effect on April 14, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other employer groups, including the Society for Human Resources Management, filed suit on Monday seeking to block the rule.)

It's not too late to register for our webinar on the NLRB's new rules on "quickie elections" and employee email use. The webinar, featuring labor attorneys Tim Davis, Jonathan Martin, and Dan Murphy, is from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern tomorrow (January 8). Be there, or be square! 

Robin Shea has 30 years' experience in employment litigation, including Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (including the Amendments Act). 
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