Sexual Harassment—Allegations of A Hostile Work Environment With A Side of Quid Pro Quo
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
If you thought sexual harassment abated during COVID-19, think again. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continues to follow its strategic plan and filed suit this week against one Virginia-based company that owns several IHOP franchises for a manager’s alleged sexual harassment of female employees. Particularly notable, several of the female employees are teenagers. Specifically,…
Read More Race Discrimination Has No Place In A Classroom…Or a Law School
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
This past week, Georgetown Law School fired one of its adjunct professors, a lawyer, mediator, and veteran adjunct professor at the school for 20 years for making race-based stereotyping comments. Here’s what happened: the adjunct professor, Sandra Sellers, and a colleague were talking at the end of their virtual class, which was still recording, about…
Read More Making Employees Sign a COVID-19 Waiver is a BAD Idea
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
What we know about COVID-19 has evolved so much over the past five months, forcing companies to be nimbler than ever to protect themselves from coronavirus-related liability. But, amidst this change, one unfortunate constant has emerged: employers continue to ask employees to sign waivers of liability to mitigate the risk if an employee later contracts…
Read More Keeping It Real: Cases of Race-Based Harassment Continue
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck Employers, what kind of culture are you fostering? Is it one of respect and intolerance of unlawful harassment? Or is it one that perpetuates systemic racism? That is one question raised in this recent federal complaint, filed by two former employees and one current employee, all Black, against one employer in…
Read More Do We Have To Pay Our Employees If We Send Them Home Because Of The Coronavirus?
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck Yesterday, two very different employers asked me how the heck they pay employees who are not working. What do they do? Their businesses may suffer considerable losses, or they fear losing their workforce if they do not pay their employees. What are employers’ obligations? Exempt or Nonexempt, That Is The First…
Read More "Stay Home and Bake Cookies!"
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck Being female in a traditionally dominated male workplace can be tough. Several industries such as fire and police departments, automative services, and construction crews have long contained skewed gender ratios. Including truckers. Just ask one female truck driver who filed a complaint late last week in Pennsylvania federal court against her…
Read More Uber and the EEOC Settle Their Differences
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck Way back when, i.e., in February 2017 and pre-#Metoo, an Uber employee published an online (i.e., very public) expose of what she considered to be a toxic culture at Uber and management’s failure to do anything about it—especially when alleged sexual harassment involved a rainmaker. I wrote about it here and…
Read More A Recipe For Sexual Harassment Liability
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck I used to cook most nights for my family. But several years ago, my husband took over. He has become a master chef in the last few years, and the kitchen has become his domain. He has a smoker, he has a grill, he has utensils the names of which I do…
Read More News Flash—Simulating Sex Acts In The Workplace May Lead To Liability
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck I’ve been grappling recently with various scenarios I consider to be “grey areas” as to the presence of a hostile work environment. A somewhat creepy message. Asking out an intern alone. Showing vacation photos while on the beach without a shirt. Taken together, the conduct might rise to the level of “pervasive,”…
Read More New "Toolkit" Developed To Aid Vulnerable Agricultural Workers
By Richard Cohen |
I’ve written a lot about sexual harassment of vulnerable workers – that they are more likely to suffer sexual assault and harassment. Workers are “vulnerable” to discrimination and harassment for many reasons and in many situations, mostly evidenced by their powerlessness and the low status of their jobs. For example, they may fear running afoul…
Read More AMY EPSTEIN GLUCK
Amy Epstein Gluck has represented individuals and corporate clients in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and various federal district courts for more than twenty years. Ms. Epstein Gluck’s current practice areas include employment law—advising on and drafting employment agreements; handling employment negotiations, severance agreements, noncompete and nondisclosure agreements, “wrongful terminations” and other EEO matters; representation at the EEOC level; advising employers about discrimination laws and how to remain in compliance, and employment negotiations.
RICHARD COHEN
Richard Cohen has litigated and arbitrated complex corporate, commercial and employment disputes for more than 35 years, and is a trusted advisor to business owners and in-house counsel both in the United States and internationally. His clients have included Fortune 100 companies, domestic and foreign commercial and investment banks, Pacific-rim corporations and real estate development companies, as well as start-up businesses throughout the United States.
