Tag: Sexual Harassment

2019 Labor and Employment Law Predictions

Published by Brett Holubeck on January 4, 2019

2018 was a whirlwind year for labor and employment. There were 3 major Supreme Court decisions. One decision concerned overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standard Act where the court found that the exemptions should be interpreted broadly rather than narrowly. The Janus decision held that public sector employees could not be forced to pay an agency fee (public sector employees do not need to pay anything to a union that represents them). Finally, the Court found in the Epic Systems case that employers can require employees to settle employment disputes through arbitration agreements without violating the National Labor Relations Act.

While not as many changes will occur this year in labor and employment, there are still a number of exciting changes that could occur. Here are 10 labor and employment law predictions that I believe will happen next year.

Sexual Harassment Lawsuits Will Increase

The #Metoo movement is not going away in 2018. The preliminary data from the EEOC showed that charges alleging sexual harassment increased by more than 12% from 2017 into 2018. Unfortunately, this is an issue that is not going away. My prediction is that there will be more of these charges and lawsuits going into this year.

There will also be several states that will enact new laws to combat sexual harassment this year. California already has new requirements that just went into effect.

Starting in 2019, employers with five or more employees must provide two hours of training to supervisors and one hour to all other employees within six months of their hire (or promotion to supervisor) and every two years thereafter. Temporary and seasonal employees must be trained within their first 30 days or 100 hours, whichever comes first.

No company wants to be thought of as the company that allowed sexual harassment. Just look at what happened to Mike Isabella, a former Top Chef star, and his restaurants:

But in a Chapter 7 filing on Tuesday, which seeks to operate six restaurants through Dec. 27 before closing them permanently, Isabella argues that the local and national media relentlessly threw shade on his business operations even after he agreed to a confidential settlement in May with former Isabella Eatery manager, Chloe Caras, who sued for “extraordinary sexual harassment.” Isabella, documents note, apologized publicly to a local TV reporter and implemented new “zero tolerance” sexual harassment policies at all of his restaurants. He was ready to “restore confidence in Mike Isabella and his restaurants.”

Isabella lost his restaurants after he was accused of sexual harassment. Now, the accusations against him were very serious and he was the owner of the restaurant and was the one accused of sexual harassment. However, this can happen to any business and can be caused by employees at any level of the business. The issue of sexual harassment in the workplace is not going away. There will be more lawsuits, and charges regarding sexual harassment in 2019 than there were in 2018.

The Supreme Court Will Take a Case to Decide Whether Sexual Orientation is Protected under Title VII

The Supreme Court is considering taking a case to determine whether Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. The issue hinges on whether “Because of … sex” includes sexual orientation or is limited to a person’s sex.

Currently there is a split among the Circuit Courts. The 2nd and 7th Circuit have found that Title VII prohibits sexual orientation-based discrimination and the 11th Circuit has found that sexual orientation is not protected under Title VII.

The Supreme Court will grant the writ of certiorari and they will review the case. If the Supreme Court decides to review the issue, then it will be one of the most important cases that the Court considers next term.

The Department of Labor Will Increase the Salary Threshold for the Overtime Rule

The Department of Labor is still undergoing rulemaking to raise the salary threshold that is required to meet the overtime exemption, which allows companies to pay workers a salary and not have to pay employees overtime regardless of the number of hours that they work in a week. Currently, an employee must be paid at least $455 per week (which equals $23,660 annually) to meet the salary threshold. In 2016, the Obama administration raised the salary threshold to $913 a week (or $47,476 a year). A federal district judge eventually blocked that rule and questioned the DOL’s ability to set any salary requirement to be exempt from overtime.

The DOL will attempt to raise the threshold to around $33,000 this year probably in March. The new salary threshold will be challenged again to determine whether the DOL even has the authority to set a salary threshold.

Paid Family Leave is Coming

As I said in a prior post, paid family leave is coming. This is a question of when and not if. I believe that it will be implemented either this year or next year. Here is what I said in my earlier post.

