In recent years, a number of federal appellant courts, including the Fourth Circuit, have issued opinions finding that a single use of a racial slur can be enough to constitute a hostile and offensive working environment...more
9/6/2019
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hostile Environment ,
Poor Job Performance ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reaffirmation ,
Safety Violations ,
Slurs ,
Summary Judgment ,
Supervisors ,
Title VII
It’s not unusual to see an employee terminated or disciplined for workplace harassment to in turn file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that the employer’s reasons for the move were pretext...more
In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued enforcement guidance on employers’ use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. The EEOC concluded that indiscriminate use of such checks has a disparate...more
8/14/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Background Checks ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctions ,
Job Applicants
When we respond to allegations of employment discrimination, reconstructing the timeline of events is crucial. In these situations, the parties often agree what happened (i.e., the employee was terminated). Where they differ...more
In employment discrimination cases, when the plaintiff makes out a prima facie claim of bias, the employer must articulate legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for the action. The plaintiff then has the ultimate burden of...more
In a recent claim filed against one of our clients, an aggrieved employee alleged that a manager who was a former military officer had a preference for hiring and promoting people with military experience. The employee in...more
Most employers are aware that in order to conduct a third-party background search on an employee or applicant, they must obtain advance authorization and comply with the notice requirements of the federal Fair Credit...more
On occasion, employers defending lawsuits filed by their employees raise questions over the legal validity of what most attorneys consider to be settled law. A good example comes from a recent decision by the U.S. Court of...more
Last week, we reported on a new Washington state law that will put the nation’s first public long-term care insurance plan into place. On May 8, Washington’s governor signed into law restrictions on use of noncompetition...more
On April 9, the New Your City Council voted overwhelmingly to approve a measure that would ban pre-employment marijuana testing for workers in the city, with a number of specific exceptions. Mayor Bill de Blasio has indicated...more
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects employee “concerted activity.” Concerted activity means two or more employees engaging in discussions or actions intended to address terms and conditions of employment....more
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers may only require employees to submit to medical exams or inquiries when there is a business necessity for determining the employee’s ability to perform the essential...more
2/12/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Medical Examinations ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reversal
When training interviewers on legal compliance in hiring, employers often coach their employees to avoid phrases that can be interpreted as referring to the applicant’s age. For example, the EEOC sometimes views claims that...more
In its 2012 Hosanna-Tabor decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a “ministerial” exemption to federal civil rights laws. It allows religious employers – without being subjected to claims of discrimination – to make...more
Employers with California operations probably know that traditional noncompetition covenants are unenforceable in that state. Additional state court decisions concluded that customer non-solicitation prohibitions are also...more
In 1996, North Carolina adopted legislation passed pursuant to federal requirements that require all employers in the state to register new hires with the state Department of Health and Human Services. The law was intended to...more
Earlier this year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission persuaded the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that a funeral home’s termination of a transgender employee violated Title VII’s prohibition against sex...more
11/5/2018
/ Appeals ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
As previously chronicled in EmployNews, a small but growing number of states that have legalized medical marijuana use have recognized employees’ rights not to be subject to adverse treatment by their employers due to such...more
10/19/2018
/ Disability Discrimination ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Preemption ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State Labor Laws
In the hospitality industry, it is fairly common for a hotel to retain a management company to run housekeeping, food and beverage, and other functions. While the management company may supervise and direct the work of hotel...more
10/1/2018
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotel Management Agreements ,
Hotels ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII
The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides protections for persons subject to “consumer reports” provided by third parties, including criminal background and credit checks mandated by employers. The employee or...more
9/28/2018
/ Background Checks ,
Credit Checks ,
Credit Reports ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employee Credit Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Notice Requirements ,
Screening Procedures
In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an Enforcement Guidance dealing with employer use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. The agency concluded that widespread use of such checks...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act sets forth the conditions under which employers can require medical examinations as a condition of hire. Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer violated the...more
9/12/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Medical Examinations ,
Screening Procedures
Late last month, the South Carolina General Assembly overrode Governor Henry McMasters’ veto of legislation intended to make it easier for residents to remove minor criminal convictions from their records. The new law was...more
Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced separate settlements with CVS Caremark Corporation and Best Buy based on the companies’ use of personality assessments during the application process....more
Disparate impact discrimination claims involve allegations of bias based not on intentional conduct, but rather otherwise neutral policies that have a statistically significant negative result with respect to persons in a...more