Rojgar Job News

When was the last time you said you’re sorry to someone at work.  Last week? Last month? Last year? Never? There isn’t a right answer to this but I was thinking about this yesterday on the Jewish New Year. Jews are asked to spend the next 10 days to reflect on the past year and ask those who they may have slighted in last year for forgiveness. Call it prep work for Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. First, an acknowledgement (apology?) up front: This isn’t the firm time I’ve written about workplace apologies. Back then, I referred you to the SorryWatch blog, which tracks good, bad and ugly apologies.  (There is also a category for “Evil Twin” apologies too. Worth checking out just for that.) More recently, the blog authors recount the apologies of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police in settlement of a massive discrimination and workplace harassment claim a while back. It’s a terrific and rare example of the power of an apology in ...

“Let’s engage in a Halloween-type party where everybody would be having sex.” Or perhaps, “So, are you going to wear a bikini for your Halloween costume?” What is it about Halloween that brings out the creep factor in the workplace? The first quote is from a real district court case earlier this year which documented a series of alleged comments made relating to a sexual harassment complaint. (If you’re scratching your head at the reference to a “Halloween-type” party, I’m right there with you.) The second is from a different case that is no less offensive in its descriptions of pervasive inappropriate conduct in the workplace. (And, as if you needed confirmation, Princess Leia in a bikini from Return of the Jedi is not appropriate in the workplace, however cool Princess Leia is.) Now, long time readers may recall a 2008 post about the perils of costumes in the workplace, and another post in 2010 about the perils of enabling sexual h...

Shorter is better. Why? The slang TL;DR comes to mind. But it turns out there’s an educational component too — at least according to the results of a new study that examined workplace contracts. In the study, published in the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology and recapped by Insights by Stanford Business School, “the researchers found that workers whose contracts contained more general language spent more time on their tasks, generated more original ideas, and were more likely to cooperate with others. They were also more likely to return for future work with the same employer, underscoring the durable and long-lasting nature of the effect.” In other words, contracts that contained pages upon pages of specific do’s and don’t for workers, ended up harming the employment relationship. Instead, researchers found that “the more general contracts increased people’s sense of autonomy over their work.” This isn...

The 2018 session of the General Assembly started last week and increasing workplace training is a top priority for passage. Indeed, it is not surprising that we’re starting to see the first proposed legislation to address the number of harassment claims that have been making headlines the last six months. Governor’s Bill 5043 sets up the following changes: First, it would increase the number of employers that need to provide anti-harassment training — resetting the number of employees needed to fall under the statute from 50 to 15. Second, the bill would also require  all employees (not just supervisors and managers) to undergo two hours of what it calls “awareness and anti-harassment compliance training” and have that training updated every five years. The training that now is just focused on sexual harassment prevention in the workplace, but would also be expanded to include all types of harassment—including that based on race, color, religiou...

My colleague, Jarad Lucan, returns today with a very special post on a ground-breaking week at the NLRB.  For Connecticut employers, the decisions change a lot of what has been going on at the NLRB for the last several years.   Back in January of 2013, I wrote an article for the Connecticut Law Tribune entitled “For the NLRB, a December to Remember,” which you can read here if you are interested . In that article, I discussed a slew of Obama Administration Labor Board decisions that were handed down in December of 2012 and that construed labor law in a way favorable to employees and unions. Based on decisions last week from the new Trump Administration Labor Board (issued just before Chairman Philip Miscimarra’s term expired), this December has proven to be another memorable one;  this time, however, employers that are the beneficiaries. In a decision involving The Boeing Company and its no-camera rule that prohibited employees from using camera ena...

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to the IASA Northeastern Conference on a favorite topic of mine of late — Privacy and Data Breaches in the workplace. Of course, that sounds kinda of boring. So my presentation is actually called the title of this post: “The Rise of Smartphone Fueled, Social Media Addicted Workplace Zombies.” Much catchier right? Speaking before the Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA) Northeastern Chapter at their 54th Annual Regional Conference was great fun though. In my talk, I highlighted items like Business E-mail Compromise scams, Ransomware, and yes, even workplace zombies. What do I mean by that? Well, too many of us (including me at times) stare at our phones and sometimes respond to e-mails or click without thinking.  (Think Before You Click would make the name of a good book; fortunately, I wrote a chapter in that very book a while back.) Protecting workplace data IS about thinking. It’s about protecting ...

With a new wave of sex harassment complaints making headlines, there is also a bit of reflection that should happen at workplaces and the lawfirms that counsel them. One area that we can evaluate is whether the training that is provided is effective. A report yesterday from NPR concluded that training is just not working at many workplaces.  The primary reason most harassment training fails is that both managers and workers regard it as a pro forma exercise aimed at limiting the employer’s legal liability. For those of us who have been paying attention, this isn’t new.  I know that for the trainings I give, I try to have them be engaging with discussions of different fact scenarios being discussed. But I’ve wondered whether we could be doing more. Indeed, the EEOC issued a report last year highlighting the problems with existing training programs. In its executive summary, it noted two big issues with the current model of training: “ Training Must Chang...

