According to the Workplace Bullying Institute (“WBI”) (https://workplacebullying.org/) nineteen percent (19%) of adult Americans experience workplace bullying. That means that some sixty point three (60.3) million workers are affected by this type of misconduct. Sixty-five percent (65%) of the people bullied at work are women and seventy percent (70%) of the perpetrators are men. Approximately sixty one percent (61%) of bullying is committed by a supervisor or boss. In 2019 a Monster.com survey revealed that nearly ninety-four percent (94%) of responding employees reported being bullied in the workplace. These statistics are shocking when one considers that there is no federal law and few state laws prohibiting or even acknowledging bullying in the American workplace.
A study by the WBI found that thirty-seven percent (37%) of bullying targets were terminated, while thirty-three percent (33%) quit their jobs and seventeen percent (17%) were transferred from their positions or departments. The bullies were punished only four percent (4%) of the time, and only transferred in nine percent (9%) of cases.
For more information about this topic, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, PC at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com. Thank you for listening.
When it comes to the world of requests for disability accommodations under the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act, the “black box” or the “unseen internal mechanism,” is the ever elusive “interactive process”. This is the process of information gathering and discussion between the employee requesting the disability accommodation and the employer who is obligated to determine whether the accommodation requested will be granted. I analogize this process to a “black box” because it is inherently opaque. Why? While the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act require that both employers and employees engage in this interactive process, neither statute precisely defines what it is or when it starts or ends. It is not clear what precisely the employer must do in this process or what the employee can and should expect. How long should the process take? How does anyone know if they are doing it correctly? How do we know the proper accommodations were considered?
Now factor in the public health, work place safety, and personal medical complexities of the Covid-19 pandemic and the concomitant work-from home revolution and the box becomes even blacker. Do employers have to offer the same accommodations to teleworkers that they offered to workers when they were on site? Are accommodations automatically available for those with health conditions that put them at greater risk for Covid-19? If a disabled employee was able to do her job during temporary telework periods due to Covid-19, is she entitled to continue telework after the employer resumes regular operations? More importantly, what is the specific “interactive process” that will be used to decide these issues?
For more information about this topic, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, PC at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com. Thank you for listening.
A furlough generally means workers’ hours have been cut or eliminated temporarily, or requires that they take a certain amount of unpaid time off. Furloughed workers are still considered active employees and eligible for some benefits. While furlough doesn’t have a technical legal meaning, employers—especially since the onset of the pandemic—are using the term to signal that it’s a status where employees can expect to maintain their health care benefits and eventually be called back to work. Still, a furlough can lead to termination.
The details
A furlough does not offer job security, though employers choosing to put employees on such leave typically intend to bring them back.
“Employers are operating in a lot of uncertainty right now, where they truly believed what would be two to three months then became eight months, and they’re now having to forecast business needs in a different environment,” says Stephanie Lewis, an attorney with employment law firm Jackson Lewis in Greenville, S.C. “We are seeing companies that are having to convert furloughs into layoffs.”
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you or someone you know been furloughed during the pandemic? Share your experience below.
Furloughed workers, while still considered active employees, aren’t paid for time they don’t work. If, however, employers ask employees to work at any point during a furlough, workers must be paid in accordance with their regular salary or hourly rate, says attorney Mark Carey of Carey & Associates, an employment law firm in Southport, Conn.
In the meantime, furloughed employees can and should apply for unemployment benefits. All state unemployment systems were modified to make such workers eligible to collect unemployment.
“You should apply for every week you’re off. Even if you’re off one week and on the next,” says Ms. Lewis.
And while the employer can dictate the length and span of furlough, many are offering flexibility where they can, allowing workers to choose which weeks or months to take off.
If employers furlough employees without terminating their employment, they should make sure those workers are continually offered health care coverage to avoid penalties under the Affordable Care Act.
