Can a news organization avoid a discrimination claim by arguing that it was exercising its First Amendment right to choose who writes the news? That’s the question that the California courts have been grappling with in...more
Retailer Permitted Disability Harassment at West Virginia Store, Then Retaliated Against Employee For Reporting Harassment of a Co-Worker, Federal Agency Charged - Elkins, WV - National retailer Big Lots Stores, Inc.,...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Court of Appeal, on rehearing, has superseded a 2016 decision that employers must reasonably accommodate work restrictions because of the disabilities of the employee’s associates. The superseding...more
On April 4, 2016, a California Court of Appeal set new precedent in Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, opining that the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) may require employers to reasonably...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: California court creates new duty to accommodate employees who, although not themselves disabled, are associated with a disabled person. The Court of Appeal decision in Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable...more
On April 4, 2016, the California Court of Appeal issued an unprecedented ruling in Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express that the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) requires employers to reasonably...more
Can an employer terminate an employee out of a belief that the employee is too distracted from his job duties due to caring for a relative with a disability? That was the issue in the recent case, Kourimihelakis v. Hartford...more
Third-Party Harassment Costs Employer $30,000 - Why it matters: Employers, take note: harassment in the workplace can be committed not just by supervisors and coworkers, but by third parties such as customers,...more
In a case of first impression, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has approved a worker’s claim under the Commonwealth’s anti-discrimination law, Mass. G.L. c. 151B, that his former employer discriminated against...more
On July 19, 2013, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held in Flagg v. AliMed, Inc. that a non-disabled employee can sue his employer for disability discrimination under Chapter 151B, the state anti-discrimination...more