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May 21, 2022
Employment discrimination and artificial intelligence, employers beware
Employers continue to find new ways to automate business practices, including using software programs that provide for artificial intelligence (AI) in a variety of employment practices, including recruitment. These new technologies, while promising in many respects, have garnered the attention of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which last year launched the Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic […]
May 14, 2022
Pay your interns – regardless of whether the law requires it
Many high school and college students are about to begin their summer internships. Whether the employer is required to compensate them is determined by multiple factors and depends on federal and state law. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, any “for-profit” employer must pay employees for their work. The current minimum wage in Virginia is […]
May 7, 2022
With Supreme Court leak, employers have renewed concern over protecting their confidential information
When Politico reported that it received a copy of a confidential draft of a purported landmark opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court, employers took note. If someone from an institution as sacred as the Supreme Court could suffer such a monumental breach of confidentiality, what can regular employers do to protect their information? For many […]
April 30, 2022
If employers want to avoid a union – listen to employees
With a clear shift to workers taking back their voices following COVID-19, unionizing appears to be on the rise and on the forefront. Not just in New York where, for example, Amazon workers just voted to form a union, but also in Richmond, where last month five area Starbucks voted to unionize. Prior to initiating […]
April 23, 2022
Employee subjected to unwanted birthday party wins $450,000 for disability discrimination & retaliation
A Kentucky jury awarded a former employee $450,000 following a lawsuit alleging disability discrimination and retaliation which he says began when company employees held an unwanted birthday party for him. Former employee Kevin Berling sued his employer Gravity Diagnostics in Kentucky state court claiming that nine months after he started at the company he informed […]
April 16, 2022
The Battle Is On as Managers Declare It’s Time to Get Back to the Office
Managers are fed up with remote work and want employees back in the office, according to a recent survey. Earlier this month, the background and employment screening company GoodHire released results from a survey of 3,500 American managers, 75% of whom said they prefer employees work either hybrid or full-time in the office. Last month, […]
April 9, 2022
New caregiver discrimination guidance in light of COVID-19
Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance titled “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Caregiver Discrimination Under Federal Employment Discrimination Laws.” While the title of guidance focuses on the pandemic, caregiver discrimination can be much broader than those arising due to COVID-19. No federal discrimination law protects an employee’s right to engage in caregiving of […]
April 2, 2022
Employer lessons from the Will Smith slap heard around the country
Most of us have now seen the infamous slap that actor Will Smith gave host Chris Rock during the Oscars. Smith went on stage and slapped Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife’s hair. Rock claims not to have known that Smith’s wife was bald due to a medical condition, alopecia. Smith followed […]
March 26, 2022
COVID workplace regulations rescinded and replaced with flexible guidance for employers
Virginia’s Safety and Health Codes Board repealed the permanent COVID-19 standards effective March 23 that, along with the previous temporary ones, impacted Virginia workplaces since July 2020. On his first day in office, Gov. Glenn Youngkin recognized the undue burden the standards placed on business and issued an executive order instructing the board to immediately […]
March 19, 2022
Father sues Kroger claiming an abusive work environment caused his son’s suicide
Kroger is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed in July by the father of a former employee who alleges his son died as a result of “tortuous” conditions he was subjected to by the grocery chain’s employees. Evan Seyfried, 40, was a 19-year veteran of Kroger’s dairy department in Milford, Ohio, until he committed suicide […]