Discrimination doesn’t just include refusing to hire someone based on a protected characteristic, such as race or gender. Harassment based on a protected characteristic can also give rise to a discrimination claim, if the...more
The coronavirus pandemic has already had a massive impact on businesses. Many companies have announced layoffs, furloughs, or unpaid leaves of absence....more
3/27/2020
/ At-Will Employment ,
Business Closures ,
Cal-WARN ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exceptions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
Natural Disasters ,
Notice Requirements ,
WARN Act
The recent coronavirus outbreak raises a host of employment-law issues. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to take measures to eliminate or reduce dangerous hazards to their employees. The...more
Many employers strongly prefer arbitration to litigating with their employees in court. Employers often believe—and the Supreme Court has agreed—that arbitration of employment disputes has many benefits, including potential...more
2/24/2020
/ American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DoorDash ,
Employment Contract ,
Motion to Compel ,
Motion To Seal ,
Motion To Stay ,
NLRA ,
Wage and Hour
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
2/7/2020
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Associational Retaliation ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Cable Television Providers ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
CNN ,
Defamation ,
Disability Discrimination ,
First Amendment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
News Stories ,
Plagiarism ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Wrongful Termination
Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), employees have a right of collective action, and employers are prohibited from interfering with that right. But these provisions can conflict with an employer’s desire and...more
Last week, President Trump made headlines when he tweeted that “‘progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen … originally came from countries” that were “totally broken and crime infested,” and that they should “go back” to the...more
7/19/2019
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Donald Trump ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Muslims ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Offensive Language ,
Slurs ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Twitter
Even employers who are devoted to higher callings can find themselves in worldly disputes with former employees over access to emails and computer files.
For example, the National Institute for Newman Studies is devoted to...more
5/21/2019
/ Bailments ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Data Security ,
Email ,
Former Employee ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Replevin ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Unjust Enrichment
A class action allows a plaintiff to sue not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of others similarly affected by a defendant’s misconduct. In the employment context, for example, plaintiffs can bring class actions...more
4/26/2019
/ Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Arbitration ,
Consent ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Jurisdiction ,
Lamps Plus Inc v Varela ,
Motion to Compel ,
Preemption ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS
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
10/11/2018
/ Age Discrimination ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Judgment on the Pleadings ,
Medical Leave ,
Motion for Judgment ,
Resignation ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wrongful Termination
Companies zealously guard their trade secrets and other information that gives them a competitive edge. And as we’ve covered in prior posts, companies often resort to the courts to protect this kind of information....more
On May 29, Roseanne Barr posted a tweet comparing former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape. ABC’s reaction was swift and decisive: it fired Barr and cancelled her show.
ABC’s decision led to pontification from...more
6/5/2018
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Private Sector ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Racist Remarks ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy ,
Title VII ,
Twitter ,
Wrongful Termination
Companies and individuals frequently enter into arbitration agreements requiring that claims be brought before a private arbitrator, rather than a judge and jury. Arbitration has various benefits: it can provide quicker...more
5/24/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Savings Clause ,
SCOTUS
Phishing. Spoofing. -
These words may sound silly, but for employers, they are anything but.
Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive electronic information—such as usernames, passwords, or financial...more
4/26/2018
/ Breach of Duty ,
Breach of Implied Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Credit Monitoring ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Disclosure ,
Email ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Encryption ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Identity Theft ,
Information Security ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Negligence ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Phishing Scams ,
Popular ,
Spoofing ,
W-2
When an employer changes its contract with an employee, the change should be communicated clearly—and preferably, in writing. Otherwise, the employer may be at risk of finding that the old terms still control.
For example,...more
3/21/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Terms ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reversal ,
Sales Commissions ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
Tell the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That’s the message the United States Supreme Court sent to whistleblowers with its decision yesterday in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers....more
2/23/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
1. Does Title VII Protect Against Discrimination Based on Gender Identification or Sexual Orientation?
The Supreme Court has not yet resolved whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act—which forbids discrimination in...more
1/25/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Collective Actions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
Minimum Salary ,
NLRB ,
Over-Time ,
Reporting Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
Tracy Chapman famously sang about needing “one reason to stay here.” But when severance is involved, employees may look for one reason to leave—one “Good Reason.”...more
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, it bolstered protections for whistleblowers who report certain kinds of misconduct, such as violations of securities law. At the time, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act already provided...more
12/1/2017
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wrongful Termination
A party seeking to enforce a contract has to show mutual assent, also referred to as “a meeting of the minds.” In other words, both parties actually have to agree on the same thing. If the parties don’t agree, then a contract...more
Ghosts, ghouls, and ghastly liability; the last is certainly enough to spook any employer. For this Halloween, we take a trip down Elm Street to revisit the most startling nightmares we’ve ever covered....more
10/31/2017
/ Damages ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Halloween ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Medical Leave ,
Pretext ,
Punitive Damages ,
Teachers ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wrongful Termination
Under federal law, employers must pay employees time-and-a-half if they work over 40 hours in a workweek, unless the employees are exempt from the overtime law. Employers don’t usually think of an employee who takes home...more
An employer isn’t immune from a discrimination claim when an employee quits instead of being fired. An employee who quits can still bring a “constructive discharge” claim, arguing that his working conditions were intolerable...more
When a company believes that an employee has breached a non-compete agreement by going to work for a competitor, one remedy it can seek is a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction is meant to preserve the status quo...more
9/8/2017
/ Breach of Contract ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Credibility ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Contract ,
Former Employee ,
Hearsay ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Remedies ,
Trade Secrets
White male discontent has been a major media talking point since the presidential election, and even long before. This talking point has made its way into the workplace, where tech firms are now being targeted for allegedly...more
8/30/2017
/ Amtrak ,
Appeals ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Employee Transfers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
McDonnell Douglas Formula ,
Pretext ,
Reorganizations ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trump Administration