It was the last semester of my senior year in college – right after Spring Break – when I heard the news that would forever shape my views on mental illness. A friend and fellow editor of the college newspaper I worked for, Steven Ochs jumped to his death from one of the many bridges near his hometown in Pittsburgh, PA. A group of us ended up driving out there across the fields of Pennsylvania to mourn his passing. It was the first time I was a pallbearer at a funeral and I knew then that was something I never wanted to be for a friend again. Steven was a remarkable young adult. I wish you could’ve known him.  He wrote amazing columns for our college paper and editorials nearly every weekday.  Thanks to the internet, you can still read a few here. I can still remember sitting in his newspaper office couch and hearing him talk; he was always a few steps ahead of me.  I thought he had a promising future. I thought about Steve a bunch last week, when the ce...

Do you ever watch a television series or see a Broadway musical and think about the employment law issues that are being raised? (C’mon, I can’t be the only one out there.) I was reminded of my inability to separate out fact from fiction when I went to see the Broadway-hit “Waitress” at Bushnell Performing Arts Center in Hartford recently.  It’s been a long-running production, so what was there not to like? (And to be clear: The production is first rate, with great singers and cute sets.) But one of the female waitresses gets hit on by her boss (and then engages in a relationship with him) and, well, isn’t anyone aware of the sexual harassment laws in this country? The truth is that pop culture’s relationship with employment laws has always been a bit hazy. Think back to all the workplace comedies that have graced our television screens.  Co-workers and supervisors argue, insult, flirt, and proposition others.   Wha...

First off, let me dispense with the elephant in the room — Yes, the show “Survivor” is still on the air and yes, I haven’t missed any of the 39 seasons of it. In fact, I shared lessons that employers could learn from Survivor way back in 2010. Last week’s episode of Survivor, however, brought far more reality than most would think a “reality show” could or should bring. There’s a lot of nuance to the episode that a short blog post can’t get into (though this podcast by Rob Cesterino gives it a try), but the show’s episode revolved around legitimate sexual harassment claims, using harassment claims for nefarious purposes, and bystander syndrome. And it was ugly. Really ugly. Why?  Here are a few things that stood out to me from an employment perspective: First, a female player (Kellee) complained to a producer that another male player (Dan) was a little too “touchy” and made her feel uncomfortable. To be sure, t...

Recently, I saw a skiing dog. Oh, and it was wearing sunglasses too. To be fair (to the dog), it was actually tucked neatly in a backpack while the owner was in line for the chairlift. I didn’t actually see the dog skiing, but you get the picture.  (Which I did capture!) I thought I had seen everything but this was something new. And yet, it perfectly captured for me, a growing trend I’ve been hearing clients asking me about — “Everyone seems to be asking to bring their dogs everywhere. When do I have to allow a dog (or other emotional support animal) in my workplace?” First, to be clear, I’m not talking about service animals — the type that do work or provide some benefit to those who are disabled.  A trained service dog may, for example, be able to spot seizures for those with epilepsy. In such an instance, the ADA requires that employers provide a “reasonable accommodation”; in most instances, the service animal can (and...

The news late Friday was not unexpected. The Governor is shutting down the offices of non-essential businesses including non-profits. But if I had told you two weeks ago that Connecticut would be issuing an order telling non-essential businesses that their offices would have to close, I’m not sure I would’ve had many believers. And yet, here we are. Executive Order 7H has been something I’ve been trying to get employers to prepare for, particularly in a prior post. Here’s the key text: All businesses and not-for-profit entities in the state shall employ, to the maximum extent possible, any telecommuting or work from home procedures that they can safely employ. Non-essential businesses or not-for-profit entities shall reduce their in-person workforces at any workplace locations by 100% not later than March 23, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. Any essential business or entity providing essential goods, services or functions shall not be subject to these in-person restrictions....

Wednesday evening is the first night of Passover — one of my favorite Jewish holidays. (And, not surprisingly, not the first time I’ve written about it.) Why? Traditionally, it is one of the few times the entire extended family gets together and celebrates with great homemade food. Think matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, hard-boiled eggs, latkes (yes, my family eats them for Passover too) and, of course, my mother’s meatballs (made with my late-grandmother’s recipe, of course). But this year will be different. No family seder. At least not in person. Instead, we are using the 2020 technology instead – a video conference. Call it the Year of the Zoom Seder. Will it work? Well it won’t be the same, but it’ll be different. And that’s just fine by me.  At least we’re together. And what about the food? Well, as it turns out, my mother lives nearby and we did a distanced tradeoff.  I received a fresh batch of matzo ball soup and mea...

