Category Archives: General

Young, Well Off and Without Worry?

General

Recently, the New York Times included an op-ed, the Toxic Work World, that included the following statement at the outset:

The people who can compete and succeed in this culture are an ever-narrower slice of American society: largely young people who are healthy, and wealthy enough not to have to care for family members.

The article then goes on to includes a number of good points with which I agreed.  But I found myself thinking of the line quoted above and not focusing fully on the points made.

Yes, there are burden that go with age. But it is also very hard to be a younger worker.  When I see young workers, I think: you will have it so much harder than I did.

And, I am deeply troubled by the suggestion that those who may be able to afford child care are not caring for family members. Yes, having the money to afford child care provides a worker with an advantage but that does not mean that he or she is not a care giver or has life on a silver platter.

I re-read the article without the portion suggesting that some struggle less or are otherwise privileged. I was much more open to what followed.

We can emphasize the struggle of some without suggesting others are without struggles of their own. If we forget this, our message may be lost and we may alienate a segment of our workforce.

 

 

 

 

 

The blog should  not be construed as legal advice or as pertaining to specific factual situations.

The Pope Is Coming to Philly

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I am pleased to share with you a blog my colleague, Linda B. Hollinshead @lhollinshead1, and I collaborated on concerning the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia and the wage and hour issues it may cause.

We have been asked a lot of questions about the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia in terms of wage and hour and other laws. Here are the some of the questions and the general answers:

  1. If we shut down for a day or two, do we have to pay exempt employees? The general answer is “yes.” However, you generally can require that the exempt employee use PTO to cover a day on which you shut down.
  2. If we shut down for a day or two, do we have to pay non-exempt employees? The general answer is “no,” unless: (1) you have a policy that says you will pay; (2) there is collective bargaining agreement that obligates you to pay; or (3) the employee is paid on fluctuating work week basis. Reminder: the fluctuating work week is not recognized in Pennsylvania but it is in other states. Even if there no duty to pay, please think of employee relations since you must pay exempt employees.

Continue reading The Pope Is Coming to Philly →

Attack Bullying Without Being Attacked

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Nobody likes a bully—but people often struggle to define exactly what bullying is. Like the former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once famously said of obscenity, most people know it when they see it even if they can’t define it. The closest any state has come to addressing bullying is California, which has mandated training on “abusive conduct.” Yet even that law requires only training. It does not change California’s nondiscrimination laws to ban bullying per se. In California, bullying is still lawful unless it is based on prohibited factors such as race, gender, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation or disability. The same is true under federal law and every state law.

In other words, it’s not unlawful to bully an individual merely because he or she is a competitor, for example, or to be an equal-opportunity bad manager who bullies everyone.

To continue reading, please click here.

The Kentucky Clerk in Your Workplace

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The Kentucky Clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples is going to jail.  She has tried to justify her refusal to perform her job on the ground that to do so would violate her religious beliefs as protected by the Constitution.

Good thing employers do not have to deal with this kind of issue.  Or do we?

Continue reading The Kentucky Clerk in Your Workplace →

9 Questions Employers Need to Answer Before Firing an Ashley Madison Customer

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AshleyMaidson.com (“AM”) has been referred to as the premier website for married individuals seeking partners for extra-marital affairs. For the record, I know that only after reading about the recent hacking of it, discussed below!

I recommend you do not check that website at your home or work. There could be personal or professional consequences. Continue reading 9 Questions Employers Need to Answer Before Firing an Ashley Madison Customer →

12 Ways To Increase Gender Equality

General,

I confess I am tired of hearing about how we need to increase gender equality. No duh. How do you get there? I don’t know of any magic bullet but here are my 12 suggestions. Each of these could be a separate book, let alone a separate blog.

  1. Increase The Gender Representation On Your Board of Directors

Where the board of a company has at least one woman on its board, it is likely to crush the competition. Unlike in the employment context, you can specifically target women for positions on the Board. No discrimination issues. Continue reading 12 Ways To Increase Gender Equality →

jonathan-cat-shelterJonathan’s preventive and corrective approach to employment/HR issues includes counseling, policies, training, agreements and audits. Areas of substantive focus include, for example: gender equality, wage and hour compliance, social media and employee engagement. When Jonathan isn’t counseling employers or dedicating his time to SHRM and the HR community, he can be found volunteering his time and efforts to animal rescue. Jonathan is also deeply committed to Holocaust remembrance. On the fun side, Jonathan is also mad about Mad Men, writing and speaking on the employment issues arising out of the MadMen Era! Follow Jonathan on Twitter @Jonathan_HR_Law.