A claim of retaliation can be successful even when the original claim of discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information fails to establish a violation of law....more
An employer that had a sexual harassment policy, but that failed to train its employees on the policy AND failed to insist that managers who received complaints forward those complaints to the human resources department, will...more
Employees can be held accountable for not complying with an employer’s call-in notice requirement, even when the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may apply.
In Koch v. Thames Healthcare Group, LLC, the employer had an...more
Is an employer liable for the misconduct of its employees at “after hours” gatherings? When a trial court adopted a narrow view of what constituted “the workplace,” an appeals court weighed in using a “totality of the...more
When hiring new employees – especially those who are currently employed or who recently have been employed by a competing company or organization – it’s always a best practice to ask them if they are subject to an employment...more
9/24/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Breach of Contract ,
Casino Employee ,
Casinos ,
Confidential Information ,
Damages ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Racketeering ,
RICO ,
Solicitation ,
Tortious Interference ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
A lawsuit filed April 16, 2020, in federal court in Pennsylvania may be the first suit filed over the new federal law created in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Stephanie Jones, a single mother of a school-aged son, claims...more
It was a close call, but a court recently denied an employee’s Americans with Disabilities Act claim that her employer had improperly refused a request to continue working from home as an accommodation. With the growth of...more
8/20/2019
/ American Airlines ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Aviation Industry ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Essential Functions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Duties ,
Mergers ,
Qualification Standards ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
US Airways
“Claims of sexual harassment typically involve the behavior of fellow employees. But not always,” said a federal appeals court in Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, LLC. The case shows employers must take employee complaints of...more
3/29/2019
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Customers ,
Dementia ,
Dismissals ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hostile Environment ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Non-Employees ,
Nursing Homes ,
Oral Complaints ,
Patients ,
Physical Abuse ,
Reasonably Foreseeable ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Reversal ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Severe and Pervasive ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII ,
Workplace Safety ,
Wrongful Termination
Employers often have policies that require applicants or employees to disclose the lawful use of prescription drugs that could impair job performance or potentially pose a safety concern. If you’re one of those employers, you...more
8/21/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Damages ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Settlement
In Van Steen v. Life Insurance Company N.A., the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the grant of long-term disability benefits to an employee working part-time....more
3/27/2018
/ Administrative Appeals ,
Appeals ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Denial of Benefits ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
Long Term Disability Insurance ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Plan Documents ,
Reversal ,
Substantial Evidence Standard
Some companies may believe that projecting a youthful and energetic image is important to their brand. Two recent court cases, however, show that employers who focus their hiring policies and practices too much on young...more
5/1/2017
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Consent Decrees ,
Disparate Impact ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
FEHA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Millennials ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Settlement
For years, we have been warning employers of the dangers of misclassifying workers as independent contractors when they are actually employees.
Information-sharing among agencies on the rise -
The federal government...more
In recent years, a number of collective action wage and hour disputes involving the donning and doffing of protective work clothing have made their way through the courts. And in many of those cases, the employers have been...more
Recent developments in the area of transgender rights should put employers on notice that government agencies are serious about eliminating this type of discrimination.
DOJ steps in to sue university in Oklahoma...more
In employment law, including association discrimination cases, timing is everything.
When Terry Booker was fired from his job of 22 years at Delfasco, a manufacturing facility in Greene County, Tennessee, in March 2012,...more
5/6/2015
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Associational Retaliation ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Medical Expenses ,
Retaliation ,
Self-Funded Health Plans ,
Wrongful Termination
I miss my dog … or how to require your employer to let you bring your dog to work.
Don’t laugh. A recent federal court decision from Hawaii seriously considered this issue. John Assaturian, a long-time Hertz employee...more
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals revived an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) suit brought on behalf of an ex-Ford Motor Company worker, showing that courts are warming to telecommuting as an ADA accommodation. As a...more
Summertime at the workplace is usually marked by the arrival of eager students willing to work for free in exchange for valuable hands-on work experience and maybe future job references. The offer is enticing, but employers...more
The issue: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, can an employer force an employee with a disability to compete for an open position?...more