In the first ruling from a federal appellate court examining COVID-19–related layoffs and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Easom v. US Well Services,...more
On May 13, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of an employer, finding that a fired employee had failed to create a genuine dispute of material fact as to pretext. In Owens...more
6/15/2022
/ Appeals ,
Employee Evaluations ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Investigations ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Performance Improvement Plans ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Title VII
Recently, the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, in Thompson v. Cenac Towing Co., L.L.C., analyzed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in a company’s favor after a noose-like rope was found hanging in a maritime...more
6/4/2021
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hostile Environment ,
Jones Act ,
Maritime Transport ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress ,
Preemption ,
Race Discrimination ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment
The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal recently held in Derbonne v. State Police Commission, No. 2019 CA 1455 (October 14, 2020), that an employee whose duties require that he or she report violations of state law is not...more
The Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal recently held that a noncompetition provision under La. R.S 23:921 affecting a former member of an accounting limited liability company (LLC) could be reformed when the scope of...more
On June 10, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that state wage and hour laws do not apply to offshore drilling workers where federal law addresses the relevant issue. In Parker Drilling Management...more
6/19/2019
/ Appeals ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Enclave Rules ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Offshore Drilling ,
On-Call Employees ,
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ,
Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd v Newton ,
Preemption ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held that a group of directional driller consultants were independent contractors, not employees, in large part due to their highly specialized skills, degree of...more
3/26/2019
/ Appeals ,
Collective Actions ,
Consultants ,
De Novo Standard of Review ,
Employee Definition ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Oil & Gas ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Summary Judgment ,
Wage and Hour ,
Well Drilling
Plaintiffs have attempted a number of creative avenues to avoid the procedural and substantive limitations set forth under the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law (LEDL), which provides a statutory scheme to address...more
10/19/2018
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Job Promotions ,
Public Employees ,
Race Discrimination ,
State Law Claims ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a New Orleans charter school was not a “political subdivision” exempt from the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRA does not apply to States and their political...more
The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal recently ruled that the statute of limitations under Louisiana’s anti-discrimination law is only tolled during the pendency of an administrative or investigative review, not to...more
On March 23, 2018, in a 4–3 decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court refused to consider Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’s appeal of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal’s November 1, 2017, decision holding that...more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana’s grant of summary judgment under the Louisiana whistleblower law, Louisiana Revised Statutes section 23:967, in favor...more
The Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal has held that painters may be treated as independent contractors if they bring some of their own tools, control their own schedules, and make decisions on how to complete the work...more
On December 1, 2017, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) appealed a state appellate court decision holding that Executive Order JBE 2016 – 11, which seeks to protect the rights of lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender...more
In April of 2016, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed Executive Order JBE 2016 – 11, which sought to protect lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender individuals, among other protected classes, from discrimination...more
11/3/2017
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
Governor Bel Edwards ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Popular ,
Separation of Powers ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
State Constitutions ,
State Contractors
A Louisiana appellate court has ruled an employee may sue her employer for negligence for injuries sustained on the job when the injuries resulted from a dispute that began outside of work. The case is particularly...more
In June, we reported that in April 2016, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) signed Executive Order JBE 2016 – 11, which sought to protect lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender individuals, among other protected...more
In contrast to Parker v. Crete Carrier Corporation, et al, in Kowitz v. Trinity Health, et al, No. 15-1584 (October 17, 2016), a split panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment for an employer on...more