Treaty Oak Employers’ Law Blog

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Should You Review Employee Emails?

One of the difficult tasks of employers is to balance their own needs with the expectation of their employees’ privacy in the workplace. This issue may arise when dealing with employee email. Whether an employer decides to review its employees’ email often depends on the reason for doing so and the

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Impartiality in Harassment Claims

When conducting harassment investigations, it is critical to maintaining impartiality. Harassment victims want to know that employers take their complaints seriously, but employees want to know that they will not be harshly judged without a fair process in place. Some ways that employers can maintain impartiality during this process include:

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English-Only Rules Can Create a Hostile Work Environment

A diverse workforce is one of the cornerstones of American life. This nation has grown and prospered through the hard work, innovation, and creativity of a diverse population of immigrants. Yet, as the United States stands today, 45 million workforce members have a language other than English as their primary

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Lopez vs. Kempthorne: Americans with Disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination. Under the ADA, potential employees with disabilities must be allowed ample accommodations that would enable them to take part in the application process and the performing of necessary functions of the job. For

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Hugging in The Workplace

For some, a friendly hug might be just that, a warm hug, but for people who are the recipients of unwarranted affection, a hug is much more than that; it violates personal boundaries in the workplace. Therefore, in keeping with strict anti-harassment policies, including sexual harassment, an anti-hug approach is

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Marital Status Discrimination

Marital status is not protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but federal employees are protected from discrimination in the workplace based on marital status under revisions made in 1978. States and city laws may also protect marital status from discrimination in the workplace in many states. In some

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Hidden Bias in The Hiring Process

Everyone would like to consider their organization inclusive, offering chances to qualified applicants regardless of race, ethnic background, physical appearance, or gender. That, however, is not the case. A recent study led by Harvard University found that hidden bias is far more common than we think, and it sneaks into hiring

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10 Ways to Prevent Harassment in The Workplace

Employers are responsible for providing employees with a safe workplace where people can focus on their job and be free of harassment. Some ways to accomplish this goal include: Identify Harassing Conduct To prevent harassment, employers must first explicitly define this type of behavior. The firm may list protected class

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Mixed Messages on Independent Contractor and Employee Background Checks

The rise of the independent contractor model has brought to light some significant concerns about liability, negligence, and the type of control and screening companies that operate on an independent contractor must adhere to. For example, in 2017, Massachusetts set its sites on Uber and Lyft. Ride-sharing apps tout lower

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Dealing with Employees Texting

The first text message was sent in 1992, since then, the world has changed dramatically. Online shopping changed the way retailers operated, Facebook changed the way people kept in touch with their friends and family spread across the globe, and the advent of streaming services changed the way people interacted

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