As social media continues to dominate 
the world — or at least conversations about employment law — there are a few notable posts that are worth delving into this week that explore the topic further.
Last month, I highlighted a federal case in Connecticut where the court threw out an age discrimination claim because the evidence presented by the employee was not strong enough to survive a summary judgment claim.
A new federal court case however has allowed an age discrimination claim to proceed even while noting that while the
Over the last few years, I’ve been running a popular post about Columbus Day and the origins of the work holiday in Connecticut. Indeed, it has its foundation as a federal holiday and is listed in the United States Code (5 U.S.C. Sec. 6103).
Columbus Day is officially on October 12th (celebrating Columbus arrival on October 12, 1492), but it is celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October as a result of the federal law. So, if you work for a federal or state employer in human resources, or otherwise, you are likely going to have next Monday off.
But it is also one of those holidays that private employers increasingly have decided do not merit a vacation day. A survey from a few years ago showed that just seven percent of employers in California, for example, give the day off to their employees.
A common question that arises, however, is why? Why do employees for private companies not have to close on a day that has been designated by the federal government as a national holiday?
The answer is actually quite simple: Because Congress didn’t cover private employers in the law. And state law doesn’t mandate any requirements on private employers either. And so, while employees may complaint (perhaps rightly) about the difficulty of some child-care arrangements for some closed schools or otherwise, employer continue to have discretion about the days that it designates as holidays.
Some employers have created their own work-arounds, allowing employees to take 1-3 "floating holidays" for days like this (or other types of holidays, like Yom Kippur or Three Kings Day). That’s a sensible practice. But regardless, these types of policies should be discussed with employees so everyone knows what day is a holiday and what day isn’t.Continue Reading Columbus Day is Coming. And Most Employers are Open.
Move over, wage & hour law. There’s a new hot topic in the town of Employment Law. Its’ name is Social Media.
In fact, with so much being written on it, it’s hard to separate out the usual "Beware of Social Media!" articles from those posts that delve more deeply into the subject and add
25 years ago nearly to the day, my father donated one of his kidneys to his brother.
What have you done today? Have you done everything you could? Could you have done better?
They may seem like unfair questions after the first sentence.
But tonight is the start of Yom Kippur – a
In a followup to a post of earlier this week, Windsor Locks and its Superintendent of Schools reached an agreement late yesterday in which the Superintendent agreed to resign in exchange for a six month severance payment (to be shorted if he finds work before the expiration of that severance period.)
The agreement comes
Are you scared of social media yet?
That seems to be the approach of newly-m
inted legal "experts" telling employers to be on guard for employees who use social media with the added suggestion that you can (and perhaps should) fire anyone who says anything silly or mildly inappropriate on Facebook.
If only it
Today is a memorable day. For some, its Rosh Hashanah – the start of the Jewish New Year and one of the holiest days of the year. It is common to wish everyone a happy and sweet new year. (If you really want to get into it, get a fresh Connecticut apple and dip it
Should Labor Day be celebrated on a Tuesday?
That was one interesting fact about the start of Labor Day that I covered in a post a few years ago here.
The United States Department of Labor, as you might expect, covers this topic fairly extensively on its website. According to the DOL, it "is
As I approach the three-year anniversary of this blog (stay tuned for more details), it’s certainly touching to receive accolades for this blog. 
Each year, LexisNexis “honors a select group of blogs that set the online standard for a given industry.” Amazingly, the Connecticut Employment Law Blog is a nominated candidates for the LexisNexis Top