Will the Court be opening the floodgates?

I'm gonna say no.

We officially entered the season of summer this week. What are the most common ways employers can get burned? I can think of four right off the bat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtbhrq8JyBw

(In the 1960s, melanoma was cool.)

Sexist air conditioning. It seems like a long time since we've read anything about this employment law "issue." The idea was that office air conditioning ...

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 ...

If you have a poor performer, is it better to make a clean break and fire him, or is it better to prolong his (and your) agony?

That is obviously a biased question, but some employers will do almost anything to avoid firing an employee, including the following:

• Nothing
• Issue 8 bazillion warnings but never act on them
• Offer a demotion, or a transfer to a less demanding job
• Let the employee ...

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.

What do employers need to know about the Supreme Court's pregnancy accommodation decision last week in Young v. United Parcel Service?

For the "somewhat-scholarly" version (also known as the "tl:dr"* version), go here.

*"Too long; didn't read"

For the "one minute 14 second" version, go here.

But for the "just right" version, stay where you are for some FAQs, Goldilocks!

So, now ...

Today's majority opinion of the Supreme Court in the Young pregnancy accommodation case reminded me of this scene:

https://vimeo.com/102830089

Employers are Jennifer Anniston, and Justice Breyer is Mike Judge.

I'll be back with some real information about what this decision means for employers.

Is IBM crazy, or just crazy like a fox?

Bloomberg BNA reported this week that IBM has stopped providing the "disclosures" required by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act when it hands out severance packages.

As you know, when an employer has a "group termination" -- usually, a reduction in force, but a "group" can be as few as two people -- it is required to disclose the job titles and ...

Watch out -- if you show your a** too much, you may not win your retaliatory discharge case.

A federal judge in New Jersey granted summary judgment to an employer in a Title VII retaliation case. Happens all the time. But this plaintiff -- we'll call him "Ryan," because that's his name -- was fired after he had signed an affidavit supporting a co-worker's discrimination claim against the ...