Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled workers, but not necessarily the accommodation favored by the employee. ...more
In the days before cellphones, employees required to remain on-call for work were generally entitled to compensation for time spent at home waiting for the landline to ring. Given the ubiquity of mobile communication...more
When litigating claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), litigants are aware of long-standing case law that essentially awards a prevailing plaintiff with their attorneys’ fees absent extraordinary...more
The "Same Actor Inference" is a legal principle that recognizes the logical gap when an employee alleges that they were terminated based on membership in a protected classification, by a manager who recently hired them with...more
On Monday, a unanimous panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reverse an injunction barring enforcement of portions of Florida’s Individual Freedom Act. The law in question would bar employers from...more
When advising employers about the legal risks associated with a business reorganization, we generally advise that discrimination claims are less likely when a company closes an entire facility or department as compared to...more
2/23/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reorganizations ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
Risk Management ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination
Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims from a university professor that she had been subjected to a series of retaliatory acts in the two- and one-half year period following her filing an Equal...more
We have become involved in an increasing number of disputes between companies and their former employees over ownership and use of personal social media accounts. In a typical situation, the employee will use their personal...more
When faced with potential employee organizing activity, some employers react by trying to address worker grievances through alternatives to union representation. Sometimes these approaches involve establishing an internal...more
1/19/2024
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appeals ,
Communication Workers of America ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Grievance Process ,
NLRB ,
Remand ,
Special Committees ,
T-Mobile ,
Union Organizers ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
When facing requests from a qualified disabled worker, the Americans with Disabilities Act allows employers to choose an effective accommodation, even if it is not the one preferred by the employee. Earlier this week, the...more
In last term’s decision in Groff v. DeJoy, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly increased employers’ obligation to consider religious exemption requests under Title VII. Rather than the previous de minimus burden standard,...more
12/8/2023
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations
Two of the biggest employment law fallacies we encounter relate to employees’ beliefs about the impact of their off-duty behavior on their careers. First, we see situations where the workers claim that employers have no right...more
12/1/2023
/ Appeals ,
Bias ,
Corporate Executives ,
Discipline ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Podcasts ,
Racial Bias
We often hear claims from employees who threaten to sue their employer for creating a “hostile work environment.” When we dig into the complaints, often the employee is alleging that their manager is mean or unfair to them,...more
8/25/2023
/ Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Title VII
The Family and Medical Leave Act prohibits employers from interfering with or retaliating against an employee who requests FMLA leave. Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South...more
In 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued new regulations dealing with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s tip credit. The tip credit allows employers to pay a $2.13 hourly minimum wage to tipped...more
5/5/2023
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Reversal ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Over the past decade, federal courts have repeatedly reviewed religious-affiliated employers' ability to avoid federal discrimination claims. Courts recognize a "ministerial exception" that prevents discrimination claims by...more
Workers’ Compensation law is a double-edged sword. While employers cannot avoid Comp liability based on the employee’s negligent behavior, the injured employee cannot sue the employer outside of the Comp system for damages...more
These days, efforts by the federal government to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for various groups seem like ancient history. Nevertheless, federal courts continue hearing challenges to the mandates filed by state governments,...more
Under the “stray remarks” doctrine, courts can conclude that an employer’s expressions of frustration, or comments by a manager not involved in an adverse employment decision, are not persuasive evidence of...more
Over the past decade, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) has substantially lowered the bar for demonstrating racial harassment in cases where a racial...more
It’s never a good idea for an employer to ask an employee who is subject to potential termination about their retirement plans. However, what happens if the employee raises their retirement plans in the context of a...more
Late in the Trump administration, the Department of Labor issued final rules intended to distinguish between employees and independent contractors for purposes of qualification for overtime and minimum wage obligations under...more
A federal district court judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction blocking implementation of the White House’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal employees. The judge relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from asking questions about an employee’s medical condition absent “business necessity.” What exactly constitutes business necessity has been the subject of litigation...more
Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Biden administration’s motion to stay a lower court’s injunction against a COVID-19 vaccination mandate applicable to employees of federal contractors and...more