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Termination Retaliation Employer Liability Issues

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

FMLA abuse: 5 things this employer did right

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

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

Don’t let a bad employee’s protected activity lead you into the twilight zone.

You are about to enter another dimension. A journey into the world of discrimination and retaliation. Consider, if you will, the case of an employee who suspects that he or she is about to be fired or demoted for misconduct...more

Clark Hill PLC

Lactation Accommodation Results in Misconduct Firing, Tenth Circuit Affirms

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Here’s an interesting case that at first blush appears to be an accommodations case, but on a deeper dive is a workplace misconduct case. In Spagnolia v. Charter Communications LLC, The Tenth Circuit Appeals affirmed the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Admission That Business Unit Was Closed Due to Employee's Disability Precludes Dismissal of ADA Claim

When advising employers about the legal risks associated with a business reorganization, we generally advise that discrimination claims are less likely when a company closes an entire facility or department as compared to...more

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

Want to fire your employee for FMLA fraud?

Don't shoot from the hip. Let's say you have an employee who is in Week Six of "employee's own serious health condition" leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Her co-worker comes to you and tells you that the...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Eleventh Circuit Holds FMLA Retaliation Requires “But-for” Showing

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Seyfarth Synopsis: The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision that “but-for” is the proper causation standard for FMLA retaliation claims addressed within the...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Retaliation Claims Will Be Even Easier to Allege in 2024

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I have often said to clients that retaliation claims in California are the easiest claims to allege and the hardest claims to defend. Regardless of the statute, a retaliation claim is essentially three things:...more

Perkins Coie

Arizona Court of Appeals Reinstates Retaliatory Discharge Claim Under Fair Wages and Healthy Family Act

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The Arizona Court of Appeals recently held in Papias v. Parker Fasteners LLC, No. 1 CA-CV 22-0775 (Ariz. Ct. App. Oct. 17, 2023), that a discharged employee could proceed with his retaliation claim against his former...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Employee's PTSD Diagnosis May Excuse Violation of Disciplinary Policies

The Americans with Disabilities Act does not require employers to ignore or excuse serious violations of their rules of conduct. For example, an employee who brings a weapon to work in violation of the employer’s policy...more

Venable LLP

Responding to Mental Health Accommodation Requests

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Many employers have experienced an increase in employee requests for accommodations in the past few years. A federal jury’s recent award in Lisa Menninger v. PPD Development L.P. reminds employers that accommodation requests,...more

Genova Burns LLC

To Click or Not to Click: NJ Appellate Division Reaffirms Enforceability of Electronic Arbitration Agreements

Genova Burns LLC on

On March 7, 2023, in Dakota Powell vs. Prime Comms Retail LLC, the New Jersey Appellate Division ruled that a former employee must arbitrate her claims of race discrimination, rather than pursue them in court due to her...more

Stevens & Lee

Can Terminating an Employee for Quarantining Violate New Jersey’s Whistleblower and Anti-Retaliation Laws?

Stevens & Lee on

In a case likely to be the first of many, a New Jersey Superior Court has ruled that an employee who takes medical leave due to COVID-19 symptoms and exposure may be protected by New Jersey’s whistleblower and...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Federal Court Rejects Claims by Employees Allegedly Fired for Wearing BLM Masks

In February 2021, we wrote about Kinzer, et al. v. Whole Foods Market, Inc., a case pending in Massachusetts federal court in which multiple employees alleged that they had been terminated by Whole Foods for wearing Black...more

Epstein Becker & Green

First Circuit Upholds Employer’s Win in Retaliation Suit

Epstein Becker & Green on

On November 1, 2022, in Dusel v. Factory Mutual Ins. Co., the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that “close temporal proximity” alone does not establish pretext as this evidence “must be considered alongside the . . ....more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Fourth Circuit Reinstates Employee’s Claim That Social Media App Messages Provided Sufficient Notice of a Medical Absence

On August 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held in Roberts v. Gestamp West Virginia, LLC, that an employer’s “usual and customary” notice procedures relating to absences extended beyond the company’s...more

Amundsen Davis LLC

Employers Must Tread Carefully In FMLA Request Discussions To Avoid FMLA Interference Claims

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The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides employees essentially two paths to bring lawsuits for alleged FMLA violations: retaliation claims and interference claims....more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Seventh Circuit Signs Off on Termination After FMLA Leave

An employer with documented evidence of performance issues before an employee took leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) did not run afoul of the statute when it terminated the employee upon her return, the...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

California Supreme Court Clarifies Standards for Whistleblower Claims Under California Labor Code Section 1102.5

What Happened? Before last week, some courts had applied the standard in California Labor Code section 1102.6 to resolve whistleblower claims under California Labor Code section 1102.5, while other courts had applied the...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

The Employment Law Reporter - January 2022

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Here is what we cover in this issue of The Employment Law Reporter: •The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed a district court’s decision dismissing employment discrimination claims brought by a...more

Sherman & Howard L.L.C.

Know-Nothing Defense a Winner in Retaliation Cases

A recent case out of the Sixth Circuit, Mangold v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. reminds employers of the importance of keeping an employee’s participation in protected activity on a need-to-know basis as a preventative...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

US Regional Employment 2021: Alabama | Insights & Events

Law and Practice Chambers - The 2020 Chambers US Regional Employment Guide features guidance on employment law across 14 states and includes a unique state comparison tool for readers. The guide provides expert legal...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Consistently Inconsistent: An Example of Shifting Reasons for Employment Termination Precluding Summary Judgment

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas recently denied an employer’s motion for summary judgment when its alleged shifting reasons for terminating the plaintiff’s employment contract raised genuine issues...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Plaintiff’s “Paramour Preference” Plan Panned: 9th Circuit Finds Romantic Relationship Not Enough to Show Discrimination Against...

In another chapter in litigation alliteration, in Maner v. Dignity Health, f/k/a Catholic Healthcare West, the Ninth Circuit held that a male employee’s theory that his supervisor’s long-term romantic relationship with a...more

Troutman Pepper

Seventh Circuit Dismisses Retaliation Claim Brought Under Cat’s Paw Theory of Liability

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Q: Can an employer be found liable for terminating an employee for misconduct after an investigation initiated by a biased supervisor?...more

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

Make Sure The Discipline Train Leaves The Station On Time

Common sense suggests that once the discipline train has left the station an employee should not be able to derail it by filing a charge of discrimination or engaging in other protected activity. This concept is typically...more

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