Mental health crises are sensitive, and employees experiencing them should be treated with empathy and care. They also present employers with the challenge of coordinating workplace safety, disability and leave laws, and any related investigation or misconduct.
If there is an immediate threat of harm, the agency should follow its emergency and workplace-safety protocols. Once
Employees frequently engage in passionate discussions about union issues and working conditions, and those discussions do not always remain polite. Agencies sometimes find themselves at the crossroads of respecting employees’ union-related speech rights and enforcing the agency’s standards of conduct. This blog post provides general guidance to agencies regarding when employee speech exceeds the boundaries
High-profile U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations across the country underscore how rapidly moving and emotionally-charged immigration enforcement actions can be. Planning in advance for how your agency will respond if federal agents contact or involve employees in an enforcement action can be critical to managing risk and maintaining calm. Below are key legal principles
Public agencies often find themselves caught between two important obligations: protecting confidential information and fulfilling legal requirements for transparency. Questions commonly arise about when—and how much—sensitive information can be redacted without running afoul of the law. This blog post addresses some of the most common redaction scenarios involving California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) requests, union
As we cruise into 2025, LCW has received a number of questions regarding Senate Bill 1100, the new law that prohibits including a driver’s license requirement in job postings and applications unless the employer reasonably expects that driving is a job function of the position. This blog post addresses some FAQs regarding compliance with
In a much-publicized congressional hearing on December 5, 2023, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania faced pointed questions by the House Education and Workforce Committee regarding antisemitism on college campuses. Several exchanges—and public debate thereafter—focused on whether certain violent or politically-charged speech would violate the universities’ Code of Conduct, particularly the
The weather is getting warmer and the sun is getting brighter, and you know what that means–employers everywhere are calling their lawyers to ask how they can put teenagers on payroll this summer! Many employers that operate summer programming seek to hire minors as recreational leaders, day camp counselors, and the like, but find themselves
The height of the COVID-19 pandemic may be behind us, but the many shifts it prompted in workplace dynamics could be here to stay. One such trend is in the spotlight due to a recent New York Times investigative report: an increasing number of employers are utilizing digital monitoring software that can provide a