When employees begin to feel pressure from their supervisors in the workplace, it is difficult to know what to do. Often, the pressure feels unwarranted, unfair, overwhelming, and too often—discriminatory or retaliatory. Despite an employee’s best efforts, the employment relationship may continue to deteriorate to the point where the employee is placed on a performance improvement plan, administrative leave, or worse, demoted or … [Read more...]
What You Need to Know about Equity Award Agreements
In recent years, executives are increasingly being compensated through equity awards. As a general matter, equity awards most often take the form of stock options or Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), which provide additional compensation beyond an employee’s salary and benefits. These types of equity awards (often offered through Long-Term Incentive Plans, or LTIPs) are prevalent in all businesses, but are especially common among start-up … [Read more...]
Minnesota Adds Employment Protections for Mothers and Expecting Mothers
As of January 1, 2022, Minnesota mothers and expecting mothers have increased protections in the workplace. These increased protections are due to an expansion of the Women’s Economic Security Act, which was initially enacted into law in 2014. Among other provisions, the Act originally expanded pregnancy and parental leave, allowed women to bring civil actions to enforce their right to express milk in the workplace, and prohibited employers … [Read more...]
Zooming in on Harassment in the Working-From-Home Era
For decades, federal and state laws have prohibited harassment in the workplace, whether the harassment is sexual harassment or harassment based on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or other protected status. Generally, the harassing conduct must be frequent or severe, and must be based on a particular characteristic of the employee. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, employers became more attuned to identifying … [Read more...]
Should I Resign or Wait to be Fired?
While most employees begin a new job with a positive outlook and high expectations, it’s not unusual for the employment relationship to take a wrong turn. It may be that the employee has been placed on a Performance Improvement Plan or is under an internal investigation. Or, the employee might be experiencing an intolerable working environment that she or he can no longer endure. In any event, whether an employee decides to voluntarily resign … [Read more...]
