Below is a review of the posts on Facebook and LinkedIn from the past week. You can check out the full posts by clicking on the links.
The post on Sunday 10/6/2024 noted Employer learns the dangers of failing to accommodate pregnant employee – 4 lessons for employers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced a settlement that resolves a discrimination charge alleging an employer terminated a pregnant employee after she requested a reasonable accommodation to attend medical appointments. The conciliation agreement includes both monetary and non-monetary relief – see the post. And ironically the agreement was announced just one day after the EEOC filed its first suit under the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act (PWFA). Here are four lessons employers can learn from this settlement to avoid the same fate:
First, revise your accommodation policies to include PWFA requirements. You should review your accommodations policies to make sure that that they include how to deal with requests related to pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. What that might entail is noted in the post. But by revising your policies, you may be able to reduce the risk of failing to engage in the interactive process with pregnant employees in need of an accommodation. And who is covered by the PWFA? See the post.
Next, train your managers regarding the nuances of the PWFA. Managers must understand the required steps for assessing and providing accommodations under the PWFA – those steps are not the same as in the ADA process. One example of that difference is in the post. Managers and employees should understand the various distinctions between the PWFA and ADA so as to streamline the correct interactive process for the PWFA.
The other steps are to familiarize management and employees with available accommodations and undue hardship requirements and be mindful of other laws providing protections for pregnant workers. Both are discussed in detail in the post (including a reference to and explanation of the PUMP Act).
TAKEAWAY: Employers must know the law, including whether they must accommodate and if so, what the process is that must be followed. Get an employment lawyer involved early on.
The post on Monday 10/7/2024 told us the EEOC sues Farmacias Carimas for sexual harassment and constructive discharge. The EEOC suit alleged that Farmacias Carimas, a retail pharmacy chain, violated federal law when its manager subjected a female employee to a sexually hostile work environment, forcing her to resign. The suit alleges that manager Khalid Yassin, nephew of the company’s owner, Abdullah Yassin, attacked a female employee before closing the store at night and subjected her to unwanted sexual contact. What happened is detailed in the post. The employee was unaware of any process for complaining about the harassment and therefore was forced to resign.
The statute allegedly violated, and more details about the suit itself, are in the post. The suit was filed after conciliation failed. A few statements by the EEOC about this case are in the post.
Additional information on sexual harassment can be found at https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment.
TAKEAWAY: Train your managers not to harass or discriminate against any applicant or employee, no matter the basis. “Just don’t do it” should be the mantra.
The post on Tuesday 10/8/2024 noted homeowners question $1M+ assessment pushed by HOA in neighborhood. Yeah, with those dollars we definitely need to look at the background.
A group of homeowners in the Beverly Crest neighborhood question claims from their homeowners’ association that the community pool could close unless they pay $1.2 million to fix and upgrade it (an expected cost of about $1,700 per owner). What the monies would go for, and how the assessment would be paid, is all in the post. One owner said the project was appealing but the circumstances gave them concerns. “I have two young children that use this pool. I’m all for a pool improvement project. We are just not for the way this project has been handled,” he said.
As the local TV station started investigating and requesting records, the HOA announced the plan was put on pause. On what did concerns raised by homeowners center? See the post. And not surprisingly, they have something in common with residents in other HOAs previously investigated by the TV station over a period of more than two years.
Beverly Crest is made up of seven HOAs and a master HOA that manages the pool, common areas and walking trails. The master association is managed by Cusick Community Management, which has been the subject of two prior investigations by the TV station. The subject $1.2 million special assessment was approved by a vote of the majority of the smaller HOA boards. (How that worked procedurally is explained in the post.) After receiving complaints and questions about the assessment, master association board members sent a letter to residents about the reason for the pricey project. Those details are in the post.
The TV station pulled inspection reports for Beverly Crest’s pool and kiddie pool; they show no outstanding issues. What the county said about that is in the post. When confronted with further questions about the claim that the pool could close, a member of the master association tried to backtrack – see the post.
But that’s not the end of the story. The TV station obtained a quote for the pool project; that only raised more questions when compared to the proposed special assessment. See the post for more details and the master association’s explanation of the difference.
The response to the TV station did not answer questions about why the board didn’t finance the project to spread out payments owed by owners. The letter sent to residents gives one reason – but is belied by the documents. See the post for more on that.
So that left the question of why one of the HOAs within Beverly Crest voted against the project. That association is one of the only HOAs not managed by Cusick. The Preserve recently fired Cusick after Tricia and others were elected to the board. Tricia sent the TV station her communications with Cusick – what they include is noted in the post. Sadly, Tricia said that one of the biggest problems her community had with Cusick occurred after they terminated the contract and tried transferring everything to another management company. See the post for more on that. And when the various HOA boards were summoned to learn about the pool project, emails from Tricia’s community management company show they were left out of the loop. But ultimately The Preserve still had to vote on whether to approve the assessment, so Tricia created a poll for her members to vote and express their opinions. Some questions or comments that came up are listed in the post.
