The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) prohibits publicly held employers from retaliating against employees who report illegal conduct that could have a material impact on shareholders. Since SOX was enacted, federal courts have issued...more
From time to time, we encounter businesses described by their owners as managed and operated under Christian principles. The owners explain that they use their personal faith to guide their business decisions, including...more
Two recent major news stories again involve the intersection of politics with employment law. In the first matter, Google fired a programmer after he posted an internal document criticizing the company’s diversity...more
8/23/2017
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Diversity ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Google ,
Hate Speech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Political Expression ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation
Employers sometimes defend retaliation claims by responding that the person or persons making the adverse employment decision was not aware of the plaintiff’s prior complaint. In the employment discrimination context, the...more
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not require employers to agree to allow employees to work from home based on medical restrictions. The Americans with Disabilities Act may require employers to provide such...more
In its December Vaughn decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that plaintiffs in age discrimination cases may not collect compensatory or punitive damages. The court based its decision on its interpretation of...more
On January 1, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) new recordkeeping and reporting rule took effect. The main impact of this rule requires employers to electronically file annual injury and...more
Last month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed its earlier position that compensatory and punitive damages are not available to plaintiffs who allege violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)....more
Employees can consider a working environment to be hostile due to sexual conduct, even when the workplace is all male or all female. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and federal courts have long held that...more
Employees on approved Family and Medical Leave are entitled to reinstatement upon return to the same or an equivalent position. Commonly, when the employee is absent on leave, the employer discovers work performance issues...more
Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a final enforcement guidance on retaliation claims under the various federal civil rights laws administered by the agency. The guidance will replace...more
When a terminated employee alleges that her firing resulted from discrimination or retaliation, employers often dispute those claims by noting that the employer never hired anyone to take the terminated employee’s position....more
7/26/2016
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Protected Class ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Remand ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
Termination ,
Title VII
Most hostile environment harassment claims brought under Title VII involve allegations of offensive conduct by the plaintiff’s supervisors or co-workers. In a few situations, the employee alleges that his or her subordinates...more
Title VII and related federal civil rights laws contain short administrative claims periods that often result in preclusion of actions filed after expiration of these dates. These exclusions lead to frequent litigation...more
5/31/2016
/ Constructive Discharge ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Green v Brennan ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Race Discrimination ,
Resignation ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Title VII ,
USPS
The Supreme Court’s 2006 Burlington Northern decision concluded that employers engage in retaliation against protected employees when they take action that would deter a reasonable person from filing an EEOC charge or...more
5/17/2016
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Burlington Northern ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Remand ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
Title VII
Before filing suit alleging discrimination, Title VII requires plaintiffs to file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If the plaintiff files an EEOC charge, but includes claims in his...more
Employers investigating allegations of workplace harassment sometimes receive explanations from the accused parties that they never meant to cause distress to the complaining employee. They justify their behavior as joking or...more
In general, once an employee tenders his or her notice of resignation, the employer is under no legal obligation to rescind acceptance of the notice. Last month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals cast doubt on this rule by...more
Intermittent leave continues to pose some of the most vexing Family and Medical Leave Act problems for employers. Employees eligible for intermittent FMLA leave frequently miss work without advance notice, leaving the...more
Family and Medical Leave Act contains a two-year statute of limitations for claims of interference with or retaliation against protected employee activity. Last month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals faced questions over...more
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act prohibits employers from discriminating or retaliating against employees who engage in protected concerted activity. Concerted Activity means actions involving terms and...more
8/17/2015
/ Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Retaliation ,
Section 7 ,
Tipped Employees
Like most federal labor laws, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who oppose unlawful employment practices. However, a number of federal courts have adopted a...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to engage in an interactive process to determine if a qualified individual with a disability can perform the essential functions of the job through provision of...more
Employers routinely use Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) to notify employees of job performance issues. If an employee believes that they have unfairly been placed under a PIP, can this form the basis for an employment...more
In its 2013 Nassar decision, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that plaintiffs who allege workplace retaliation under Title VII and related statutes must demonstrate that the retaliatory animus is a “but for” cause of the...more