In fact, says Ms. Lewis, “most employers have worked hard for permission to keep employees covered by benefits.” Many furloughed workers are now crossing into a period where they would be ineligible for coverage—typically after 60 or 90 days on most benefit plans if they’re not actively at work—and would have to move to Cobra, which is more expensive for many people. Employers have requested approval to retain coverage, and benefits providers have allowed that, says Ms. Lewis.
An employer can’t restrict furloughed employees from taking other work outside the company—and employees who find other work may choose to remain in that job even if they’re called back by their original employer.
Companies bringing employees back to work must also treat furloughed employees equally or discrimination issues may arise. “These have to be equal-employment opportunity scenarios with furloughing and bringing employees back to work. People could raise issues of gender, race and age,” says Mr. Carey. Age tends to be the largest problem in rehiring after furlough, he says, as workers who are older tend to be paid more because they’ve been employed longer.
For more information about this topic, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, PC at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com. Thank you.
Do employees have the right to free political speech at work?
The Bottom Line
Employers have wide latitude to limit employees’ speech, political or otherwise, that might offend other workers, and they can take steps to restrict those who do make political statements. That includes donning a Trump hat or Biden T-shirt on the job. There are, however, some exceptions.
The Details
Limitations on political speech in the workplace can be confusing, and they vary depending on where you work.
“The First Amendment only prohibits the government from restricting free speech—not your employer,” says Jim Hendricks, counsel at Leech Tishman’s employment and labor practice group. “The company sets the rules on what is acceptable.”
Public employees are protected by state and federal constitutional provisions, while workers at private companies are subject to their employers’ rules on political speech.
One exception is if the private employer receives federal financial assistance. In those cases, the First Amendment applies, but with conditions, says attorney Mark Carey of Carey & Associates. What the employee speaks about must be regarding a matter of public concern and be outside the scope of their normal job duties.
Some states have political speech protections. California’s labor code, for example, prohibits employers from enforcing any policy that either prevents workers from engaging in political activities or directs such activities or affiliations in or outside the office. Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia also prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who participate in political activity. But even where political speech is protected, an employer can discipline or dismiss an employee if the political expression interferes with the business or disrupts fellow workers.
“The line of protection can be crossed because what one person sees as political expression could be interpreted as harassment or insults by a colleague,” says Mr. Hendricks. “It’s a line that’s nebulous.”
Consistency around what’s allowed is key, he says. For example, if employees are able to wear a “Make America Great Again” hat, they should be able to wear a “Black Lives Matter” pin, he says. And while the same rules should apply to the virtual workplace—such as meetings via video from home—Mr. Hendricks says it might be harder for an employer to prove that a political expression in that scenario was intimidating or offensive.
Nearly three-quarters of human resource professionals say their organizations have prohibited political attire or accessories in the workplace, according to a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management. But 80% say their organizations haven’t set guidelines on talking about politics at work.
“That’s a problem,” says SHRM chief executive Johnny C. Taylor Jr. “With 17% of workers reporting being uncomfortable working with colleagues who hold different political views, their leaders can help reduce tension and discomfort to create a better workplace.”
Employment lawyers suggest checking your company handbook for the specific policy regarding political speech, and reading up on state law where you work.
The issue arose over the summer when Starbucks banned workers from displaying the “Black Lives Matter” slogan while on the job, telling employees that the company had a longstanding policy against buttons or pins that advocate for a political, religious or personal issue. After an outcry from employees, the coffee-chain giant reversed itself and said it would make T-shirts bearing the slogan available to its baristas.
Mr. Carey, who supports more protection for employees under the First Amendment, says the issue is part of a larger problem.
“Why are we suppressing discourse? We shouldn’t,” he says. “It has a measure of value in our society and we’re suppressing it, and that’s disturbing.”
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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com.
You’re a free agent and your noncompetition agreement is void! That should make you feel less stressed about getting your next job in the very industry you have spent so many years cultivating, especially during this pandemic. Yes, I know your employer made you sign a noncompetition agreement when you were hired, but Covid-19 has changed everything.
