Connection failed: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory

Alabama

$80K payday for requesting Sundays off during interview

09/29/2025

An applicant filed an EEOC complaint, alleging failure to accommodate his religious needs and failure to engage in the interactive process designed to determine whether a religious accommodation was possible.

Discover work mistakes during FMLA? Here’s what to do

06/23/2025

Employees who take FMLA leave are protected from retaliation for doing so. That’s led to the mistaken belief among some employees that they can’t be disciplined or fired while on leave. That’s not the case.

Discipline consistently to avoid reverse-discrimination lawsuits

04/25/2025

There’s a simple way to avoid many kinds of reverse-discrimination lawsuits: Treat everyone alike. That means making sure supervisors apply work rules impartially and without exception unless there is an objective reason discipline should differ.

Never require work during military FMLA leave

03/24/2025

Employers may be tempted to push back against employees’ FMLA military caregiver leave rights, asking them to continue working when they can despite caring for their military family members. That’s an FMLA-interference lawsuit waiting to happen.

Employer sued for not opening jobs to women

02/12/2025

Employers should know they can’t discriminate against applicants because of their sex, but that message hasn’t made its way to every hiring manager.

Harassment cost employer $3 million—and the harasser $835,000

10/25/2024

Juries tend to harshly punish employers that ignore harassment complaints and let the abuse continue. But occasionally, a jury decides it’s not enough to punish the employer; they punish the harasser, too.

FMLA leave begins at birth, not before

08/22/2024

The days immediately preceding a child’s birth are exciting. And who could blame a dad for wanting to experience it by taking FMLA leave? The 11th Circuit, however, has ruled that FMLA leave begins when the child is born, not before, so an employee who was terminated for absences he racked up before his child was born was fired legitimately.

What counts as retaliation? Almost anything

06/20/2024

Follow up with workers who report discrimination to make sure they’re not being punished.

Court: Denying transgender-care coverage violates Title VII

06/17/2024

For the first time, a federal appeals court has ruled that an employer that provides health insurance for its employees violates Title VII if it refuses to cover transgender care. That, in the words of the court, violates Title VII’s sex-discrimination provisions because it denies transgender workers the same benefits other employees are entitled to.

Be sure to document the reasonable factors on which you base all hiring decisions

06/13/2024

Courts rarely second-guess hiring decisions as long as they are based on objective, reasonable factors, backed with documentation.