On March 31, 2022, a Kentucky jury unanimously awarded $450,000 to an employee, who was terminated following two panic attacks the employee suffered at work. The jury concluded the employee’s anxiety disorder was a disability...more
On March 11, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment, dismissing a Texas city employee’s claim that he had been unlawfully terminated from his job because of his age. The Fifth...more
4/5/2022
/ ADEA ,
Adverse Employment Action ,
Age Discrimination ,
Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Evidence ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII ,
Wrongful Termination
Mental health is the latest emergent issue for employers due to recent events such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, resulting recession and other factors like the perpetual display of racial injustices in the...more
2/4/2022
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Mental Health ,
Risk Mitigation
On January 7, 2022—the same day the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments concerning the OSHA workplace vaccine mandate—the Louisiana Supreme Court (“LA Supreme Court” or the “Court”) upheld a private...more
1/10/2022
/ At-Will Employment ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Declaratory Relief ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Injunctive Relief ,
LA Supreme Court ,
Right to Privacy ,
State Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Louisiana employers should be aware of two new laws which went into effect on August 1, 2021. The first, Act 393, provides for reasonable accommodations of employees who become temporarily disabled due to certain...more
9/15/2021
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Legislation ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State Labor Laws
Recent events and attendant social justice movements have thrust long-standing racial inequities into the spotlight and ignited a national and global conversation. That conversation has not only taken place in the streets,...more
10/27/2020
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Training ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Race Relations ,
Title VII
Louisiana’s amended non-competition statute (La. R.S. 23:921), which meaningfully expands the application of employment-related non-compete restrictions within the state, went into effect on August 1, 2020. This amendment...more
On April 16, 2020, the Fifth Circuit held that an employee is entitled to arbitrate his federal labor law claims as a collective action on behalf of his coworkers against their employer, Sun Coast Resources, Inc. (“Sun...more
5/12/2020
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Class Action ,
Class Arbitration ,
Collective Actions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Per Diem ,
Reaffirmation ,
Travel Reimbursements ,
Wage and Hour
On a matter of first impression, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit, in Durham v. Rural/Metro Corp., applied the test for indirect evidence of intentional pregnancy discrimination enunciated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Young v. UPS....more
5/8/2020
/ Appeals ,
Disparate Treatment ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Evidence ,
Indirect Discrimination ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Young v United Parcel Service
On April 3, 2020, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit in EEOC v. Vantage Energy Services, Inc., No. 19-20541, clarified its interpretation of the relate-back doctrine for administrative charges. The Fifth Circuit...more
4/16/2020
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Administrative Remedies ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Relate Back Doctrine ,
Reversal ,
Technical Standards
On March 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision from the Seventh Circuit in Leeper v. Hamilton County Coal, LLC, No. 19-1109, which held that a layoff was temporary, and thus did not trigger the 60-day...more
On May 25, 2017, the Louisiana Senate Finance Committee voted 7-3 against Senate Bill No. 153, which aimed to increase the state minimum wage to $8.00 per hour in 2018 and to $8.50 per hour in 2019...more
New Orleans Mayor, Mitch Landrieu, has issued an executive order that bans questions about salary history during the application processes for City positions. The executive order is effective January 25, 2017 and is similar...more
On December 19, 2016, the Fifth Circuit joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuits in holding that “employees” under the FLSA may recover emotional distress damages in FLSA retaliation actions, finding that the district court...more
In EEOC v. St. Joseph’s Hospital, the Eleventh Circuit recently held that the reasonable accommodation standard under the ADA “only requires an employer allow a disabled person to compete equally with the rest of the world...more
On October 4, 2016, the Fifth Circuit in Reyna v. International Bank of Commerce instructed district courts that when the issue of arbitrability is raised in a prompt motion to compel, it should be decided at the outset of...more
A well-drafted anti-sexual harassment policy and complaint procedure can provide useful defenses for employers defending against claims of sexual harassment. However, a recent decision from the Fifth Circuit should remind...more
7/26/2016
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Appeals ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Faragher/Ellerth defense ,
Hostile Environment ,
Internal Communications ,
Internal Investigations ,
Reversal ,
Sexual Harassment
Louisiana is anticipated to become the latest state to enact state-wide protections for applicants with criminal backgrounds under the well-known “ban the box” movement. The bill, HB 266, recently passed both houses of the...more
Recently, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous judgment that government agency "interpretive rules" are not subject to notice-and-comment rulemaking, but cautioned that those same rules do not carry the "force and effect of...more
On November 13, 2014, the Fifth Circuit handed down its opinion in Coffin v. Blessey Marine Services, Inc., No. 13-20144, 2014 WL 5904734 (5th Cir. Nov. 13, 2014). The opinion addressed several key factors related to the...more
Effective August 1, 2014, Louisiana joined at least sixteen other states that have enacted laws prohibiting or restricting employers from accessing employees' personal online accounts – including social media (Twitter,...more
This month we return to the age-old question – "What makes someone a fiduciary?" As Nicole Eichberger explains, the Seventh Circuit reminded us that the meaning of a "functional fiduciary" depends on exercise/conduct in...more
In This Issue:
- Editors' Overview
- The Future Role of Experts in ERISA Class
- View from Proskauer: Health Insurance Exchanges and Retiree Medical Exits--Five Ways To Make Sure It's Really a "Soft...more