The Chartwell Chronicles: Employment Law
Managing the Size and Structure of Your Post-Pandemic Workforce
#WorkforceWednesday: OSHA ETS on Hold, Retaliation Claims Increase, "Vaccination Ambassadors" - Employment Law This Week®
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
Age/National Origin Case Was Properly Dismissed Despite “Direct Evidence” Of Discriminatory Animus - Opara v. Yellin, 57 F.4th 709 (9th Cir. 2023) - Joan Opara was terminated from her employment as an IRS revenue...more
On December 5, 2022, the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands upheld a 2019 jury verdict, which found that Caribbean airline LIAT (1974), Ltd., had discharged its former area manager, William Cherubin, because of his age in...more
Employment lawyers always win war story contests at cocktail parties. Facts like the ones in Davis v. ULP provide ample fodder for those type of conversations. Performance Problems or Age Discrimination? The...more
In a recent case issued by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico (“the Court”), the Court addressed the standard and level of proof that must be presented by employers when raising as an affirmative defense a corporate...more
On March 11, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment, dismissing a Texas city employee’s claim that he had been unlawfully terminated from his job because of his age. The Fifth...more
In Pelcha v. MW Bancorp, Inc., the Sixth Circuit recently held that ageist comments attributed to a bank’s CEO were insufficient evidence to support an employee’s claim that she was fired because of her age in violation of...more
There's a new sheriff in town . . . . . . so y'all better straighten up. You probably know by now that the Biden Administration fired Sharon Fast Gustafson, the Trump-appointed General Counsel of the Equal Employment...more
The Tennessee Human Rights Act prohibits covered employers from discriminating against employees forty years old or older because of their age. In a recent case, the Tennessee Court of Appeals provided a reminder that other...more
Employers across the country continue to be challenged with difficult decisions about their workforce in the wake of COVID-19, including decisions about employee layoffs and returning employees to the worksite. As businesses...more
Key Points •The ministerial exception protects religious employers from government interference in internal employment disputes involving the selection, supervision, and removal of individuals who play an important role...more
In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 591 U.S. ___, 2020 WL 3808420 (2020) (“Morrissey-Berru”), the United States Supreme Court provided further guidance on the application of the “ministerial exception,” which...more
Can a news organization avoid a discrimination claim by arguing that it was exercising its First Amendment right to choose who writes the news? That’s the question that the California courts have been grappling with in...more
Carroll v. City & Cnty. of S.F., 41 Cal. App. 5th 805, 254 Cal. Rptr. 3d 519 (2019) - Summary: Each alleged reduction of monthly disability retirement benefit payments for discriminatory reasons was continuing violation...more
Company Fired Qualified Employee Because She was Too Old, Federal Agency Charged - WEST PALM BEACH - M1 5100 Corporation, doing business as Jumbo Supermarket, Inc., violated federal law by terminating a qualified employee...more
Last June, the Be’er Sheva Regional Labor Court published an unusual decision. It concerned a female pharmacist who earned a lower salary than a man performing similar work at a different pharmacy owned by the same employer....more
Maintenance Company Fired or Failed to Rehire Older Workers, Federal Agency Charges - RALEIGH, N.C. - Liberty Support Services, Inc. (Liberty Support), a North Carolina corporation that maintains rest areas through...more
The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Andujar v. General Nutrition Corporation (GNC) should remind employers that termination of an employee based on poor performance should result from clear policies, and that personalized...more
Plaintiff, an emergency room physician, was employed by Defendants, a hospital and its affiliates, pursuant to an employment agreement and subsequent independent contractor agreement, both of which contained an arbitration...more
As this recent case demonstrates, consistent documentation can be your saving grace in defending a wrongful termination lawsuit, while inconsistent enforcement of rules can be your downfall. Facts - Ramona DeBra worked...more
Employers considering terminating long-term employees in Canada should be aware of two relatively recent decisions. In one case, Dawe, 2018 ONSC 3130, the terminated employee, age 62, was a highly paid Senior Vice President...more
Under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), employers are required to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees with certain family or medical issues. These issues include attending to serious health conditions that make...more
On Tuesday, a Los Angeles jury did what L.A. juries do so often these days — they awarded tens of millions of dollars to an ex-employee who claimed she had been the victim of discrimination, wrongful termination and...more
We have written in the past about how important it is for an employer to be accurate in articulating its reason for terminating an employee. For example, if an employer is terminating an employee for poor performance, the...more
In light of evidence that younger employees committed similar infractions as the plaintiff, and did not suffer significant disciplinary action, an Illinois federal district court denied an employer’s summary judgment motion....more