I did not like noncompetition agreements before Covid-19 and I dislike them even more now seven months into this pandemic. According to the latest jobs report, click HERE, “the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 19 was 25,505,499…” If you are a judge presiding over a complaint brought by an employer attempting to enforce a noncompetition agreement, would you enforce it against the unemployed employee in the face of these jobless numbers? Answer, No! Regardless of the law related to noncompetition agreements (restrictive covenant), no judge will want to prevent employees terminated without cause from getting a new job. Who is going to pay for the employee’s food? Who is going to pay for the employee’s mortgage? How is she going to buy medication or diapers?
The time has now come to confront the idiotic, senseless and self-serving practice followed by 50% of all employers to force noncompetition agreements on vulnerable employees, especially during this pandemic. We need to protect employees and the income they need right now to survive. We also need to confront employers and demand they stop using noncompetition agreements altogether because they are abusive and unnecessary. Employers are already overprotected by making employees sign Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreements, which protect against the disclosure of company trade secrets to third party employers.
NONCOMPETE MUST BE VOIDED DUE TO IMPOSSIBILITY
What does impossibility mean in relation to noncompetition agreements during the Covid-19 pandemic? Courts generally apply the doctrine of impossibility whenever there is an interference in achieving the purpose of the contract between the parties that is beyond their control and it was never foreseen prior to entering into the contract. “A thing is impossible in legal contemplation when it is not practicable; and a thing is impracticable when it can only be done at an excessive and unreasonable cost.” Roy v. Stephen Pontiac-Cadillac, Inc., 15 Conn. App. 101, 103-04 (1988) (internal citations omitted.) When impossibility is raised, “the court is asked to construct a condition of performance based on changed circumstances, a process which involves at least three reasonably definable steps. First, a contingency—something unexpected—must have occurred. Second, the risk of the unexpected occurrence must not have been allocated either by agreement or by custom. Finally, occurrence of the contingency must have rendered performance commercially impracticable.” Id. at 104, quoting J. Calamari & J. Perillo, Contracts (3d Ed.) § 13-1, p. 537; see also Hess v. Dumouchel Paper Co., 154 Conn. 343, 349-52 (1966)
All employers “intentionally” manipulate employees to sign noncompete agreements in order to get the job, i.e. take it or leave it. Employers typically seek to prevent employees from working for a competitor for a period of twelve months after termination. Bam! A pandemic hits the U.S. and the world. That’s the impossibility event. Massive layoffs follow, covering nearly 40 million people. By the way, an estimated 157.76 million people work in the U.S. Of course we want the economy to return to normal as quickly as possible, and those unemployed workers are part of that economy. If 50% of all employers use noncompetition agreements, then we have a major economic obstruction caused by self-serving employers who deliberately seek to prevent these unemployed workers from earning a living. Sounds unfair, because it is. It is impossible for any employee to comply with the one sided noncompetition agreement because they need to put food on the table and just survive. That is the argument I am making and will make in every court case my firm becomes involved with. This is a public policy crisis plain and simple. There exist no current Covid-19 court decisions on this issue, but there are a few cases now in the pipeline. The public, the politicians and the courts are faced with a major public policy dilemma. Should the courts protect employers for the sake of protection alone or can they help employees by overriding noncompetition agreements entirely. I believe the scales tilt heavily in favor of employees, employed and unemployed alike.
WHAT IS A NONCOMPETE AGREEMENT IN 2020?
It is a promise the employee allegedly makes, without his/her consent, with their employer that after they are terminated, they need to refrain from accepting employment in a similar line of work, with a competitive company, or establishing a competing business, for a specified period in a certain geographical area. A non-compete clause ancillary to a valid agreement is unreasonable in restraint of trade and void as a matter of law if: (1) the restraint is greater than is needed to protect the business and goodwill of the employer; or (2) the employer’s need is outweighed by the hardship to the employee and the likely injury to the public. In other words, if you are unable to earn a living because you are sitting on the bench during the noncompete period, without pay, solely because of the employer’s self-serving noncompete, then a Court will void the agreement. The employer is already protected from the employee because the employer forced the vulnerable employee to sign the confidentiality agreement, a.k.a. Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreement, which protects against disclosure of company trade secrets to third party employers.
