As Halloween approaches, most of us expect a few harmless scares — maybe a jumpy horror movie or a haunted house. But for employees, there are far scarier things lurking in the workplace than ghosts and goblins. We’re talking about employer mistakes that can lead to legal nightmares — wage theft, discrimination, retaliation, and more.
Discriminatory work dress codes are a contentious issue in many workplaces. Dress codes may unfairly target certain groups of employees based on their gender, race, religion, disability, or other personal characteristics. These dress codes can take many forms, such as: requiring women to wear high heels, dresses, or makeup; banning
We are in the midst of the holiday season. As the holidays roll by, businesses everywhere are having their year-end holiday parties. Millions of people everywhere are going to restaurants, bars, and banquet halls to mix and mingle, to celebrate victories, and to close out the
“I was told that my braids were unprofessional.”
“I was told to cut off my locs.”
“I was told that my hair doesn’t fit the ‘company culture.’”
Ladies and gentlemen, race-based hair discrimination is still alive and well in 2021, and Black employees are being told
“[T]he district court compared [Plaintiff] to similarly situated employees within the same protected class—i.e., those with religious observances. But, the proper comparators are ‘similarly situated employees outside the protected class.’” Davis v. Fort Bend County, 2014 WL 4209371 at *6 (5th Cir. 2014) (Prado, J.) (emphasis added) (citing McCoy v. City of Shreveport,
“[P]laintiff arranged for a substitute who voluntarily agreed to work [Plaintiff]’s shift that Sunday…. With a volunteer substitute available, [Defendant] would not have had to incur any cost requiring an employee to substitute for [Plaintiff], nor would [Defendant] necessarily be left short-handed.” Davis v. Fort Bend County, 2014 WL 4209371 at *7 (5th Cir.
“A showing of sincerity, however, does not require proof that the July 3rd church event was itself a true religious tenet, but only that [Plaintiff] sincerely believed it to be religious in her own scheme of things.” Davis v. Fort Bend County, 2014 WL 4209371 at *4 (5th Cir. 2014) (Prado, J.) (citing Moussazadeh