Let’s face it: Trying to keep up with all the pandemic-related employment rules released by the state only to see them modified again and again, is challenging to say the least. And yet, the Safe Workplace Rules for Essential Employers have been modified yet again Tuesday night by the Department of Economic and Community Development, just two business days after they were already updated to ask masks as a requirement. The modifications don’t just fix a typo, but significantly change what had been put in place over the weekend by reducing the need for employees to wear a mask at all times. Effective immediately, in workplace settings where employees are working alone in segregated spaces (i.e. cubicles with walls, private offices, etc.), employees may remove their masks . But, workers need to wear masks or face coverings “from the time they enter the building until the time they arrive at their cubicle/work station and at any time they are leaving their work station an...

Updated 10:15a, May 9, 2020 Late Friday afternoon, Governor Lamont announced that Phase I reopenings will occur as soon as May 20, 2020.  These will include “non-essential” offices that had been closed, restaurants, retail stores and hair salons.  Early on Saturday, we also got all the detailed rules that will need to be met to reopen; we’ll have a full update on my firm’s website after a full review . You can download the rules for offices here. The basic outline for the reopening rules are set forth is fairly consistent with the “Safe Workplace” rules for essential workplaces and also my posts on the subject as well. Here’s what you can look for, according to the early details released in the press conference: Offices should be limited to 50 percent capacity Employees should still work from home where possible Meetings are subject to a five person limit Employees should be seated at least six feet apart and employers should leave des...

As we head into the weekend and look to unwind from another difficult week, it’s time to discuss another (not-quite-as) serious issue as the pandemic. I used to think that Katherine Hepburn was the most famous performer from Connecticut. However, my teenager tells me during this Stay-at-Home period that I’m wrong: It is Charli D’Amelio. If you have a teenager, you know what I’m talking about. For the rest of you, let me explain and explain why I’m convinced that employers still worried about Facebook or even Snapchat are chasing yesterday’s “ghost”. (I’m not quite as convinced that Charli > Katherine, however.) You may know that Facebook lost its popularity with teens in the early 2010s with many flocking to Snapchat.  You may not know that Snapchat is no longer where all the teenagers are now hanging out. TikTok is this year’s social media standout and the undisputed star of this pandemic stay-at-home culture. (My wife...

Today (April 30th) was filled with more news for employers and, for the first time in a while, some of it was hopeful. Governor Ned Lamont gave the broad outline of a plan to reopen the state (as I predicted early this morning) though the plan’s details depend on control of the pandemic. What we do know is that if certain trends continue, some businesses will be allowed to reopen on May 20th including some retail (smaller stores), restaurants (outdoor seating only),, offices (with work from home still recommended), nail and hair salons, and some outdoor areas of museums and zoos. Lamont has indicated that masks will be required for most activities at this first stage.  Which additional businesses will be permitted to open and when is still very much to be decided.  No doubt that day camps and pools will be heavily discussed as numerous parents rely on such camps to watch their kids during the summer months. As of publication, the exact details of the reopening hadn...

Memorial Day Weekend, in addition to a time of reflection and observance, is also a time when many of us look at our summer plans and figure out the next three months. But like many of you, our summer plans have been cancelled. Kids aren’t going to camp. We’re not going on a trip. Even my annual ABA meeting — which I’ve done for over 15 years — has moved virtual. On the flip side, I do see a lot more grilling in my future. For employers, it’s a similarly challenging and strange time. In talking with people over the last week or so, I’m struck by how many people are not going back to the office anytime soon. Some have said maybe Labor Day.  One person told me it’ll be 2021 before he goes back; his office has realized how effective remote working can actually be. The truth is there’s no playbook for what happens next.  Clearly, restaurant and retail have been eager to reopen — and understandably so. But offices? Less s...

A few weeks ago, I did an inital post about how the new OSHA guidance on masks only served to complicate efforts for employers to comply with any such rules. This week, my colleague Alfredo Fernandez (with only a little help from me — byline notwithstanding) posted a more thorough post on the ins and outs of masks, face coverings and personal protective equipment. You can read the entire post here.  Here’s a sneak peek: The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued guidance to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the proper use of cloth face masks “at work” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The OSHA guidance must be read in conjunction with any applicable state rules and orders, many of which currently mandate that employees wear a face covering with limited exceptions. Because face masks are an essential defense against the spread of COVID-19, understanding your employees’ respiratory health risks and establishing...

Can I test my employees for COVID-19? Over the course of the last few months, it feels like the answer to that question has been Yes, No, and It Depends. And maybe all three at the same time. In fact, if you look at my post from April 2020, you’ll see the differences in the guidance between then and, as I’ll explain below, now. Quite simple, with more science, we’re starting to get greater clarity on what testing is permissible for employees. For antibody testing, the CDC recently updated its interim guidance to state that antibody test results “should not be used to make decisions about returning persons to the workplace.” Antibody testing, as it turns out, is not yet the panacea yet that many were hoping for. As a result, on June 17, 2020, the EEOC  also updated its guidance on whether antibody testing could be used by employers as a condition of permitting employees to return to the workplace. The short answer is “No”, it cannot be used...