WHAT IS THE BUSINESS INTEREST?
The argument in favor of enforcing noncompete agreements is primarily to protect the company’s trade secrets, client relations, customer goodwill, employee training. However, restraining competition is not a legitimate and enforceable business interest. As I have repeatedly stated, the employer is already protected against disclosures of trade secrets through the Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreement. The employer’s argument that a noncompete agreement is necessary to prevent the disclosure of trade secrets to third party employers is simply abusive and overreaching.
NONCOMPETE AGREEMENTS VIOLATE ANTITRUST LAW
I argue that noncompetition agreements violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act because every noncompete agreement is an unlawful contract to restrain trade. Section 2 of the Sherman Act makes it illegal to “monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, …any part of the trade…” (The Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.§ 1)
You will never hear an argument in any litigation over the attempted enforcement of an employee noncompete agreement that the enforcing employer was seeking to restrain competition of its competitor businesses. Such a statement and action would constitute an unlawful antitrust action. But we know in reality, that is exactly what employers are doing. This conclusion is further supported by the recent statistics that nearly 49% of all employers use noncompetition agreement for some or all of their employees, a doubling of the amount from 2014. Noncompetition Agreements are a tool to kill competition, plain and simple. Do not fall for the argument about protecting the company from rogue employees seeking to damage the employer. This accusation, albeit true in the rarest of circumstances, is specious given the employer made the employee sign an agreement to protect the employer’s trade secrets, the Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreement.
For more information about this topic, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, PC at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com. Thank you for listening.
You’re a free agent and your noncompetition agreement is void! That should make you feel less stressed about getting your next job in the very industry you have spent so many years cultivating, especially during this pandemic. Yes, I know your employer made you sign a noncompetition agreement when you were hired, but Covid-19 has changed everything.
I did not like noncompetition agreements before Covid-19 and I dislike them even more now seven months into this pandemic. According to the latest jobs report, click HERE, “the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 19 was 25,505,499…” If you are a judge presiding over a complaint brought by an employer attempting to enforce a noncompetition agreement, would you enforce it against the unemployed employee in the face of these jobless numbers? Answer, No! Regardless of the law related to noncompetition agreements (restrictive covenant), no judge will want to prevent employees terminated without cause from getting a new job. Who is going to pay for the employee’s food? Who is going to pay for the employee’s mortgage? How is she going to buy medication or diapers?
The time has now come to confront the idiotic, senseless and self-serving practice followed by 50% of all employers to force noncompetition agreements on vulnerable employees, especially during this pandemic. We need to protect employees and the income they need right now to survive. We also need to confront employers and demand they stop using noncompetition agreements altogether because they are abusive and unnecessary. Employers are already overprotected by making employees sign Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreements, which protect against the disclosure of company trade secrets to third party employers.
Noncompete Must Be Voided Due to Impossibility
What does impossibility mean in relation to noncompetition agreements during the Covid-19 pandemic? Courts generally apply the doctrine of impossibility whenever there is an interference in achieving the purpose of the contract between the parties that is beyond their control and it was never foreseen prior to entering into the contract. “A thing is impossible in legal contemplation when it is not practicable; and a thing is impracticable when it can only be done at an excessive and unreasonable cost.” Roy v. Stephen Pontiac-Cadillac, Inc., 15 Conn. App. 101, 103-04 (1988) (internal citations omitted.) When impossibility is raised, “the court is asked to construct a condition of performance based on changed circumstances, a process which involves at least three reasonably definable steps. First, a contingency—something unexpected—must have occurred. Second, the risk of the unexpected occurrence must not have been allocated either by agreement or by custom. Finally, occurrence of the contingency must have rendered performance commercially impracticable.” Id. at 104, quoting J. Calamari & J. Perillo, Contracts (3d Ed.) § 13-1, p. 537; see also Hess v. Dumouchel Paper Co., 154 Conn. 343, 349-52 (1966)
All employers “intentionally” manipulate employees to sign noncompete agreements in order to get the job, i.e. take it or leave it. Employers typically seek to prevent employees from working for a competitor for a period of twelve months after termination. Bam! A pandemic hits the U.S. and the world. That’s the impossibility event. Massive layoffs follow, covering nearly 40 million people. By the way, an estimated 157.76 million people work in the U.S. Of course we want the economy to return to normal as quickly as possible, and those unemployed workers are part of that economy. If 50% of all employers use noncompetition agreements, then we have a major economic obstruction caused by self-serving employers who deliberately seek to prevent these unemployed workers from earning a living. Sounds unfair, because it is. It is impossible for any employee to comply with the one sided noncompetition agreement because they need to put food on the table and just survive. That is the argument I am making and will make in every court case my firm becomes involved with. This is a public policy crisis plain and simple. There exist no current Covid-19 court decisions on this issue, but there are a few cases now in the pipeline. The public, the politicians and the courts are faced with a major public policy dilemma. Should the courts protect employers for the sake of protection alone or can they help employees by overriding noncompetition agreements entirely. I believe the scales tilt heavily in favor of employees, employed and unemployed alike.
