A recent jury verdict against Southwest Airlines and Transport Workers Union of America, Local 556 is an interesting study in the tension between an employer’s right to police an employee’s statements on social media and the...more
In 2020, companies nationwide claimed that the global pandemic excused them from giving notice to employees of layoffs under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
WARN requires employers of a...more
Yes, employers are struggling with the application of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). For a small employer that has never been subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act, implementing paid sick leave and...more
Surrounded by the confusion and anxiety of the current COVID-19 pandemic, it may feel refreshing to step back and consider some of the basic tenets of employment law. The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Comcast Corp....more
4/3/2020
/ 42 U. S. C. § 1981 ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
But For Causation ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Comcast ,
Comcast Corp. v National Association of African American-Owned Media ,
Commercial Contracts ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Contract ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Race Discrimination ,
Racial Bias ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Substantial Motivating Factor Test ,
Television Broadcast Stations ,
Title VII
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not prohibit all harassing conduct. Rather, the harassing conduct must be “because of” sex. A recent decision by a federal appeals court provides employers with an opportunity to...more
Theoretically, the highly compensated exemption should simplify an employer’s Fair Labor Standards Act classification inquiry. After all, if an employee meets the highly compensated monetary threshold, that employee must only...more
A recent opinion from the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals involving Tulsa’s American Airlines facility serves as a reminder of the kind of evidence required to establish retaliation....more
10/23/2017
/ American Airlines ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Evidence ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Letters of Request ,
Pretext ,
Proficiency Testing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation
Many of you who read the headline about “Onionhead” being considered a religion in the context of a discrimination case may have guffawed or shaken your head in disbelief. The 102-page opinion by U.S. District Court Judge...more
On December 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s new Fair Labor Standards Act overtime regulations will take effect. Millions of employees who are currently exempt will, for the first time, earn overtime for any hours...more
9/6/2016
/ Bonuses ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Standard Duties Test ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
One of the defenses available to an employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the idea that an accommodation of a qualified individual with a disability cannot be made when the employee poses a “direct...more
The EEOC recently announced its $2.8 million settlement with Target Corp. of discrimination claims arising out of the use of employment tests in the hiring process. Discriminatory pre-employment tests like the ones at issue...more
8/27/2015
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Background Checks ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Ethnicity ,
Ford Motor ,
Hiring & Firing ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Popular ,
Race Discrimination ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Target ,
Title VII
Last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on religious discrimination, EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc., may have the unintended effect of an increase in religious stereotyping in the workplace.
The lawsuit...more
6/17/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Appearance Policy ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Undue Hardship
One of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s stated 2015 priorities is applying Title VII’s sex discrimination protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. This focus is illustrated by a recent...more
Since 1974 – just 10 years after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed – Congress has made repeated attempts to introduce and pass legislation that would have amended the landmark Act to prohibit discrimination...more
In a recent opinion by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals involving a Type-1 insulin-dependent diabetic, the court found that passing a Department of Transportation medical examination was an impermissible “qualification...more