Overlawyered » workplace

EEOC: no post-offer inquiries about family medical history

Walter Olson — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:11:44 +0000

Asking existing employees about their family medical history might offer safety benefits in the workplace, both by indicating vulnerabilities that might be countered by protective measures, and by helping to distinguish ailments with a strong congenital influence from those that might signal occupational disease. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says that such questioning is “genetic discrimination” and unlawful under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which became law in 2009. Fabricut, a decorative fabrics firm, will pay $50,000 to settle charges that it improperly asked about family medical history and also that it improperly engaged in disability discrimination by refusing to employ as a clerk a woman it regarded as having carpal tunnel syndrome. [EEOC press release]

Tags: disabled rights, medical, workplace

EEOC: no post-offer inquiries about family medical history is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Portland sued for workplace fragrance use”

Walter Olson — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:59:43 +0000

Two years ago the city of Portland, Ore. became the first to adopt a voluntary policy against fragrance use in city offices. (A similar Detroit measure had been taken in response to a lawsuit.) Now Julee Reynolds, a city worker who says she suffers from multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), has sued Portland for allegedly not doing enough to enforce the policy. [KOIN; earlier here, here, etc.]

Tags: cosmetics, disabled rights, Oregon, workplace

“Portland sued for workplace fragrance use” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

NYC battle: can employers consider job applicants’ credit records?

Walter Olson — Sat, 04 May 2013 04:05:30 +0000

Sometimes, when food choices are not involved, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is actually on the right side of controversies. One instance of that is the series of battles he’s having with the New York City Council on various bills to regulate employers. The Council recently overrode his veto of a bill creating unemployment status as a new protected class, and has pressed a paid-sick-leave bill as well. A third proposal: forbidding employers to consider job applicants’ credit records in hiring. Eight liberal-leaning states have already enacted similar measures but as the Proskauer Rose law firm explains, the NYC proposal goes further:

Unlike the vast majority of laws in effect and in legislation pending across the nation, however, the Proposal does not explicitly enumerate exceptions for managerial positions, or positions with access to bank or credit card information, Social Security numbers, significant amounts of cash, or confidential or proprietary information. Although the Proposal exempts employers required by law to run credit checks on their applicants and employees, its silence as to these other standard exceptions should give New York City employers particular pause should the Proposal become law.

Tags: discrimination law, NYC, workplace

NYC battle: can employers consider job applicants’ credit records? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Mandatory nap rooms in offices?

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:16:03 +0000

Some eye sleep patterns as the next frontier for government intervention in the name of public health. [Cohen, Prawfsblawg]

Tags: public health, workplace

Mandatory nap rooms in offices? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“As Health Law Changes Loom, A Shift To Part-Time Workers”

Walter Olson — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:11:47 +0000

National Public Radio is the latest news organization to take note of a very unwelcome, and presumably unforeseen, effect of ObamaCare that has already been covered extensively on the blogs.

Tags: ObamaCare, workplace

“As Health Law Changes Loom, A Shift To Part-Time Workers” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Revisiting the Charles Cullen case

Walter Olson — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:14:43 +0000

A new book and a “60 Minutes” report have brought back into the news the case of the killer nurse who murdered at least dozens of patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with drug overdoses and may have killed many more. There’s plenty of blame to go around among hospitals and others, but readers of this site will recall reason Cullen’s career went on so long: “When hospitals checked Cullen’s resume and previous jobs, they were given positive or neutral reports by his former employers, who feared getting sued if they provided a negative one.” [Asbury Park Press] Earlier here, here, etc.

Tags: hospitals, workplace

Revisiting the Charles Cullen case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:05:08 +0000

For most private-sector employers it’s illegal to let workers take comp time off in lieu of overtime; H.R. 1406, the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013, would fix that [Hyman]
Christine Quinn take note: laws requiring paid sick leave do not constitute social progress [Richard Epstein]
Occupational hazards of bagpipe playing (other than being chased out of your neighborhood) [Donald McNeil Jr., New York Times]
“Phoenix ‘Not Looking for Strong Swimmers’ for Lifeguard Jobs” [David Bernstein; earlier on discrimination against deaf lifeguards]
Decline of full-time work in retail sector in response to ObamaCare: year’s biggest employment story? [Warren Meyer, FoxNews (largest movie theater chain cuts hours for thousands of employees)]
City of Philadelphia not doing well on workers’ comp program, to say the least [Workers' Compensation Institute]
“New labor rule will violate attorney-client privilege” [Diana Furchtgott-Roth, D.C. Examiner]
“Calling a Co-Worker ‘Stupid’ Not Enough to Prove ‘Disability’, Court Says” [Daniel Schwartz]

Tags: music and musicians, ObamaCare, Philadelphia, pools, wage and hour suits, workers' compensation, workplace

Labor and employment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

FMLA easy to comply with for employers?

Walter Olson — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 15:16:25 +0000

A survey promoted by the U.S. Department of Labor makes that curious claim, but Jon Hyman’s readers beg to differ [Ohio Employer Law]

Tags: workplace

FMLA easy to comply with for employers? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:18:43 +0000

“Lying to Doctors for Fitness for Duty Exam Can Still Get You Fired …But Only If You’re a Police Officer” [Connecticut cop smashed into two cars during epileptic seizure; Daniel Schwartz]
“Emotional labor”: is having to be cheerful to customers a form of capitalist slavery? [Tim Noah v. Andrew Sullivan]
CalPERS: “The pension fund that ate California” [Steve Malanga, City Journal]
Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), other “worker centers” on the rise: “Will ‘alt-labor’ replace unions?” [Salon; critical anti-ROC site via Matt Patterson/CEI]
Without benefit of an act of Congress, EEOC is interpreting the law to prohibit transgender bias [Workplace Prof]
“The Nation: Government-Mandated Lunch Breaks are Somehow Libertarians’ Fault” [Shackford, Reason]
Historian challenges received account of Haymarket Affair [Ron Radosh]

Tags: Connecticut, disabled rights, EEOC, labor unions, police, transgender, wage and hour suits, workplace

Labor and employment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Discrimination against the unemployed” reaches Portlandia

Walter Olson — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:12:35 +0000

A new Oregon law forbids employers “to advertise a job opening if they won’t consider applicants who are unemployed.” [CNBC] Earlier on efforts to make jobless persons into a new protected class under discrimination laws here, here, etc.

Tags: advertising, discrimination law, Oregon, workplace

“Discrimination against the unemployed” reaches Portlandia is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system