Fire Department In Flames With Discrimination and Retaliation Claims
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
Quite often, retaliation claims bite employers in the backside rather than employees’ underlying claims for sexual or race-based harassment and other forms of discrimination. That’s what I was thinking as I read about a complaint filed last month against the Hillsboro government and chiefs at the Hillsboro Fire & Rescue Department. Three current employees allege…
Read More Gender Equity Takes Priority In The Office
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
The Oval Office, that is. The White House is establishing a Gender Equity Council that will permeate every level of government. You see, the Gender Policy Council will not be a siloed group working on gender priorities, such as the pay gap, sexual harassment, and child care, in a vacuum. In other words, it won’t…
Read More Supervisor: “Being Gay Is A Mental Disorder.” Such Comments Do Not Bode Well For An Employer’s Motion for Summary Judgment
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
Since June, federal law protects employees from discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This means that an employer, supervisor, or co-worker may not discriminate or harass an employee because he is gay or is gender non-conforming. If an employee appears to be man, but does not identify as one, that’s his…
Read More SCOTUS: Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Transgender Status is Sex Discrimination And Violates Federal Law
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck An employer who fires or takes an adverse action against an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). So said the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) on June 15, 2020, a little more than eight months after…
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 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 Bystander Intervention At Work
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck I read with interest last night that a well-known billionaire money manager “talked about genitalia” in a well-attended investment conference and about how money managers view obtaining clients like “trying to get into a girl’s pants.” One attendee at the conference was not amused, and he intervened. Boy, did he intervene. This…
Read More Employers, Can You Fire An Employee For Being Gay or Transgender?
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck We will soon see—at least under federal law. What am I talking about? Tomorrow, October 8, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will do what it does when states and federal courts and agencies are divided on an important issue: it will hear arguments on three cases in order to…
Read More How To Prevent and Correct Sexual Harassment By Customers
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck Employers, we know that you are trying your hardest to prevent sexual (and other unlawful) harassment in your workplace. You’re training your supervisors, employees, and, in many states, even your independent contractors. You have policies, procedures, and a clear reporting and investigation procedure. You are training your workforce, and you have…
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.