What is a Noncompete Agreement in 2020?
It is a promise the employee allegedly makes, without his/her consent, with their employer that after they are terminated, they need to refrain from accepting employment in a similar line of work, with a competitive company, or establishing a competing business, for a specified period in a certain geographical area. A non-compete clause ancillary to a valid agreement is unreasonable in restraint of trade and void as a matter of law if: (1) the restraint is greater than is needed to protect the business and goodwill of the employer; or (2) the employer’s need is outweighed by the hardship to the employee and the likely injury to the public. In other words, if you are unable to earn a living because you are sitting on the bench during the noncompete period, without pay, solely because of the employer’s self-serving noncompete, then a Court will void the agreement. The employer is already protected from the employee because the employer forced the vulnerable employee to sign the confidentiality agreement, a.k.a. Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreement, which protects against disclosure of company trade secrets to third party employers.
What is the Business Interest?
The argument in favor of enforcing noncompete agreements is primarily to protect the company’s trade secrets, client relations, customer goodwill, employee training. However, restraining competition is not a legitimate and enforceable business interest. As I have repeatedly stated, the employer is already protected against disclosures of trade secrets through the Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreement. The employer’s argument that a noncompete agreement is necessary to prevent the disclosure of trade secrets to third party employers is simply abusive and overreaching.
Noncompete Agreements Violate Antitrust Law
I argue that noncompetition agreements violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act because every noncompete agreement is an unlawful contract to restrain trade. Section 2 of the Sherman Act makes it illegal to “monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, …any part of the trade…” (The Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.§ 1)
You will never hear an argument in any litigation over the attempted enforcement of an employee noncompete agreement that the enforcing employer was seeking to restrain competition of its competitor businesses. Such a statement and action would constitute an unlawful antitrust action. But we know in reality, that is exactly what employers are doing. This conclusion is further supported by the recent statistics that nearly 49% of all employers use noncompetition agreement for some or all of their employees, a doubling of the amount from 2014. Noncompetition Agreements are a tool to kill competition, plain and simple. Do not fall for the argument about protecting the company from rogue employees seeking to damage the employer. This accusation, albeit true in the rarest of circumstances, is specious given the employer made the employee sign an agreement to protect the employer’s trade secrets, the Confidentiality and Proprietary Information Agreement.
If you would like more information about this topic please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com.
