Employers and employees alike are obligated to preserve records related to an employee's employment when they reasonably anticipate litigation. This includes physical documents as well as electronically stored information (ESI). ESI includes things like email and text message communications, online policies, and online documentation—including metad...

1. Anytime my employer subjects me to a hostile work environment, I'm being treated illegally by my company. The law does make illegal every hostile work environment. The law requires the hostile work environment to be based on a protected trait (e.g., race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), nationa...

In February 2022, President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination in April 2022, in a 53-47 vote. She is the first African American woman on the U.S. Supreme Court and one of only six women ever to hold this position.About Justice Ketanji Brown JacksonIn high school, a gui...

The answer is Yes. Phrases such as "Go back to where you came from" can form the basis of a hostile work environment claim, according to the EEOC, the Federal agency that enforces civil rights laws. In addition, the Ninth Circuit ruled in July 2019, in an unpublished opinion, that four racial slurs—including three uses of the "N" word—can constitut...

Looking for a nonprofit or for-profit board to join? Consider becoming a member of the Black Board of Directors Project founded in 1983 by Marvin Perry. It's open to everyone and is dedicated to advancing the leadership skills in the community. I've been a member for several years, and it has been a great experience. It has enabled me to find leade...

Here's a short guide to unemployment benefits, with a special section on new benefits because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  To be eligible for unemployment benefits, a worker must be "unemployed," which means the worker has not performed any services for the week they are seeking benefits and has no wages due to them. An employee who receives sev...

The Houk Law Firm is committed to providing up-to-date information about new laws affecting employers and employees in light of the Covid-19 situation. That's why we created this short guide to Covid-19 paid leave. Beginning April 1, 2020, employees are entitled to Covid-19-related paid leave. In general, employees are entitled to pa...

A myriad of voices around the nation have expressed outrage and mourning for the death of George Floyd. In a resolution, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stated it "condemns" the "senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others". It recognized its own "overwhelmingly bipartisan" creation as part of t...

On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia that employers can no longer discriminate against employees for being gay or transgender. Until the Court's decision, lower courts differed as to whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation when i...