Are you gals ready for a rumble tonight?

A year ago this week, the Supreme Court decision to strike down a class action gender bias suit against Walmart had a sweeping and symbolic impact on women’s rights.

That ruling, and a host of other actions including moves by religious employers to derail contraceptive coverage for workers, a recent legislation defeat of pay equity legislation for women, and the rise in the number of pregnancy discrimination claims have all culminated into what many women advocates call a “War on Women.”

On Thursday, it was time to rally the troops, maintained Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, during a luncheon with a focus on stopping the war with more advocacy and also legislation to turn back the high court’s Walmart ruling.

“Who would have thought that in 2012, we’d be arguing over providing contraception for women, or debating the idea of equal pay,” Ness told a 1,500 member audience of mainly women gathered in the Washington Hilton including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who gave the keynote address. “Yet here we are.” (more…)

This is my new standing desk. Yes, it looks like an ironing board, but it’s not. It’s my latest attempt at getting a standing desk without paying crazy standing-desk prices.

My husband saw this ironing board desk at his office being used by a colleague who’s health conscious and wanted to stand during the day.

He decided to buy me one from a local office supply store for about $30 because my makeshift standing desk was getting on his nerves. It was made of puzzle boxes and crates, but the worst part was I couldn’t rest my hands on anything and ended up giving myself tennis elbow. (more…)

There have been undercurrents of weight discrimination in the workplace for years, but a Texas hospital decided to go anti-fat full throttle.

A Texas newspaper uncovered the story recently reporting about a fat-adverse Texas hospital — Citizens Medical Center — and it’s unheard of policy of refusing to hire anyone with a body mass index of more than 35.

The policy, according to The Texas Tribune, states:

… an employee’s physique “should fit with a representational image or specific mental projection of the job of a healthcare professional,” including an appearance “free from distraction” for hospital patients.

“The majority of our patients are over 65, and they have expectations that cannot be ignored in terms of personal appearance,” hospital chief executive David Brown said in an interview. “We have the ability as an employer to characterize our process and to have a policy that says what’s best for our business and for our patients.”

The hospital’s policy may cause outrage, but it’s an extreme example of an obesity bias that has been percolating in the nation’s workforces, starting with seemingly benign measures such as encouraging workers to walk at lunch. (more…)

As the Supreme Court reviews President Obama’s health care reform initiative, it’s a good time to look at the reality of what workers face when it comes to medical coverage in this country.

Whether you agree with the health care overhaul or not, there’s consensus that things can’t continue the way they have been when it comes to medical care and insurance.

It’s not a good story for anyone. If you’re lucky enough to have a job that covers health care there’s a good chance you’re paying more this year for less coverage. And if you don’t have any insurance through an employer, you’re likely strapped because of the high premiums for individuals or you’ve decided to go without coverage.

It seems most of us are living on the medical edge, according to a report. (more…)

Some workers have a breaking point; and some a weakness.

The number of American workers holding more than one job climbed yet again last month to 7.1 million from 6.8 million in February of 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

With so many good-paying jobs not being replaced, some workers are finding they need more than one job to make ends meet — or at least keep up their standard of living, said Ellen Ernst Kossek, a human resource professor at Michigan State University’s School of Labor & Industrial Relations.

One devastating result of grinding too many stones may be the rising rate of drug use — including amphetamines, which are stimulates, and cocaine. (more…)

Americans aren’t likely to fight for a lunch break. But citizen lunchers from many other nations would, and do. Take workers in Hong Kong.

Last week, about 1,000 securities brokers and traders, and restaurant employees, protested at the headquarters of the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. over a proposed reduction in their lunch break from 90 minutes to an hour, according to Bloomberg.

An hour!? Workers in this country hardly get a few minutes and they don’t seem too upset about it. Most of you are actually eating at your desks. About 65 percent of employees here either eat at their desk or don’t take lunch breaks at all, according to a survey by Right Management, an HR consulting firm.

“Lunch patterns allow us to infer a few things about the North American workplace; and one thing that we already know is that the pressure for productivity and performance can be relentless,” said Michael Haid, senior vice president of talent management at Right Management. “Employees may feel they have to apologize for stepping out, but in the long run this kind of company culture does not help improve performance or engagement.”

And executives aren’t a great example either. (more…)

This time of year, parents across the country hope their kids don’t end up bringing home serious colds and flu from school. They send their children off to their classrooms with hand sanitizers, tell them not to kiss their little buddies, and fill them with vitamins.

But parents don’t seem to think twice when they take the little buggers to places like McDonald’s and Chuck E. Cheese’s.

Maybe they should.

Turns out many of the workers at these places that offer food and fun for kids don’t get paid sick days. That means workers, most of which are making fairly low wages, have to choose between coming to work sick or staying home and missing a day or week’s pay, depending how sick they are.

So, what choice do you think most of these employees — who handle the food your kids are chowing down on — would make? They’re coming to work sick! (more…)

You’re all costing your employers too much money in health care costs and they’re done being nice about encouraging you to get healthier.

The wife of a Las Vegas casino dealer recently wrote us at MSNBC upset that her husband was asked by his managers at the hotel where he works to take a biometric health assessment test. Such tests typically include a health professional taking an employee’s blood and then having it tested for an array of ailments.

The reader wrote that her husband would be fined $500 if he refused to take the test. Such assessments, she added, were “an egregious violation of my husband’s medical privacy.” She’s contacted the Nevada Department of Labor and the ACLU in order to get help to fight the requirement.

Unfortunately, the couple may not have a legal leg to stand on if the dealer doesn’t allow them to prick his finger.

About 70 percent of larger employers now conduct employee health assessments, and more and more are considering taking the stick approach to workers who refuse to take such exams. (more…)

I used to work for an editor who would conduct editorial meetings in the middle of the newsroom, and while reporters and other editors were watching — men and women — he’d rub and adjust his penis often in plain sight.

I thought of this when I got a survey this morning about how women are embarrassed to use breast pumps at work.

It’s hard to blame the system for the lack of advancement by women in Corporate America and the workplace at large when we gals are our own worst enemies. If men were able to breast feed they’d be doing it out in the open while on the phone, holding meetings, and even at ball games. You know it’s true. Why are women so ashamed to do something so natural? (more…)

You might want to think twice before you have a Big Mac for lunch, or take a cigarette break.

Companies are beefing up their efforts to make you healthier and they’re taking out the big guns. You’re costing employers too much money for medical coverage and increasingly firms are imposing penalties on workers who don’t get with the healthy program.

But is it legal or a smart business move? (more…)