Rhode Island Employment Law Blog

Perhaps you are 45 years old, and you are leaving a company where you worked as a member of senior management.

Your employer must draft the severance agreement properly, and there are special requirements for employees like you who are age 40 and older. Do you have questions about terms and the validity of the agreement overall?

The partial government shutdown, which started on December 22, 2018, has had many effects on federal employees. According to CBS News, as a result of the government shutdown, approximately 380,000 federal employees have been furloughed - a temporary leave of absence without pay. The Senate Appropriations Committee estimates that the estimated 380,000 furloughed employees include about 86% of Department of Commerce employees, roughly 96% of NASA employees, about 52,000 IRS workers and approximately 95% of Housing and Urban Development employees.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

Third-Party Sexual Harassment

It is most common for sexual harassment in the workplace to stem from employer-employee interactions. However, sexual harassment, in an employment context, is not limited to sexual harassment between employees. Third-party sexual harassment may be caused by an "outsider" (e.g., customers, vendors, independent contractors, security guards, maintenance and repair personnel, and/or caterers).

According to The New York Times article, "The Tipping Equation," third-party sexual harassment is extremely prevalent in situations where employees rely on customer gratuities. The article explains the difficulties faced by tipped employees in reporting third-party sexual harassment because they depend on customer gratuities for a majority of their wages.