Susan Fowler, a femala engineer who worked for Uber, recently posted on her personal blog a post entitled, “Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber.” The blog goes into detail about her experiences with sexual harassment by a manager of Uber and how she reported her harassment claims to upper management. She explained that, despite her report, upper management did not feel comfortable penalizing the manager because he was a high performer in the company and it was only his first offense. Subsequently, during her employment tenure, she allegedly found out that some of her female coworkers had also experienced sexual harassment by the same manager and reported their claims to upper management as well. Which of course begs the question of whether Uber thoroughly and satisfactorily investigated the workplace harassment complaints of Ms. Fowler and her co-workers. Regardless of the employee-in-question’s status within the company, upper management has a legal duty to investigate the harassment claims made against any employee and, at the end of the day, if the alleged harassment is substantiated, appropriate remedial action needs to be taken. To learn more about how to handle sexual harassment in your workplace, listen to this week’s Telebrief here.
Also in this week’s Labor and Employment Telebrief: A recent New Jersey workers’ compensation case, where an individual was reimbursed for his current and future medical marijuana expenses for an injury sustained on the job.
ABOUT THE TELEBRIEFS®
Geared to executives with employee relations responsibilities (HR directors, supervisors, managers, business owners), Labor and Employment Telebriefs® are information-packed 30-minute briefings via the telephone. Telebriefs® provide information and insights to help executives stay current with latest workplace law developments and in front of trends so as to enable proactive policy making and management. On the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month, from 9 – 9:30 am ET, join Offit Kurman Labor & Employment Chair Howard Kurman, as he discusses developments occurring over the past two weeks that will most significantly impact employers nationwide. The focus is squarely on the practical. Why is this event significant for employers? What are the lessons to be learned or actions taken? These twice-monthly teleconferences are an easy way to stay current and compliant with the latest Labor and Employment law developments that will significantly affect you and your company. Our guarantee: You will learn something useful, on every call! If you have any questions regarding labor and employment issues, please contact
Howard Kurman: hkurman@offitkurman.com | 410.209.6417
ABOUT HOWARD KURMAN
Howard K. Kurman is an employment attorney. Mr. Kurman regularly counsels clients on all aspects of proactive employment/labor issues. He represents employers ranging in size from as small as 20 employees to those employers with geographically disparate locations consisting of over 4,000 employees. Mr. Kurman assures, through regular contact with his clients, that they promulgate and maintain the most effective employment policies that will, to the extent possible, minimize their legal exposure in today’s litigious workplace. Mr. Kurman offers advice on employee handbooks, employment agreements, and covenants not to compete as well as confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements. Previously, Mr. Kurman was the chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group.
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