Various politicians have expressed their support for paid family leave. Ivanka Trump and The White House have discussed their support for family leave. Marco Rubio introduced a plan to allow new parents to delay taking their Social Security benefits in exchange for two months of paid parental benefits. The Democratic Party Platform also called for paid family leave.

One poll showed that 54% of Americans think the government should require all employers to provide 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. Only 29% of the respondents disagreed and 17% were undecided. With as much support as there is for paid family leave, it seems certain that Congress and the President will eventually enact a paid family leave law.

The National Labor Relations Board Will Issue a Joint Employer Standard

In September, the NLRB had issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to change the joint employer standard. The joint employer standard is important to determine whether companies are liable for violations of the law that are committed by staffing companies or franchises. For example, McDonalds has been combating a charge that it is a joint employer with its franchisees and is responsible for these small business owners firing employees that wanted higher wages.

Here is the release from the NLRB with the proposed rule:

Under the proposed rule, an employer may be found to be a joint-employer of another employer’s employees only if it possesses and exercises substantial, direct and immediate control over the essential terms and conditions of employment and has done so in a manner that is not limited and routine. Indirect influence and contractual reservations of authority would no longer be sufficient to establish a joint-employer relationship.

Unfortunately for the NLRB, the DC Circuit Court recently found that:

the question of whether there is a joint employment relationship under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) must be answered by applying the common law test for whether there exists an “agency” relationship. The Board has no special expertise relevant to defining the common law of agency. Therefore, according to the Court of Appeals, the Board is awarded no deference in this area. In other words, the Board does not have the right to define or redefine joint employment in a way that would be inconsistent with the common law meaning of “agency.”’

My prediction is that the NLRB moves forward with its rulemaking and ignores the decision of the DC Circuit. This will have a big impact on employers that use staffing companies because they will not (generally) be liable for violations that the staffing company commits against its employees unless the company exercises direct control over the employees rather than merely having the ability to direct the staffing company employees.

To clarify, it is basically the difference between a supervisor of a hotel telling the landscaping crew (that is employed by a staffing company) how to perform their jobs and exactly what needs to be done (direct control) versus the staffing company supervising, disciplining, and directing the employees with the supervisor or owner of the hotel merely having the authority to direct these landscaping employees (indirect control).

I know it is a bit convoluted, but it is incredibly important. Depending on how this decision turns out it could have a big impact on any company that franchises businesses. Yes, that means that it will impact every McDonalds and Chick-Fil-A owner.

Independent Contractor Issues Will Arise in Many States

Independent contractors are everywhere and the law concerning them is far from settled. My prediction is that more states will seek to limit the abilities of companies to use independent contractors especially when these contractors form a part of the company’s core business (think UBER drivers).

The California Supreme Court issued a landmark decision last year and the effects are still being felt. Below is the new test (called the ABC test) that the court implemented. For a worker to be an independent contractor the company must show:

1) that the company does not direct the worker in the performance of her job, 2) that the worker performs work outside the scope of the company’s typical business (such as a freelance artist who designs fliers for a moving company), and 3) that the worker has made the affirmative decision to go into business for herself, perhaps by incorporating or starting an LLC.

New Jersey and Massachusetts also use the ABC test to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor. Many of the companies that use independent contractors have a bad reputation and it is likely that more state supreme courts and possibly legislatures will adopt the ABC test. Regardless, it will get harder (at the state level) for companies to employ independent contractors.

More States will Protect Medical Marijuana Users from Discrimination

More states will change their stance on medical marijuana and whether employees that use it are protected from discrimination. Currently Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island protect employee use of medical marijuana and prohibit employers from firing those employees for off duty medical marijuana use. In December, a Delaware judge allowed a case involving a medical marijuana user that was fired after failing a drug test to move forward.

We may not get a decision on this case this year, but it is likely that Delaware will join Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in protecting off duty medical marijuana use, and more states will follow suit.

Unfortunately for employers, there is not a good test that can measure impairment for marijuana, which is why more states protecting off-duty marijuana use will cause problems for employers. Until there is a test that can measure impairment, increased training will be critical so that supervisors can observe employees that appear to be impaired.