Are we a more racially tolerant society today, in terms of how we treat one another at work? The following statistics demonstrate that we in fact are. As an employment attorney, I sit watch on the front lines of employment discrimination involving race. Honestly, I believe the number of race cases coming through our offices has decreased since 1997, the year I hung a shingle and began practicing employment law. Sure, we have handled quite a number of race cases over the past twenty four years, but not as many as you think given todays social and political upheaval.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published statistics for race cases filed with the agency for the period 1997-2019, pursuant to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Click Here for complete statistics. In 1997 the EEOC received 29,199 cases. By 2019, that number actually decreased to 23,976, a decrease of 5223 or 8%. The highest number of cases filed was 35,890 in 2010 during the “great recession”. These numbers do not include the unreported cases that were never filed due to early successful settlement negotiations between the parties. The numbers above also do not include employment litigation filed directly in federal court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which does not require an employee to administrative exhaust his/her claims before the EEOC. The above statistics demonstrate an actual decrease in race discrimination cases filed with the EEOC, which is contrary to the current social and political environment we are living through. To be clear, even one case of racial discrimination is far too many. For what it is worth (“$$”), the total value of reported settlements went from $41.8 million in 1997 to 79.8 million in 2019, an increase of $38 million. However, 2013 recorded the highest value of $112.7 million, evidencing an increase in racial discrimination claims filed during the “great recession” time period. Whether or not the “great recession” statistics will duplicate themselves during the Covid-19 era will have to wait a few years, as the cases pour in.
On March 23, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Comcast Corp. National Association of African American-Owned Media which made it more difficult for employees claiming race discrimination in employment to demonstrate that their race was the “but for” reason for the adverse employment actions they received at the hands of the employer. This means that employees have to provide more detailed factual evidence, either direct statements by supervisors and managers or strong circumstantial evidence, to get to a jury in Section 1981 cases, but not Title VII cases. In other words, your evidence better look like an 80% chance or better than you experienced race discrimination or your case will be dismissed. This is how I have always interpreted the “but for” standard announced by the Court in the above case and in other Supreme Court discrimination cases such as age and retaliation. By the way, I did conduct a search for statistics for Section 1981 cases on pacer, but could not locate the specifically identified Section 1981 cases filed during 2019.
On the front lines, employees at Facebook recently brought claims for race discrimination to the EEOC. On July 2, 2020, NPR reported ‘We Have A Black People Problem’: Facebook Worker Claims Racial Discrimination. According to the NPR story, “In a complaint filed Thursday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Oscar Veneszee Jr. said the social network does not give Black workers equal opportunities in their careers. “We have a Black people problem,” Veneszee told NPR. Veneszee is a Navy veteran who recruits other veterans and people of color as part of diversity initiatives at Facebook’s infrastructure division. “We’ve set goals to increase diversity at the company, but we’ve failed to create a culture at the company that finds, grows and keeps Black people at the company.” Veneszee, who has worked for Facebook since 2017, filed the employment discrimination charge along with Howard Winns, Jr., and Jazsmin Smith — both of whom Veneszee recruited — who said they applied to work at Facebook but had not been hired, they alleged, because they are Black. The claim, they said, was filed on behalf of “all Black Facebook employees and applicants to Facebook.”
Now that we know the above EEOC data, let’s take a look at what type of facts are being alleged regarding race discrimination at work. Fortunately for us, Facebook employees have provided internal examples. On November 7, 2019, a dozen anonymous current and former employees posted a Memo on Medium recounting racial discrimination at Facebook. I have reprinted the examples in their entirety below in order to provide you with the racial and ethnic experiences employees at Facebook are facing. After twenty-four years of practicing employment litigation for employees, these examples are common across all companies, not just at Facebook. It is one thing to conclude about the effects of racial discrimination and make pronouncements, but it is ever more impactful to read the day in the life examples emanating from within a company like Facebook. The more you see the mechanisms of racial discrimination in the workplace, the sooner you can protect yourself and your colleagues from the abusive and invidious biased behavior of management staff and coworkers. We should all make it a personal goal to learn about the factual patterns of race discrimination in order to attack it internally and stop it from ruining more careers and lives. So, here are the examples to guide you in your own employment situation:
“The experiences highlighted here invoke how we, the twelve Facebook employees present and past who are sharing our stories here anonymously, have been made to feel as employees by Facebook managers, HR business partners, and their immediate white colleagues. To avoid positively identifying the individuals involved, we will not name the people or business units involved. However, all of the below incidents are factual, with witnesses corroborating the behaviors, and have been thoroughly documented.
