Q.  Can employers prevent employees from recording conversations in the workplace.

A.  Sometimes.

As technology continues to advance, so does the likelihood that everything you say and do is being recorded, even in the workplace. With most employees having access to smartphones and other similar devices, there has been an increase in the number of employees engaging in surreptitious surveillance as a means of trying to document alleged wrongdoing and to assert and prove legal claims.  These recordings are being used more frequently in discrimination litigation.  Employees who secretly record workplace conversations often regret it, because the recordings usually depict an employer attempting to be reasonable, and it makes the employee look sneaky and manipulative. However, employers often want to prevent these recordings from happening in the first place. Whether an employer can prevent employees from recording conversations in the workplace depends on federal and state wiretapping laws, and the interests the employer is attempting to protect in relation to employee rights.
Continue Reading Surveillance in the Workplace

Q.  Recently, two employees almost came to blows arguing over the merits of a Trump versus Clinton presidency. Can our company prohibit employees from talking about politics in the workplace?

A.  The 2016 presidential election has created the most intense and divisive political environment in recent memory. What can a company do if the banter of cable news, talk radio, and polarizing political Facebook posts spills into the workplace?
Continue Reading Prohibiting Politics in the Office

A few weeks ago, our colleague posted about whether obesity would become a protected class.

Biases based upon appearance don’t end with obesity.  Studies show that:

Can our current set of federal, state, and local discrimination laws and regulations properly address appearance-based discrimination?  Or does this bias demand that unattractiveness be made a new protected class?Continue Reading Could Unattractiveness Become a Protected Class?