The Chartwell Chronicles: Employment Law
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The California Court of Appeal issued an important decision clarifying that an employee cannot recover damages for a defamation claim that is derivative of a wrongful termination claim. Defamation causes of action are often...more
Employees who sue their former employer for wrongful termination following a workplace investigation may feel compelled to bring a claim for defamation, based on their belief that the allegations and/or investigation findings...more
Allegations of defamation and conspiracy to defame alone are insufficient to establish the crime-fraud exception and defeat the attorney-client privilege, the Illinois Appellate Court recently held. In MacDonald v....more
The Tel Aviv Labor Court recently awarded ILS 250,000 in damages to a longtime employee due to unlawful termination and defamation. The court accepted, for the most part, the lawsuit from a 65-year-old employee who had...more
On March 2, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral argument in a case that could test the boundaries of mandatory arbitration, and determine whether employees can be tethered to...more
King v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 52 Cal. App. 5th 728 (2020) - Timothy King sued his former employer for defamation, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and...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
Rall v. Tribune 365, LLC, 2019 WL 6887261 (Cal. Ct. App. 2019) - Frederick Theodore Rall III, a political cartoonist and blogger, sued the Los Angeles Times after it published a “note to readers” and (later) a more...more
In Gray vs. Ward, Ward and Gray started a limited partnership where Ward was a limited partner and Gray was a limited partner and the manager of the general partner. No. 05-18-00266-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 6992 (Tex....more
Many employers purchase Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) to insure against loss as a result of employment claims. However, employers who do not carefully read their policies could be surprised by what is (or is...more
This month's key California employment law cases involve payment of wages, workplace conditions, public employment issues, and civil procedure....more
The California Court of Appeal affirmed dismissal of a former freelancer’s defamation and employment-related claims against the Times. Frederick Theodore Rall III, a political cartoonist and blogger for the paper, brought...more
A San Diego jury awarded that amount to a former employee who claimed he was wrongfully terminated based on his arrest record and then defamed. Michael Tilkey worked for Allstate Insurance for 30 years and was fired from...more
There’s good news for retailers: you are getting better at preventing shrink from employees. In 2005, a University of Florida study found that employee theft accounted for 47 percent of shrink. In a follow-up study in 2016,...more
Trial Court Erroneously Granted Bill Cosby's Anti-SLAPP Motion - Dickinson v. Cosby, 17 Cal. App. 5th 655 (2017) - After Janice Dickinson went public with her accusations of rape against Bill Cosby, Cosby's attorney...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Compelled self-defamation claims most commonly occur in the wrongful termination context, when plaintiffs allege they are required to defame themselves to prospective employers because they are required to...more
In a lawsuit involving both wrongful dismissal and defamation, Canada's Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Papp v. Stokes et al, 2017 ONSC 2357, has ruled that an employer’s negative review of an employee’s attitude during...more
Employees and their counsel have been very aggressive in attempting to couch employment claims as state-law matters and filing claims in state court instead of federal court to try to avoid the federal judiciary. For various...more
$90 Million Judgment Reinstated: Employers Must Relieve Employees Of All Duties During Their Rest Periods - Augustus v. ABM Sec. Servs., Inc., 2016 WL 7407328 (Cal. S. Ct. 2016) - Jennifer Augustus filed this...more
It’s been a tough few months for Baylor football and its former coach Art Briles. Baylor fired Briles in May of this year, after an outside law firm investigated the school’s response to alleged sexual assaults by football...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini discussed a case where defendant carried out a personal vendetta against the plaintiff following plaintiff's report against defendant for violations of securities laws. Following...more
You may have heard about the two Tea Party legislators in Michigan who were having an affair, engaged in a bizarre cover-up that failed, had to resign/were expelled, and then lost their election bids to get their seats back....more
With whistleblower lawsuits on the rise, what options do companies have when faced with a whistleblower of their own. Can a company turn the table on a whistleblower who wrongfully accuses the company of bad acts? ...more
Healthcare institutions have a moral and legal obligation to promote patient safety as an essential component of patient care. Supervisors and managers must be supportive of their staffs while remaining vigilant about the...more
It is easy to see how this applies to your straightforward defamation case assuming the defendant engaged in the “exercise of the right of free speech” which means “a communication made in connection with a matter of public...more