1.Over the half, I have received dozens of anonymous, highly positive peer reviews in the internal performance management tool about my work, my partnership, my collaboration, and my leadership. This feedback was received from people across all levels, from those more junior in their careers, to VPs reporting into senior leadership of the company. My manager chose to ignore this feedback and focused on a single piece of anonymous negative feedback that had no context. The feedback from this person was that I was arrogant, aggressive, and self-serving. When asked about the situation this occurred, she said “this is what someone perceives of you, so you need to change your behavior if you want to stay at Facebook.”
2. While eating breakfast, two white employees asked me to clean up after their mess. I am a program manager. I told my manager about the incident. She told me I need to dress more professionally.
3. My manager approaches other leaders and managers with manipulative comments in an effort to sway opinion against me. Statements such as “wouldn’t you agree that she is only focused on herself” and “many people have said that she is not smart” have been shared with me by those whom my manager has been in contact with. When those statements that were intended to negatively influence did not work, my manager used those statements without attribution in my performance review.
4. My manager has directly asked at least two colleagues to provide me negative feedback on my performance review in order to influence my performance rating, which would negatively impact my total compensation. My colleagues refused and instead referred the incident to HR. HR took no action.
5. I spoke at a regular team meeting and gave my opinion about a topic I am a subject matter expert on. I was told after the meeting by the manager that I was disrespectful for speaking at this meeting, that my opinion was not wanted, that I was being arrogant in sharing that opinion, and not to speak at any future meetings unless called upon.
6.On Blind, the app that allows for Facebook employees to post anonymous experiences, we see our colleagues treating us with an aggression unshackled from the constraints of Workplace.
7. I was accused of being a liar and stealing others’ ideas. I asked for specifics about what I allegedly lied about and what I allegedly stole. The response was the person(s) who accused me of this behavior wished to remain anonymous because they did not feel comfortable around me, and that I should assume good intent of them. I asked why good intent was not assumed of me and how I could possibly respond to anything that has absolutely no substance; my manager’s response was that their intent was pure. When asked why others do not need to assume good intent of me, I was told I need to be quiet, more reserved, and highly respectful towards others. When asked how I should respond to the accusation of theft, she said “only I will give you credit for your work, so don’t self-promote on Workplace.”
8. I asked about career growth. I was told to just do my core job. “There is no growth for your role.” The only way for a promotion was to “do what I say”, to “not speak to others outside the team unless given permission”, to “not post on Workplace unless it is a project update”, and to be subservient to her whims.
9. My manager has stated she does not need to attend manager development trainings beyond Facebook Manager Essentials because she only receives positive feedback from her peers. My manager has also stated she is very inclusive and does not need to attend the Managing Bias or Managing Inclusion classes. To further highlight the lack of personal accountability represented here, a majority of Facebook’s development programs are not mandatory, and no follow up is done from the programs, that allows bad actors to continue their behaviors without question.
10. Our org, which is incredibly diverse in representation, had very low Pulse results in the last half. Rather than be transparent about the changes we need to make, our leader said it was our fault for low Pulse scores and we need to do self-reflection on how to improve our performance.
11. Much of my manager’s behavior occurs verbally. When asked to reiterate comments via text, either in Quip, on Workplace, or via email, she misstates her comments, carefully avoids confirming everything that was said, and uses statements such as “as we discussed” or “as you confirmed” in an effort to hide her intentions and protect her from potential HR or legal action.
12. I was told by my HRBP, after approaching her about the discrimination on my team, “there is no bias at Facebook.””
If you would like more information about this topic please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com.
I have stress about Covid-19 at my office. Can I file for short-term disability?
The bottom line
Employees may be able to file for short-term disability if a medical professional diagnoses them with an anxiety disorder, depression or other mental illness due to that stress. But there are other options to consider under the Americans With Disabilities Act, depending on the person’s condition and workplace environment.
The details
This worker’s situation is common these days.
“We get this question every week multiple times a week,” says Michelle Barrett Falconer, a partner at employment law firm Littler Mendelson.
