Author: Alyssa Lankford, Attorney, McAfee & Taft

Talking Politics: Know When Employee Political Speech Is Protected at Work

With this year’s presidential election underway, escaping coverage and conversations about candidates and campaigns seems nearly impossible. While there’s nothing new about political coverage increasing during an election year, the unprecedented events during this year’s election cycle along with the extreme polarization of modern-day politics in America have led to increased levels of passionate discourse […]

Presidential Politics and the Workplace

If Trump wins, one thing is certain: NLRB General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo would be fired at once. Just as President Joe Biden sacked then-NLRB GC Peter Robb almost before the Inaugural Balls were over, Abruzzo would meet the same fate. Because the GC sets agency policy and decides what cases to pursue, the Board […]

Ask the Expert: When Do Employees Qualify for Pregnancy Accommodations?

Question: Do employees have to be employed for 12 months or work 1,250 hours to qualify for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), or do they qualify as soon as they begin employment? Answer: The PWFA applies to employees as soon as they begin employment, and it also applies to applicants. Under the federal PWFA, […]

Bite, No Bark: 8th Circuit Recognizes Limitations on Certain ADA Accommodations

In attempting to assess the complicated balance between an individual employee’s need for a service animal and the requirements of clients, customers, patients, and the workplace as a whole, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Iowa employers) has weighed in over the last several months with discussions in two […]

Religious accommodations: Where do we stand?

Last summer, in Groff v. DeJoy, the U.S. Supreme Court upended the analysis used to determine whether and how employers must accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs. In the year since, there have been some applications of Groff’s reasoning in lower court cases, and here are some takeaways you can apply when working through an employee’s […]

Court Ruling May Necessitate Overhaul of Paid Sick Time Policies and Practices

The Arizona Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act requires all employers to provide a certain amount of paid sick time (PST) depending on the number of employees. Employers with at least 15 employees must provide at least 40 hours of PST to employees each year. The act also requires employers to follow certain notice requirements, […]

Go for Bronze! Insights into Career Goals and Job Satisfaction

HR professionals are called upon to perform a variety of tasks, one of which is to counsel employees (and perhaps themselves) on performance metrics and career goals. So, along with sporadic watching of this year’s Olympics in Paris, I read with interest an insightful article by Derek Sivers titled “Think Like a Bronze Medalist, Not […]

Ask the Expert: Can Positive Drug Tests Be Cause for Termination?

Question: If we have a drug-free workplace policy and implement random testing, can we fire an employee who tests positive even if the employee simply used marijuana outside the workplace and wasn’t impaired? Answer: The short answer is yes. Employers in Wisconsin specifically are allowed to conduct random drug testing of their employees. If an […]

What We Learned from HR+AI 2024

HR Daily Advisor and Human Capital Institute brought together industry experts and attendees at HR+AI 2024, live in New York City on Tuesday October 22. Even if you missed these thrilling discussions on AI’s growing role in recruiting, the candidate experience, and engagement, you can still learn from the event! AI Can Do a Lot, […]

9th Circuit Rules Private Texts Aren’t Protected Speech

One of the nightmares of HR professionals is to be told about a workplace problem “privately as a friend.” Whether something is an informal chat between friends or public notice of a problem is very hard to determine. That was essentially the question in deciding whether a Rancho Cordova sheriff was engaging in protected speech […]