News & Analysis as of May 5, 2025

Protected Activity

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Hiring & Firing refers to the process of recruiting, interviewing and offering employment and the process of evaluating performance and dismissing employees. Hiring & Firing is a highly regulated area and can create tremendous liability for employers who fail to properly adhere to acceptable employment practices. Some of the potential pitfalls in this area stem from discriminatory hiring practices, improper performance evaluations, and retaliatory firings. less -

"Tighty whitey" case has 4 good lessons about workplace retaliation

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on 12/6/2024

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

Key California Employment Law Cases: June 2019

Payne & Fears on 8/29/2019

This month's key California employment law cases involve EEOC charges, disability discrimination, and meal breaks....more

Alabama Federal Court Denies Motion for Summary Judgement on SOX Whistleblower Claim

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 5/6/2019

On April 2, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama denied a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, finding genuine issues of material fact...more

SDNY Grants Summary Judgment Against Plaintiff in SOX Blacklisting Suit

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 4/2/2018

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently granted a motion for summary judgment against a Plaintiff claiming retaliatory blacklisting under SOX, holding that a former employer’s policy of refusing...more

Sixth Circuit to Employers: No ‘Magic Words’ Make a Sex Discrimination Complaint Title VII Protected Activity

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 3/9/2018

Employers beware: An employee does not have to use “magic words” to complain about discrimination for it to lay the basis for a retaliation claim. The Sixth Circuit made this point in a unanimous opinion in the case of Mumm...more

10th Circuit Reverses Grant of Summary Judgment on SOX Whistleblower Claim

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 3/1/2018

On February 22, 2018, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment against a Plaintiff who claimed that his employment was terminated in violation of the SOX whistleblower...more

Mississippi Federal Court Denies Summary Judgment on SOX Whistleblower Claim

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 2/27/2018

On February 12, 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi recently denied a motion for summary judgment in a SOX whistleblower claim where the defendant company alleged that it terminated...more

For Any Lawful Reason: Firing an at-will employee under dubious circumstances need not lead to liability if the reason for the...

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on 9/25/2017

A recent decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals highlights the distinction between firing an employee for personal or politically expedient reasons (which may be entirely legal) and firing an employee because of his...more

Finally! Something That's Not "Protected Activity" in California

FordHarrison on 11/16/2016

It turns out that “protected activity” sufficient to make out a retaliation claim in California is not as broad as it may sometimes seem. On November 9, 2016, the Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment for the employer in...more

E.D. Pennsylvania Limits Protected Activity Under SOX

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 10/31/2016

In Westawski v. Merck & Co., No. 14-cv-3239 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 18, 2016), the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted Defendant Merck & Co. (Company) summary judgment on Plaintiff Joni Westawski’s (Plaintiff) SOX whistleblower...more

Seventh Circuit Issues Ruling Interpreting False Claim Act Whistleblower Amendments

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 10/19/2016

The Seventh Circuit recently issued a decision interpreting the anti-retaliation provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA). The decision provides important clarifications about how courts may interpret recent amendments to...more

Does New Jersey's Conscientious "Everyone" Protection Act Trump the NLRB's Exclusive Jurisdiction? State Supreme Court says "Yes"...

FordHarrison on 8/18/2016

Executive Summary: Just when employers thought New Jersey's Supreme Court could not expand the state's whistleblower law further (as we reported last summer), the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) once again has...more

Court Allows EEOC’s Discrimination Suit Over Religious Garb To Proceed To Jury

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/9/2015

In an order recently issued in EEOC v Jetstream Ground Services, Inc., Case No. 13-CV-02340 (D. Colo. Sept. 29, 2015), Judge Christine Arguello of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado ruled that the EEOC had...more

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