Sharing an office is a bit like having roommates. You share a kitchen, bathrooms, break rooms, and sometimes a cubicle for most of your waking hours. It’s not surprising, then, that your co-workers can grate a nerve like no other. Keyboard pounding, personal phone calls, and smelly lunches can have you pulling your hair out…. Read More
Employment Blog
Here you can find the most recent employment law news and commentary on cases around the country. If you need assistance with employment law, don't hesitate to call us.
Top Female Exec at Anheuser-Busch Claims Discrimination
Anheuser-Busch products are a staple at American gatherings. Football games, barbeques, and fraternity socials aren’t complete without a cold one from America’s largest brewing company. But a former female executive at the company claims that she wasn’t invited to the party. Francine Katz spent 20 years an Anheuser-Busch employee, beginning as a corporate lawyer and… Read More
Somebody’s Gotta Do It: Dirty Jobs’ Mike Rowe on Finding the “Right” Career
Mike Rowe, the host of the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, knows a thing or two about work, and recently he was willing to share some pearls of wisdom with a fan on the job hunt. Parker Hall, who describes himself as “go-getter,” has been searching for the “right career” for the last year, and turned… Read More
Another Victory for LGBT Rights
While some states, including Oregon, have chosen to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, federal law currently does not. Recent legal developments seem to signal that a fundamental change may be on the horizon, and LGBT rights activists have had several recent successes. For example, the highly anticipated Supreme… Read More
Amazon Sued Over Unpaid Security Checks
A recent Puget Sound Business Journal article details Amazon.com employees’ recent lawsuit over off-the-clock security checks. The employees have filed a federal lawsuit against Amazon for back pay for time spent each work day in security screening lines before breaks and at the end of their shifts. Because Amazon requires the daily searches, employees believe… Read More
Washington Workplace Searches
Let’s begin by saying: hopefully a workplace search, where you feel like your privacy has been invaded, never happens to you. That being said, sometimes workplace searches and interrogations are necessary in order to ensure things like information breaches, illegal activities and issues with drugs and contraband are handled properly. Workplace searches can happen with… Read More
Teacher Demands Job Back After Showing Up Drunk For Work
The Seattle P-I recently reported that a Bellevue teacher is demanding his job back after what he calls an illegal firing. Erik Schock, an 11-year employee at Chinook Middle School, was terminated earlier this year after he arrived to work drunk. Schock, a P.E. teacher is believed to have had a blood alcohol level twice… Read More
Some Government Employees Get to "Double Dip"
When the federal government shut down for sixteen days in October, it left approximately 400,000 employments across the United States effectively jobless. A small percentage of these employees applied for unemployment benefits during that time, and some of them were approved and actually received benefits. However, now that Congress approved back pay for the furloughed… Read More
So Cliché: Why Workplace Jargon Has Got To Go
From coast to coast, cubicle to cubicle, workplace jargon is collectively despised. Words like value add, impactful, and brainstorm usually induce more cringes than work product. That’s why crossing certain words off your workplace vocab list could help you cross things off your to-do list. The Problem With Jargon Workplace jargon is more than an… Read More
Fired for Being Gay? Mayor Says Police Chief Deserved Reprimand, Community Isn’t So Sure
Crystal Moore was Latta, North Carolina’s first female Chief of Police in Latta, South Carolina. She was also the town’s first openly gay police chief. And since she was suddenly fired last week, the town’s residents questioned whether her sexuality cost her the job. Moore served the town of Latta for 20 years without a… Read More