You be the judge of these real-life employment disputes! (I've changed the names to make it harder for you to Google the answers right away, but the answers with links are at the end of the post.)

1. Susan and her husband, who are white, are cleaning out their attic one weekend. They come across some quaint old clothes and sepia-tinted pictures, and among the treasures Susan finds an old ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been on a tear this week, suing employers right and left, and getting some "wins" including a couple of big settlements . . .

Train-wreck boss. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) vacated a summary judgment decision for a Tex-Mex restaurant franchisor that had been sued by the EEOC because ...

UPDATE (1/15/16): The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed this decision yesterday, finding that Ms. Chavez's "mixed-motive" claim can go to a jury. Here is a copy of the Eleventh Circuit decision. Thanks very much to Ms. Chavez's attorney, Jillian Weiss, who alerted us.

A recent decision from a federal court in Georgia provides an excellent illustration about how ...

Law 360 reports this morning that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has agreed to rehear the EEOC v. Ford Motor Co. case, which I reported on (and disagreed with) in April. The original decision, holding that Ford should have allowed an employee with severe and unpredictable irritable bowel syndrome to telecommute as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with ...

Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against Wisconsin-based Orion Energy Systems, Inc., over its wellness program and its treatment of ex-employee Wendy Schobert, who was not a fan of the program. The lawsuit contends that the program's health risk assessment is an unlawful "medical examination" and that the company retaliated against Ms. Schobert ...

I've posted here and here about the lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Walgreen, which terminated a diabetic drug store employee for eating a bag of potato chips without immediately paying for them. The employee contended that she had to have the chips because her blood sugar was low, and she said she was unable to comply with the store's normal ...

Hallelujah! The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced this week that it plans to issue guidance on employers' ability to offer incentives to employees based on their participation in wellness programs, or whether they provide information in response to health risk assessments.

I've blogged about this issue in the past -- here, here, here, and here. There is at least a ...

The EEOC -- can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

As irritated as I sometimes become with the agency's lawsuits, I have to hand it to them. The guidance they have recently published jointly with the Federal Trade Commission on background checks is great -- written in plain English (no legalese), concise, and convenient. An employer can read and comprehend it without even needing an ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has come out with a decision interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act that pretty much confirms all of our worst fears about the scope of that new law.

And I think the Court's legal analysis was 100 percent correct.

Sorry, employers, but the Fourth Circuit nailed it.

The Fourth Circuit hears appeals from federal ...

I'm sure by now you have all heard about the controversy that erupted after Slate columnist Aisha Harris suggested that Santa Claus be replaced by a "holiday penguin," which she perceived to be more inclusive than a rosy-cheeked white fat guy from up North.

And then Megyn Kelly of Fox News got in trouble for saying in response that Santa Claus was (1) a real dude and (2) a white dude.

At ...