First, workers should consult their employee handbook or human-resources portal to find out whether their company provides for short-term disability benefits. Five states—California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island—also have such programs. To apply, employees need a medical provider to identify they are temporarily disabled from performing their particular job.
“Stress itself is not going to be a reason. It has to manifest in some physical or mental condition,” says Alex Berke of Berke-Weiss Law, noting that some short-term disability plans have exclusions for mental health.
Valdi Licul, partner at Wigdor, says many insurance companies have put out FAQs in recent months. He says employees shouldn’t be afraid to ask to see the policy, which usually has a “summary plan description” explaining the worker’s rights in layman’s terms.
Carey & Associates’s Mark Carey recommends applying for short-term disability and leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act—which has a lower threshold for approval—at the same time. Short-term disability leave is six months and pays out a portion, usually around 60%, of an employee’s salary. FMLA is 12 weeks and typically unpaid, but offers job protection during the time of leave, which short-term disability doesn’t.
Both are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act. But lawyers also recommend using the ADA to seek other reasonable accommodations, such as working remotely, having a single closed room to the employee’s self, or a flexible or staggered schedule. Such accommodations are worked out during what’s called the “interactive process” between worker and employer.
If an employee’s stress stems from their being part of the immunocompromised or at-risk population, the ADA can also help.
Ms. Falconer, who works on the employer’s or defense side of litigation, says while most cases coming in stem from the employee having a generalized stress about Covid-19, some are more directly linked to the workplace itself. Employees who are stressed because of their work and the fear of catching the virus may be able to file a worker’s compensation claim.
“For fictional worker Larry, let’s say part of his job is going to public events and he’s supposed to go speak at a banquet,” she says. “If his boss says you’ve got to go speak and he says I’m so fearful and the boss is putting pressure on him, he may say he has stress as a result of Covid and the pressure the boss is putting on him, which could be psychiatric injury.”
In this episode of the Employee Survival Guide we discuss how to apply for disability benefits through your employer if you fear for your personal safety at the workplace due to Covid-19. Whether you have an anxiety or panic disorder or you are trying to protect your vulnerability due to Covid-19, Employment Attorney Mark Carey will give you a short guide about how to apply for your employer’s Short Term Disability benefits and Long Term Disability benefits under a federal statute called ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act). Mark will also discuss the very important overlap with the Family Medical Leave Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act and state antidiscrimination laws. He will show you how protected you actually are against your employer unfairly terminating you for taking a much needed disability leave of absence due to Covid-19. For more information, please contact Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150 or email at info@capclaw.com.
Employers should seriously consider the current “relationship” they have with their employees. Employees are the backbone of each company and employers could not exist without them. Trust- that’s what employees want right now and presumptively have always wanted it. Now that the blinders are coming off due to Covid-19, employers must realize they cannot abuse employees and treat them like a number. There are currently Forty million plus (40,000,000) job terminations during this pandemic, this is not exactly what I would call building trust with your employees. These recently terminated employees (“Your Ex-Employees”), are real people of all races and backgrounds, with emotions, goals, financial issues just like you. If you give employees a real sense of security in their jobs, they will reword their employers tenfold- with #EmployeeTrust and increased EBITDA (aka profitability).
Employers- show your employees they can trust you at all times– that you got their backs in times of trouble. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Provide a termination for cause employment agreement-ignore your management lawyer’s advice not to follow this suggestion;
Make sure employees feel confident they will not get sick when they come back to work- give them everything they need and write if off on your PPP and SBA money you just received;
If employees want to work from home and/or the office, just let them- but remind them you do pay rent in an office they should use;
Buy them necessary computer gadgets to work remotely – anywhere;
Build a sense of a strong community experience amongst employees;
Immediately fire any employee, manager or not, who exhibits any discriminatory bias against anyone- this will deter the bad actors- as we are all in this together;
This list of perks employers can provide to develop and ensure employee trust is endless and specific to your company, but you get the main idea. Yes, employees need perks too!
If you would more information about this topic, please contact Carey & Associates P.C. at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com.
