In This Issue:

- Supreme Court Rejects Sixth Circuit Yard-Man Vested Benefits Presumption

- Supreme Court Revives Pregnancy Discrimination Light Duty Case

- NY Wage Theft Protection Act Amended

- Senate and House Pass Resolution to Block NLRB’s New Election Rules

- DOL Grants Same-Sex Spouses FMLA Rights

- Employees Granted FMLA Leave May Still Bring FMLA Claim

- OFCCP Proposes New Sex Discrimination Rules

- NLRB Strikes Employer Confidentiality Provisions

- NLRA Amendment Bill Introduced to Allow Extra Pay Without Union Consent

- Second Circuit Allows Class Certification Despite Individual Damages

- New York Increases Tipped Worker Minimum Wage

- DOL Home Care Final Rule Partially Vacated

- Supreme Court Denies Review of Arbitration Decisions

- California Appeals Court: No Failure-to-Prevent Claim Where Harassment Not Actionable

- My E-Verify Expansion Covers Additional States

- Certain Spouses of H-1B Visa Holders May Apply for Work Authorization

- Excerpt from Supreme Court Revives Pregnancy Discrimination Light Duty Case:

On March 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Fourth Circuit’s affirmance of employer summary judgment in Young v. United Parcel Service Inc., 707 F.3d 437. No. 12-226. The Fourth Circuit held that an employee could not support a discrimination claim against an employer for refusing her pregnancy-related lifting restrictions despite the employer’s policies which allowed lifting restrictions in other contexts. Rather, the Fourth Circuit held that the employee could not show that similarly situated individuals outside the protected class received more favorable treatment. The Supreme Court disagreed and held the employee created a genuine dispute of material fact on this point, which precluded summary judgment. In doing so, the Supreme Court criticized and declined to significantly rely on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s 2014 pregnancy light duty guidance. See September 2014 edition of Employment Flash.