Our Decades-Old Tradition Returns In Person!
Join us to learn about the latest updates and best practices for employers, in-house counsel, and HR professionals.
Among the topics during this year’s general session are a...more
9/29/2022
/ Best Practices ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Monitoring ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Employment Litigation ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Events ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
NLRB ,
Remote Working ,
State Labor Laws ,
Work Visas
Recently, the Kentucky Supreme Court considered whether the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts a state law. The FAA prevents states from setting higher standards for entering into or enforcing arbitration agreements...more
Montana is one of the few states where employers must have good cause to fire an employee. In this recent case, the employer fired its site manager because he had an employee return to work without a medical release and sign...more
The Second Circuit joined the Seventh Circuit and the EEOC in ruling that Title VII protects individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., No. 15-3775 (2nd Cir. February 26,...more
2/28/2018
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
The former general counsel of the EEOC under President Obama leads a team that is giving many, many employers an early holiday nightmare. A union and a class of plaintiffs are seeking damages from a class of employers; if...more
The NLRB holds – famously now – that sexist and racist conduct on a picket line is protected from adverse action unless the conduct is also violent and coercive. Despite a shot across its bow in Consolidated Communications,...more
A requested accommodation for a disability is not unreasonable as a matter of law just because it is illegal under federal law, says the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in a recent case. As applied there, the result is...more
7/18/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Reasonable Accommodation
Even a gap of five years between protected conduct and an adverse action isn’t enough to show the two are not connected. In Baines v. Walgreen Co., No. 16-3335 (7th Cir. July 12, 2017), the plaintiff had worked for the...more
An employer in Mississippi will face trial on a claim of race discrimination because it has not explained the interview scores two candidates received. In Calvin v. MS Dept. Rehab. Servs., Civil No. 3:15-CV-827-HTW-LRA (S.D....more
The administration is beta-testing a new on-line tool at http://worker.gov. The site lets the user select on a job title (from a slowly expanding list) and then click to a menu of various violations of labor and employment...more
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently taught employers what can happen when Human Resources abandons an investigation half-way through. In Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Serv., Inc., No,. 15-3239-cv (2d Cir. Aug. 29,...more
The worlds of transgender versus religious rights collided hard recently when an EEOC action on behalf of a discharged transgender worker ran full force into a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) defense, and the EEOC...more
8/23/2016
/ Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Free Exercise Clause ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals expanded on the EEOC’s guidance on a staffing company’s liability for its client’s discriminatory decisions. According to the court, a staffing company may be liable when a client asks the...more
A federal trial court will conduct a trial on a Fair Credit Reporting Act claim because the employer streamlined its background check system. In this case, a bank used a third party service provider to conduct background...more
The Colorado Supreme Court considered whether a state law prohibiting discrimination based on an employee’s “lawful” off-work activities applies to the employee’s use of medical marijuana as permitted under state law. Coats...more
If you put an employee on a performance improvement plan (“PIP”), can he resign, sue on some theory or other, and collect damages as though he had been discharged? Two employees in Texas tried it. The employees contended that...more
Does your business use a contractor to provide in-home services to your customers? If so, you probably want the contractor to conduct background checks on its employees. You want the contractor to screen out people who pose...more
Assuming that psychological counseling might be a “medical examination” under the ADA, when may an employer require an employee to get counseling as a condition of continued employment? A recent 6th Circuit case provides some...more
The Supreme Court staked out a definition for "supervisor" in the context of Title VII. Vance v. Ball State Univ., No. 11-556 (June 24, 2013). Whether a person is a "supervisor" determines whether the employer can be held...more
These days, everyone has good reason to be leery of threats in the workplace, and the courts are generally supportive of employers who take those threats seriously. A recent Tenth Circuit decision is a good example. ...more