You can see my earlier post regarding addressing marijuana in the workplace here.

Notices of Inspection (I-9 Audits) Will Increase

There will be more Notices of Inspection (I-9 Audits) against businesses this year. As I said in a prior post about Notices of Inspection:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased the number of I-9 audits that it has conducted to around four times as many I-9 inspections (Notices of Inspection) in the first seven months of 2018 as it did in the prior fiscal year. ICE conducted 5,278 Notices of Inspection since January 2018.

Immigration enforcement is a priority for the Trump Administration.

The Supreme Court Will Issue a Decision About DACA. A Deal Will be Reached to Allow DACA Recipients to Remain in the US.

Either the Supreme Court will issue a decision about DACA or there will be new legislation that will solve the DACA issue. DACA holders will achieve some form of permanent or semi-permanent status that will allow them to remain in the US.

As I said in a prior post about DACA:

DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) protects certain people that were brought to the US as children from deportation and allows them to get a job or attend school. They cannot obtain permanent residency through the program but may obtain work authorization and continue to reside in the country. There are currently nearly 700,000 people that are in the DACA program. The program was slated to end before a judge ruled that the government must reinstate the program and accept applications again in August. Earlier today [(November 8)] the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Trump Administration cannot end the DACA program immediately. They found that California and the others challenging the Trump administration’s decision to end the program would succeed in their case against the administration.

The Trump Administration has already appealed the decision of the Ninth Circuit to the Supreme Court. This is an issue that will likely be decided within the next year or so through a bipartisan deal.

The Spouses of H-1B Visa Holders Will Lose their Work Authorization While They Wait for a Green Card

H-1B spouses will lose their lawsuit to retain their work authorization while waiting for their green card.

There is currently a lawsuit about whether spouses on H-4 visas will be allowed to obtain work authorization while they wait for their green cards after their I-140 is approved. This is especially important to immigrants from India and China as they may wait years (sometimes even more than a decade) until they are able to get a green card after their spouse’s immigrant petition has been approved. Unfortunately, I believe that they will eventually lose their lawsuit. Administrative agencies have a lot of authority to change their positions on regulations.

Conclusion

I do not believe that it will be a year with as many changes in labor and employment law (at the federal level) as last year because Congress is split. However, many states will undoubtedly try to fill in the gap. The Supreme Court could also cause major changes in labor and employment law by reviewing whether sexual orientation is protected under Title VII.

These are my 2019 labor and employment law predictions. I’ll write a post at the end of the year to let you all know whether my labor and employment law predictions came true.

Happy New Year Everyone!

The information provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, then you should speak with a lawyer about your specific issues. Every legal issue is unique. A lawyer can help you with your situation. Reading the blog, contacting me through the site, emailing me or commenting on a post does not create an attorney-client relationship between any reader and me.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.

How to Prevent Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Published by Brett Holubeck on November 16, 2018

Woman holding a #Metoo sign to show support with the #Metoo movement's goal to end sexual harassment — Photo by Mihai Surdu on Unsplash

Sexual harassment is not going away. It’s on the news daily. You hear it whispered about in the walls of many offices. At the one-year anniversary of the #MeToo movement 425 prominent people have been accused of sexual misconduct. Most recently, Google employees led a workplace strike on November 1 to protest a multimillion-dollar settlement offer to a high ranking executive.

Sexual harassment seems so pervasive in society. Movies often portray “funny” or “romantic” scenes (like chasing after a love interest that wants nothing to do with the main character) that in real life would simply be creepy. Ever seen the movie 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton? Yeah… that’s what we are talking about- creepy bosses exploiting their employees. It is hard to turn on the news without hearing about another victim of sexual harassment or a discussion of the #MeToo movement. So, what are some steps that companies and employees can take to combat sexual harassment when it seems to be everywhere?

Have a Policy in Place to Address Appropriate Workplace Behavior.

