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BT Currents - Hot Topics in Employment Law

28 Mar Employment Posters and Policies – Is There A Duty To Translate?

EEOC, Employment Lessons | Jennifer Cerven

When setting workplace expectations, proactive employers should recognize the varying levels of literacy and English fluency in today’s workforce, as well as the need for employment information to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. Plain English policies, which are clear to the average reader, are important.  But is there a duty to translate key employment documents or information?   Under federal law, there are at least three instances in which an employer may be required to provide notices in a language other than English:  …

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27 Mar Will You Agree to an Inclusion Rider?

Employment Lessons | Don Lawless

  During the March 4 Academy Awards, actor Frances McDormand introduced a national audience to the diversity-focused contract provision known as an “inclusion rider.” It requires producers to set inclusion goals for on-screen and off-screen talent from under-represented groups. Such goals are intended to “reflect the world in which we actually live.” In a given production, such a rider might establish a goal that the cast be 50% female, 40% under-represented ethnic groups, 20% people with disabilities and 5% LGBT.   Employers large and small…

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23 Mar Medical Marijuana is Coming to Ohio– What Employers Need to Know

Employment Lessons | Doug Oldham

  In 2016, Ohio approved the legalization of medical marijuana, but the law does not go into effect until September 2018. Some Ohio business owners might be nervous at the prospect of employees soon having greater access to marijuana, but they needn’t worry, as the law was written in a pro-employer manner.   Nothing in Ohio’s medical marijuana law:   Requires employers to accommodate an employee’s use, possession, or distribution of marijuana in the workplace Prohibits employers from disciplining, terminating, refusing to hire, or otherwise…

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20 Mar The Box & 1: Defense Strategy against Harassment

Workplace Culture and Conduct | Jeanine Gozdecki

  Not even the upsets and unpredictability of one of college basketball fans’ favorite weekends would have revealed much of the old-school “Box & 1 Defense.” But, it may be time to resurrect the Box & 1 defensive strategy as an effective program against harassment.   The “Box-and-1” in basketball is a hybrid defense: four defenders represent the corners of a box as the core of the defense. Then, the “one” is the best defender doggedly guarding the opponent’s biggest scoring threat. Applying the Box-and-1…

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12 Mar Sixth Circuit Holds Transgender Status Protected Under Title VII

EEOC, Employment Discrimination, Employment Lessons, Workplace Culture and Conduct | Justine Farris

  On March 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit weighed in on the continuing debate surrounding the scope of Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination. In a landmark decision, the court ruled that Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of transgender and transitioning status and further held that bare compliance with Title VII presents no substantial burden upon an employer’s sincerely held religious beliefs, precluding a defense under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”).   In EEOC v. R.G. &…

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