In recent years, a number of federal courts have drawn differing conclusions with regard to whether obesity is a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While some courts have reached this conclusion,...more
2/12/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Obesity ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
State and Local Government ,
Summary Judgment ,
WA Supreme Court
On January 1, 2020, a new California law could prevent employers in that state from requiring arbitration of employment claims brought under state law. The new law was prompted by stories revealed as a result of the #MeToo...more
12/13/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Law Claims
The Affordable Care Act requires that employer-sponsored group medical insurance plans provide contraceptive coverage without cost sharing. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued final...more
11/13/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Final Rules ,
Injunctions ,
Religious Exemption ,
SCOTUS
In 2012 as part of a tax reform bill, Congress directed the Department of Labor to issue regulations that would permit states to condition unemployment insurance benefits for certain recipients on their ability to pass drug...more
In recent years, a number of federal appellant courts, including the Fourth Circuit, have issued opinions finding that a single use of a racial slur can be enough to constitute a hostile and offensive working environment...more
9/6/2019
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hostile Environment ,
Poor Job Performance ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reaffirmation ,
Safety Violations ,
Slurs ,
Summary Judgment ,
Supervisors ,
Title VII
The National Labor Relations Board continues to provide guidance with respect to employers’ attempts to regulate employee social media behavior. In its Boeing Co. decision, the board made it significantly more difficult for...more
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employers cannot penalize employees for use of FMLA leave. Earlier this month, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that an employer’s resetting of a perfect attendance program...more
8/21/2019
/ Appeals ,
Attendance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Medical Leave ,
Paid Leave ,
Reversal ,
Wage and Hour
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) substantially lowered the bar for plaintiffs to demonstrate a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, on occasion we still see federal courts reject ADA...more
Under Title VII, employers are vicariously liable for incidents of sexual harassment engaged in by supervisors. In its Faragher and Ellerth decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged a limited defense to claims of...more
8/7/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Faragher/Ellerth defense ,
Managers ,
Risk Management ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII ,
Vicarious Liability ,
Wal-Mart ,
Workplace Investigations
In employment discrimination cases, when the plaintiff makes out a prima facie claim of bias, the employer must articulate legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for the action. The plaintiff then has the ultimate burden of...more
The National Labor Relations Act guarantees employees the right to engage in protected concerted activity, meaning two or more employees objecting to terms and conditions of employment. Most recent concerted activity cases...more
Employees cannot sue under federal anti-discrimination laws for every perceived slight or workplace occurrence. In order to be actionable, the alleged employer conduct must rise to the level of an “adverse employment action.”...more
On occasion, employers defending lawsuits filed by their employees raise questions over the legal validity of what most attorneys consider to be settled law. A good example comes from a recent decision by the U.S. Court of...more
For employers in North Carolina and South Carolina, perhaps the most important change in their exposure to legal claims from employees has resulted from the appointment of new judges to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals who...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to settle deep divisions between federal appellate courts on the question of whether an employee’s or applicant’s sexual orientation or gender identity are protected under Title VII’s sex...more
Last week, we reported on new proposed Department of Labor regulations that would raise the minimum salary for claiming the “white collar” overtime exemptions to $35,308 per year. In addition to the new salary level, the...more
3/18/2019
/ Comment Period ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Over the past decade, federal courts have gradually reduced the evidentiary burden necessary for a plaintiff to reach a jury trial on claims involving sexual or racial harassment. The relevant legal standard calls for the...more
Most employers know that an employee does not have to ask for Family and Medical Leave by name in order to fall under the FMLA’s protections. At what point, however, does the employee’s disclosure of a medical condition...more
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers may only require employees to submit to medical exams or inquiries when there is a business necessity for determining the employee’s ability to perform the essential...more
2/12/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Medical Examinations ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reversal
Job-protected leave continues to be the most common accommodation requested by employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act. For employers, the question remains at what point does the amount of work missed end the...more
Most prosecutors will tell you that the cover-up is often worse than the underlying crime. This adage was again proven correct earlier this month when OSHA announced that the U.S. Department of Justice had obtained federal...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations that permit a disabled employee to perform the essential functions of his or her job. What happens, however, when an employer...more
Occupational Safety and Health Administration workplace inspections are often triggered by an employee injury or complaint. In such circumstances, OSHA rules only permit the inspector to investigate the workplace safety...more
10/17/2018
/ Chemicals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Manufacturers ,
Motions to Quash ,
OSHA ,
Probable Cause ,
Safety Inspections ,
Search Warrant ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
In the hospitality industry, it is fairly common for a hotel to retain a management company to run housekeeping, food and beverage, and other functions. While the management company may supervise and direct the work of hotel...more
10/1/2018
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotel Management Agreements ,
Hotels ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from workplace harassment. As most employers know, these protections apply not only to behavior by co-workers and supervisors but also to harassment by customers,...more