All companies need workplace rules. When the employee handbook has clear rules for the employees, then they understand what they can and cannot do. You can take a look at Facebook’s policy as an example. The anti-harassment policy should explain that the company does not tolerate discrimination based on any protected characteristic, list the characteristics (sex, race, etc.), and give examples of what would be a violation of the policy (slurs, sexual innuendos, etc.). When the rules are public and well drafted, employees have no excuse for not following them.

Have a Procedure to Report Sexual Harassment and Ensure that there is More than One Person that People can Report to

The policy should have a procedure that people can follow to report incidents of sexual harassment. It should give multiple people that the person can report to (human resources, manger, etc.) and how they can make their reports (in person, email, etc.). People should be made to feel as comfortable as possible when they are making these reports. These are tough subjects to discuss much less bring up when sometimes the person who harassed you is in a position of power.

Train your Staff about Sexual Harassment

Some states require employers to train their staff regarding sexual harassment. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, and New York require some form of sexual harassment training to either all employees and/or supervisors. There are important reasons to train your staff on this issue even if you are not required to do so. It can help reduce your liability by decreasing the likelihood that an incident will occur, which is especially important if you work in an industry where sexual banter or other misbehavior is more likely to occur (like restaurants). When you talk about sexual harassment at work you are making it known that the company will not tolerate this kind of behavior. People will be more likely to speak up.

Train your Managers

Companies need to train managers separate from their staff. The training is not the same for managers as it is for staff. Not everyone that is subject to inappropriate workplace behavior will speak up. Managers must be appropriately trained to recognize harassment, how to respond to it, and the procedures that must be followed. They are a company’s frontline of defense against sexual harassment claims.

Ensure that Upper Management Does Not Tolerate Sexual Harassment

Upper management sets the tone for the rest of the company. For example, Under Armour’s practice of allowing employees to charge strip club visits and other adult entertainment to the company was a bad policy. It is incredible that this ended just this year. If employees are allowed to do this, and if the CEO’s and other C-suite officers are allowed to expense this sort of “entertainment”, then the company’s management is not leading by example (and is likely exposing itself to sexual harassment lawsuits).

Upper management should care about sexual harassment because the average cost of a sexual harassment lawsuit runs from $75,000-$125,000, but can often result in multimillion dollar losses for a company.

Beware of Instances Where Sexual Harassment is More Likely to Occur

If the company has a party where alcohol is present, then a problem is more likely to arise. Some workplace studies have shown a link between drinking and harassment. If you are going to have an office party, then you need to ensure that you provide drink limits to the people that will be there (2 drinks per person is a good limit).

Speak Up

I’m not addressing this to the victims of sexual harassment. There are a number of reasons why they do not always report an incident. Those that do report sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior deserve to be applauded.

I’m talking about the other people. The people that witness something, but do not say anything. The people that hear about an incident, but don’t do anything about it. Everyone is responsible for creating a positive and safe workplace where people want to work. It is people (like this) that do the right thing by taking action to make their workplace a better place that deserve to be held up as an example. Bystanders can help stop sexual harassment. They can run interference, get a manager, intervene and do a number of different things to prevent sexual harassment. We all need to do our part.

Conclusion

Sexual harassment can be severely reduced, but it will take everyone working together. If there is one thing that is evident from the past year and the #MeToo movement, it is that a lot of people have been hurt by people that they worked with. Hopefully, we can work together to end sexual harassment.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.

Should Halloween Give Employers Nightmares?

Published by Brett Holubeck on October 26, 2018

Picture of a lighted jack-o'-lantern to show that Halloween is scary. — Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

It is that time of the year again. The time when some companies will have Halloween celebrations that involve employees dressing up in costumes or engaging in office antics. Halloween is one of the most dangerous times for employers because of the possibility of various forms of liability that they may face. The celebrations can cause issues related to religious discrimination, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and other office problems.

Halloween May Contribute to Religious Discrimination

Halloween is one of the most interesting holidays for religious discrimination claims. Some groups may view Halloween as involving demons and claim that they cannot participate in any Halloween parties because they are Christian. On the other hand, Wiccans (of which there are approximately more than 700,000 in the US) may feel that any office celebration is a way to make fun of their religious beliefs.

