Piracy is defined as robbery by ship- or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, with a goal of stealing cargo or other valuables. During the Golden Age of Piracy, from the 1680s to the 1720s, infamous...more
4/8/2025
/ Breach of Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
On January 19, a federal district court in Arkansas paved the way for a jury to decide whether 2,000 employees were entitled to recover unpaid overtime for all weeks in which they worked more than 40 hours, while having...more
3/13/2025
/ Back Pay ,
Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Over-Time ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Deductions
After the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, on January 30 a federal district court denied dueling motions for summary judgment filed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the U.S. Postal Service, and former Postal...more
2/11/2025
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Jury Trial ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
SCOTUS ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship
Considering the barrage of vitriolic campaign ads that invaded our homes on a nightly basis during the past year, you might think that political debate in America had reached a new low. Think again....more
1/16/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
First Amendment ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Political Expression ,
Political Speech ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
As we welcome 2025, here are 10 must-read Constangy bulletins and blog posts from 2024, highlighting insights that guided our readers through important legal developments, workplace issues, and the challenges in cybersecurity...more
1/9/2025
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Bias ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Minimum Salary ,
NFL ,
NLRB ,
O-1 Aliens of Extraordinary Ability ,
Race Discrimination ,
Racial Bias ,
Retaliation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SolarWinds ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
You have probably heard about the plight of Rudy Giuliani. Once known as “America’s Mayor” for his handling of the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, Mr. Giuliani has fallen on hard times. Because of a $148...more
Inexorable. Something that cannot be moved, stopped, persuaded, or altered. In Title VII parlance, the "inexorable zero" is the complete absence of a protected group from a workforce or job classification. When accompanied...more
10/2/2024
/ Discrimination ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Promotions ,
Protected Class ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VII
You are about to enter another dimension. A journey into the world of discrimination and retaliation. Consider, if you will, the case of an employee who suspects that he or she is about to be fired or demoted for misconduct...more
9/6/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Demotions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Performance Reviews ,
Performance Standards ,
Protected Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Wage and Hour
The following may be a true story. The events depicted allegedly took place in Lompoc, California, in 2020. Out of deference to the judges involved, their names have not been used. Out of respect for the victim, her story...more
“Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.” That slogan became a rallying cry for Federalists during the XYZ Affair in 1798. Way back then, France and England were at war. What a surprise. The fledgling United...more
You may be asking. What is Chevron deference? How did it die? Why should I care? All fair questions. I will start by answering the last one. If you own, operate, or manage a business covered by the complex web of federal...more
7/9/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Vessels
Complete answers may be several years in the making. A year ago this month, in Groff v. DeJoy, the Supreme Court of the United States held that an employer who rejects a request for a religious accommodation “must show that...more
6/12/2024
/ Abortion ,
Adverse Impact ,
EEO ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Social Media ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination ,
Undue Hardship ,
Union Dues ,
Unions
You’ve got an employee who is an outspoken critic of your company’s equal employment policies or practices. He or she has violated your dress code by wearing anti-discrimination messages, fomented discontent amongst your...more
According to U.S. News & World Report, in 1758 George Washington was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses after he plied voters with beer, whiskey, rum punch, and wine. He did so after a landslide loss three years...more
4/18/2024
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Cemex ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Joe Biden ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Teamsters ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Elections ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
If you answered no, then you’d better have the records needed to prove the number of overtime hours worked by your employees and the rates paid for them. If you don’t have the records, then borrowing a rhyme from the legal...more
When I was in high school, the foreign language offerings were French and Spanish. That was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Today, the best I can do in Spanish is ask your name, what time it is, and how to...more
Chutzpah is a Yiddish word derived from the Aramaic ḥuṣpāh. It means impudence, gall, and an audacious disregard for rules. In the world of employment law, it can aptly describe employees who try to get what they want...more
3/12/2024
/ Back Pay ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Substantial Burden ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Branch Rickey, former General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the man who gave Jackie Robinson his shot in the Big Leagues, once said that luck is the residue of design. (Actually, the phrase may come from the British...more
In the 21st century world of employee relations, most corporate cultures and mission statements include a tenet regarding employee engagement. Engaged employees are believed to be more productive and less likely to leave for...more
Mike Daniels is a 300-pound mound of sound who played defensive tackle in the National Football League. After receiving more than a few personal foul penalties during his 10-year career, he explained that “the second guy...more
It’s an election year. Be careful out there.
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,” I represented labor unions. Actually, it was more like 30+ years ago and a few miles down I-85 in Atlanta. Just like that opening...more
12/19/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Relations ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Union Elections ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In August 2022 the National Labor Relations Board issued its decision in Tesla, Inc.,holding that an employer bears the burden of proving “special circumstances” if it “interferes in any way with its employees’ right to...more
12/12/2023
/ Dress Codes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Special Circumstances Doctrine ,
Tesla ,
UAW ,
Uniforms ,
Union Insignia ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
It’s the fourth quarter. Three seconds are left on the clock, and your team is losing by one point. Your place kicker confidently trots onto the field to attempt the game-winning field goal. As he does, the TV announcer says,...more
In Part One of this two-part bulletin, we explored the expansive meaning of religious beliefs entitled to an accommodation under Title VII and the reluctance of courts to second guess whether a belief is “religious” in...more
On September 25 a federal court in New York dismissed a lawsuit accusing an employer of failing to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs as a member of the “Temple of the Healing Spirits” located in “Deland city,...more