Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled workers, but not necessarily the accommodation favored by the employee. ...more
Mandatory arbitration agreements remain popular for employers concerned about the cost, delays, and unpredictability of traditional litigation. The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires federal courts to defer in most...more
When we talk with employers about employees taking Family and Medical Leave Act leave, we sometimes get questions about the impact of the employee’s absence on the business. We in turn explain that the FMLA is an entitlement,...more
When advising employers about the legal risks associated with a business reorganization, we generally advise that discrimination claims are less likely when a company closes an entire facility or department as compared to...more
2/23/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reorganizations ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
Risk Management ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination
Much to the dismay of many small businesses, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed its review of a case that could have limited high-volume lawsuits against entities alleged to have violated public accommodation...more
In last term’s decision in Groff v. DeJoy, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly increased employers’ obligation to consider religious exemption requests under Title VII. Rather than the previous de minimus burden standard,...more
12/8/2023
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations
Two of the biggest employment law fallacies we encounter relate to employees’ beliefs about the impact of their off-duty behavior on their careers. First, we see situations where the workers claim that employers have no right...more
12/1/2023
/ Appeals ,
Bias ,
Corporate Executives ,
Discipline ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Podcasts ,
Racial Bias
We often hear claims from employees who threaten to sue their employer for creating a “hostile work environment.” When we dig into the complaints, often the employee is alleging that their manager is mean or unfair to them,...more
8/25/2023
/ Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Title VII
In 2008, Congress amended the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to expand the definition of protected medical conditions under the statute. The amendments were in part a response to a series of cases where federal courts...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations that allow disabled employees to perform the essential functions of their jobs. Over the years, federal appellate courts have reached...more
When an employer presents a separation agreement and release to an employee out of work for medical reasons, questions sometimes arise regarding that person’s ability to understand and competently execute the document. If an...more
When defending employers accused of discrimination, harassment, or other claims, defense counsel occasionally comes across evidence indicating that the employee may have engaged in criminal activity. If the employer or its...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that federal courts will not serve as a super HR department for employees who complain about unpleasant work conditions. Every worker is expected to tolerate a certain level of obnoxious...more
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers to provide employees with 60 days advance notice of a plant closing or mass layoff. On Tuesday in an unreported decision, the Fourth...more
12/6/2021
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Contract Termination ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fluor ,
Layoff Notices ,
Layoffs ,
Notice Requirements ,
WARN Act
In a new opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Maner v. Dignity Health, the plaintiff was a male design engineer who was laid off due to performance and budget cut issues. He alleged that he had been discriminated...more
Most employers are aware that a supervisor’s or co-worker’s use of the N-word or similar racial epithets in the workplace can serve as the basis for a claim of racial harassment. What happens, however, when the slurs are...more
Under Title VII, employers are liable to an employee for incidents of co-worker harassment when they knew or should have known that the conduct was occurring, yet failed to take reasonable measures to end it. Last week, the...more
If employees allege that they contracted COVID-19 as the result of a workplace exposure, state workers’ compensation laws may prevent them from pursuing a negligence claim against the company. What happens, however, when the...more
7/2/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deceased ,
Dismissals ,
Duty of Care ,
Negligence ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Surviving Spouse ,
Take-Home Exposure ,
Third-Party ,
Workplace Hazards
Last week, a federal district court judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of Houston hospital workers who object to their employer’s requirement that all employees receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The...more
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to consider reassignment to an existing vacant position as a last ditch form of reasonable accommodation for an employee unable to return to their previous...more
In its Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment violates Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition. In that case, the court said that plaintiffs can demonstrate same-sex harassment...more
5/28/2021
/ Appeals ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Harassment ,
PricewaterhouseCoopers ,
Remand ,
Same-Sex Harassment ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Title VII
If disabled employees are no longer able to perform the essential functions of their job even with reasonable accommodation, under the Americans with Disabilities Act the employer must consider transferring the workers to an...more
5/7/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Dismissals ,
Employee Transfers ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Essential Functions ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reversal
In last year’s landmark Bostock decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that discrimination due to sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited under Title VII. In its earlier Oncale decision, the Court concluded that...more
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from discrimination based on a range of protected classifications. However, Title VII only applies to employment relationships and cannot be used by contractors,...more
1/22/2021
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employee Definition ,
Equity Partners ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Law Firm Partners ,
Law Practice Management ,
Professional Services Companies ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Title VII
The statute of limitations for bringing claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act is two years from the last alleged illegal act. However, this period is increased to three years in the event of a willful FMLA violation...more