Some Christians may Refuse to Participate

Some, not all Christians, may view Halloween as a demonic activity that is completely against their beliefs. If the employee is a Jehovah’s Witness or some other religion that does not celebrate Halloween, then you should not force an employee to participate. Forcing an employee to participate could cause a religious discrimination case. While Title VII, the law protecting employees from discrimination, only applies to companies with 15 or more employees, many state laws have a lower employee threshold. However, even if a company’s employees are not protected under the act, does any company really want to be known for engaging in religious discrimination?

Wiccans may View Some Office Banter as Discrimination Against Them Based on Their Religion

Some groups may view the holiday as an important day for their religion and request the day off. If an employee is Wiccan, then you should allow them to have October 31 off. You also need to be careful and sensitive to how other employees treat Wiccans around Halloween. It is important to be sensitive to the needs of these employees. If anyone makes fun of an employee for their beliefs, then you need to react and protect those employees. Many people are not familiar with the Wiccan religion, which can cause other employees to make fun of them. It does not help that Wiccans use the pentagram/pentacle as a holy symbol and the inverted pentagram/pentacle is associated with Satan by Christians. The similarity between the two makes it easy for Christians and others to feel attacked because they misunderstand the beliefs of the Wiccans. It is imperative to act quickly to defuse a situation regarding this or other misunderstood Wiccan beliefs. There is at least one instance where this has caused a lawsuit against a company.

Halloween, Racial Discrimination, and Megyn Kelly

Many people are not aware of what is and what is not appropriate to wear during Halloween. Take Megyn Kelly’s comments about blackface. Here is what Megyn Kelly said:

But what is racist? You truly do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. That was OK when I was a kid, as long as you were dressing like a character.

Don’t listen to Megyn Kelly. It’s not ok. No employee should use blackface for their costume or otherwise purposefully dress themselves up to look like another race for a Halloween party.

There is one case (Nichols v. Grand Trunk W. R.R., 1999 BL 5415 (Mich. Ct. App. Dec. 21, 1999)) that used employees dressing up in blackface and chains to support the plaintiffs’ claims of racial discrimination. The plaintiffs were ultimately not successful because their claim had passed the statute of limitations (it was too late for them to sue). However, both the case and the incident involving Megyn Kelly clearly demonstrate the danger of allowing employees to dress with blackface to look like a member of another race for Halloween. They could seriously offend someone and subject them to an environment where they would experience racial discrimination.

What to Do If Your Office Has A Halloween Party

Can you still have an office Halloween party if someone could be offended and sue? Yes, you can have a party, but you should take certain steps to minimize the risks of a lawsuit or offending employees

If the company allows employees to dress up, then you should prohibit employees from wearing anything that has naughty or slutty in the title. No one needs to come dressed to work in anything inappropriate. Participation in dressing up or the party should always be voluntary. The normal workplace dress code that employees are expected to dress professionally and avoid anything that can be deemed offensive should still apply. In today’s current environment, I would also prohibit employees from bringing plastic guns or other items that could appear threatening to an employee. Employees should also be prohibited from dressing as anything political as this will cause office problems. Halloween and any holiday should be a time for employees to have some fun at work. It should not be a time for additional issues.

Some employees will always view a party as a way to test the boundaries of what is permissible. They may make inappropriate jokes to employees. Supervisors and managers must be aware of any instances where an employee makes any statements that could be considered to be sexual harassment and take immediate corrective action.

When given a chance to have some light fun, some employees will abuse the opportunity. If an employee is caught playing a trick on another employee or otherwise engaging in inappropriate workplace behavior, then you need to discipline the employee.

Conclusion

Halloween can be a great time for employees to relax and prepare for the upcoming holiday season. Employees still need to be aware that the normal rules apply to the workplace and they cannot engage in behavior that would be sexual harassment, racial discrimination, or religious discrimination during the holiday.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.