When some residents requested records and financials for the project, the responses they received were similar to what residents in other Cusick managed communities faced – see the post. The TV station found multiple Cusick-managed communities have adopted language that limits owner access to additional financial records – as noted in the post (which, by the way, mirrors a statutory requirement in PA). When questioned about its refusal to provide the information or documents, the master association’s board did respond – see the post for what it said. And what it did not say: that the master association pays Cusick $8,400 per year to handle such requests, in addition to the money paid by other associations.
Coincidentally, on September 5, after the TV station interviewed community members and started investigating, a Cusick employee sent an email announcing the special assessment was being postponed. More about the content of that email, and a link to the Board’s entire letter, are in the post.
TAKEAWAY: Owners and Board members should know not only what is being assessed, but why and the basis for it. A community association lawyer can be called on if needed.
The post on Wednesday 10/9/2024 explained the EEOC sues DR Horton for disability discrimination. DR Horton is a Texas-based homebuilder that operates across the United States and, according to the EEOC in a recently-files suit, violated federal law when it failed to accommodate an employee with diabetic neuropathy. DR Horton allegedly assigned a sales associate to a new housing development 66 miles from her home. The sales associate’s diabetic neuropathy made prolonged sitting and gripping an object such as a steering wheel painful, and she requested to be moved to a property closer to her home. What happened is in the post – and eventually the sales associate resigned. The EEOC alleges that DR Horton’s acts violated the ADA and files suit after conciliation failed. Here, the simple thing requested by the employee as an accommodation (as noted in the post) would have kept the employee working and out of physical pain. The EEOC’s reminder as to the scope of accommodation that might be requires is also in the post.
TAKEAWAY: Let’s repeat what we said about our Sunday post: Employers must know the law, including when they must accommodate and the process that must be followed. Get an employment lawyer involved early on.
In the post on Thursday 10/10/2024 we learned that multitasking while working from home is common, survey finds. You have probably heard remote and hybrid workers brag about how productive they are with no gossipy colleagues to distract them or time wasted on long commutes, right? But a new survey is offering fresh insights into how remote (and hybrid) workers really spend their time.
Employees in the office might kill time messaging friends or on socmedia, but the survey found remote workers take advantage of being away from bosses to check things off their personal to-do lists or even just to goof off. Almost 50% of remote workers multitask on work calls or complete household chores like unloading the dishwasher or doing a load of laundry, according to the survey. And one-third take advantage of remote work flexibility to run errands (including those listed in the post). Sleeping? See the post. And working from another location without telling anyone or watching TV or playing video games – yep (see the post). And a small percentage – 4% and 3% – admitted to some things that might surprise you – see the post for what it is.
What probably will not be a surprise is the percentage who multitask during Zoom calls. The most common things they do while on the Zoom calf is noted in the post.
And (surprisingly?) it’s not just the rank-and-file who do this. A large percentage of managers and executives (see the post for the numbers) also multitask on work calls.
The post also compares managers/executives to other employees for browsing social media while on a video or conference call at work; the numbers are in the post. And what about shopping? That number too is in the post. And, again probably not a surprise is that different generations have different work habits: the post looked at napping during the workday, working form another location and more.
TAKEAWAY: Do you care what your remote and hybrid employees are doing while working (supposedly) at home on your dime if they are producing?
The post on Friday 10/11/2024 talked about a condo president charged with stealing $1.5M from association. The president of a luxury condo association has been arrested for stealing $1.5 million from the association and hundreds of property owners, the State Attorney recently announced.
Gregori Arzoumanov, 62, the president of the Turnberry on the Green Condominiums, a luxury high-rise overlooking the exclusive Turnberry Isle Country Club near the Aventura Mall, was arrested. The period of time over which he allegedly embezzled the $1.5 million is in the post. People thought all was great, but there was trouble in paradise. Arzoumanov allegedly held several jobs within the 378-unit condo building – see those listed in the post. And he was (or had the title of) property manager. Being in that position is what enabled him to do the things that led to the embezzlement – the post lists some. He was able to avoid oversight and maintain unfiltered access to the association’s finances. How the police chief describe what happened is also in the post.
Arzoumanov and his family moved into the condominium complex in 2004 and he was elected condo board president in 2008 (according to the condo board’s website). Arzoumanov’s bio says he’s originally from the country of Georgia and holds a Ph.D. and re – see the post. And what did Arzoumanov say in a post on the condo board website before his arrest? See the post.
TAKEAWAY: There must be checks and balances in every association – to avoid just this type of thing. Contact a community association lawyer to discuss your association’s status.
Finally, in the post yesterday 10/12/2024, we saw that Crab Knight to pay $30K in EEOC age discrimination suit. Divine Boiling Group, LLC does business as Crab Knight, a family-style seafood restaurant in Florida. It now will pay $30,000 and other non-monetary relief to settle an age discrimination lawsuit. What happened? Over a period of several weeks, the restaurant’s kitchen manager made repeated discriminatory comments about an employee’s age and more such as what is in the post. This violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) so the EEOC filed suit after conciliation failed. The five-year settlement agreement includes the $30K payment plus more as listed in the post. And that more is just as important as the monetary payment. The EEOC said that age discrimination in the workplace is an acute and growing problem. And it is also one of the EEOC’s priorities. More information on age discrimination is on its website at https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination.
TAKEAWAY: We will say it again: treat all employees the same regardless of (or especially because of) any protected characteristic.
York, Pennsylvania 17403