Resistance is building. In his third week in office, President Trump is beginning to meet with resistance to some of his initiatives. Here is the latest.
Court blocks voluntary separation program -- at least, until Monday....more
2/7/2025
/ Citizenship ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Employees ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
I've been asking this a lot lately.
President Trump’s first week of his second term in office was action-packed, as I posted last week. If you thought things would slow down for Week 2, you were mistaken.
You may remember...more
1/31/2025
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Employees ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Military Service Members ,
NLRA ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Reinstatement ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Employer going to trial in age discrimination case. We had a blizzard last Friday (in North Carolina, 2 inches is a blizzard), and we still have ice and snow on the ground a week later.
Anyway, I've had enough of winter now...more
1/22/2025
/ Age Discrimination ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Documentation ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Performance Reviews ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wrongful Termination
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
A (not so) perfect cluster. Happy new year, everybody. During the holidays, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that an employee’s pregnancy discrimination claim will go to a jury. The plaintiff (we’ll call her “Katy”) was...more
Mayday! Mayday! Lately I’ve written about some court decisions that were good for employers. (See here and here.) The reason the outcomes were good is that the employers did the right things before their cases even got to...more
Santa knows best. Dear Kids: You know that Santa loves you, right? And he would never want to see anything bad happen to you? Good. Then please take Santa’s advice, now that you’re in the working world. Your employer may...more
You can't make this stuff up.
I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving.
A federal judge just down the road from me ruled this week that a woman’s retaliation case should go to a jury, even though her sexual harassment...more
The bathroom battle (among others) continues. The State of Texas and the Heritage Foundation, on behalf of employers, have challenged the EEOC's recent Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The lawsuit alleges...more
11/22/2024
/ AFL-CIO ,
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
The times, they are a'changin'. Wasn't it nice of me to give you a week and a half off to recover from the election? I hope everyone is safe and strong again, and ready to talk about what employers can expect from President...more
Here are the four things the employer did right. I hope everyone had a fun Halloween last night.
And before Halloween gets too far into the distant past, check out this scary HR story: A full-time adjunct instructor at the...more
11/1/2024
/ Adjunct Faculty ,
Documentation ,
Employment Contract ,
Ethics ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Investigations ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
Based on a real lawsuit. Names have been changed to protect the innocent. Facts may not be 100 percent accurate. PART ONE: Imagine you're the boss. You run a fast-food franchise, Flippin' Burgers. You hire Gwendolyn to...more
10/25/2024
/ Absenteeism ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Honest Belief Defense ,
Interference Claims ,
Notification Requirements ,
Professional Disciplinary Actions ,
Retaliation ,
Serious Health Conditions ,
Summary Judgment ,
Wage and Hour ,
Written Communications
Don't be this employer. (Allegedly.) Not long ago, I posted about an employer who won summary judgment in an FMLA case and noted five things that the employer did right, which helped it win. Sad to say, a decision came out...more
How'd that happen? An employer who terminated an employee after he took intermittent FMLA leave for diabetes won its case, and recently won again on appeal. According to both courts, the employee appeared to be trying to...more
9/20/2024
/ Clearance ,
Commercial Driving Licenses ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Family Medical Leave ,
FMCSA ,
Honest Belief Defense ,
Interference Claims ,
Intermittent Leave ,
Medical Certification Requests ,
Performance Reviews ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Wage and Hour
Election Day is almost upon us, Gentle Reader. Behave!
Dear Miss Mannerly: My employees have strong political views, and since the Presidential debate the other night, they are out of control. They are split about evenly...more
Easy? Ha! Last week, I posted about “fun” facts related to drugs and alcohol in the workplace. That post was an prelude to what I’ll talk about today: What employers ought to do. As I pointed out last week, marijuana is...more
9/6/2024
/ Alcohol Testing ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Controlled Substances ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Drug Testing ,
Illegal Drugs ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Sober up, folks! Here we go. With the legalization of marijuana and cannabis products in so many states, dealing with substance abuse in the workplace has become ridiculously complicated.
This is the first of a two-part...more
8/30/2024
/ Alcohol Testing ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Drug Testing ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Illegal Drugs ,
Medical Examinations ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Substance Abuse ,
Wage and Hour
Warning -- I'm about to go on a rant. Do you ever read something in the news that just makes you go, "Sheesh, people!!!" Or words to that effect? And, no, I am not talking about the Presidential Election.
The Wall Street...more
If you follow these, you should be in great shape. Reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act continues to flummox many employers. But it shouldn’t be that hard, at least not in most cases. Here are...more
8/16/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Documentation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wage and Hour
Learn from a real employer's mistakes. Imagine this scenario: You are advertising for an open position. You get three applicants:
•Applicant 1 meets or exceeds all of your requirements.
•Applicant 2 fails to meet your...more
This lawsuit seems destined to lose. Even in California. Have I said “You can’t make this stuff up” in the last six weeks or so? No? Cool. You can’t make this stuff up. In case you needed a cautionary tale about workplace...more
Asking about family history is usually illegal. Oh. My. Gosh.
United Airlines required post-offer medical examinations for its new hires. Nothing wrong with that -- it's specifically allowed under the Americans with...more
Employer's DEI mandate scores a win. A white guy refused to take his employer's mandatory "unconscious bias" training, and he was fired. He sued the employer for retaliation, his lawsuit was dismissed, and this week an...more
7/12/2024
/ Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity ,
Employee Training ,
Insubordination Policy ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Termination ,
Title VI ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
Employers who (allegedly) didn't file are being sued. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced on Wednesday that it has filed suit against 15 employers in 11 states and in a variety of industries for failing to...more
What's legal, and what's not? Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in employment are increasingly being challenged in the courts. How much do you know about the legalities? Take our quiz and find out! This is a hard...more