A series of Twitter posts from a tenured Fresno State English professor about former First Lady Barbara Bush has once again sparked a national conversation about how the First Amendment applies in the university setting, and...more
6/5/2018
/ Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Misconduct ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Public Employees ,
Teachers ,
Tenure ,
Termination ,
Twitter ,
Universities
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. The law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, and September 2017 was no different. In order to make sure that you stay on top of the latest...more
10/7/2017
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
DACA ,
Dear Colleague Letter ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
First Amendment ,
Gig Economy ,
Google ,
GrubHub ,
Hurricane Irma ,
Janus v AFSCME ,
Misclassification ,
Obama Administration ,
OFCCP ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Public Sector Unions ,
Rescission ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Sexual Assault ,
Shop Fee Arrangements ,
Title IX ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In a long-anticipated move, the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights withdrew the Obama Administration’s 2011 Dear Colleague Letter on Sexual Violence this morning, as well as its Questions and...more
9/25/2017
/ Appeals ,
Clear and Convincing Evidence ,
Colleges ,
Confidential Information ,
Department of Education ,
Due Process ,
Filing Grievances ,
Guidance Update ,
Investigations ,
New Guidance ,
Obama Administration ,
OCR ,
Preponderance of the Evidence ,
Rescission ,
School Districts ,
Secretary of Education ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Violence Policies ,
Title IX ,
Trump Administration ,
Universities ,
Written Notice
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes each month in 2017. August was no...more
9/9/2017
/ Affirmative Action ,
Appeals ,
Audio Recording ,
Class Action ,
Classification ,
College Admissions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gig Economy ,
Green Cards ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Identity Theft ,
Independent Contractors ,
NLRB ,
On-Demand Services ,
Online Platforms ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Data ,
Popular ,
Standing ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Vetting ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wellness Programs
Higher education institutions felt seismic shockwaves yesterday as the New York Times reported that the Trump administration would soon redirect Justice Department resources toward investigating – and possibly suing –...more
8/4/2017
/ Affirmative Action ,
College Admissions ,
Colleges ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
New York Times ,
Race Discrimination ,
Trump Administration ,
Universities
IEPs Must Meet “Markedly More Demanding” Standard From Now On
This week, in a unanimous decision crafted by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court decided that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act...more
3/24/2017
/ Administrative Hearings ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appeals ,
Disabilities ,
Disabled Children ,
Dismissals ,
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) ,
IDEA ,
Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) ,
Private Schools ,
Public Schools ,
SCOTUS ,
Special Education ,
Students
Throughout the course of his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and also eliminate the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA) – which allows some...more
Administrators at K-12 school districts around the country have enormous responsibilities, with Title IX compliance high up on their list. While all administrators are concerned with doing the right thing by their students,...more
ESPN recently reported that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had “ruled” that Northwestern University’s football players were actually “employees,” and that the University’s policing of its football players’ social...more
10/12/2016
/ Football ,
Handbooks ,
Memorandum of Guidance ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Northwestern University ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Section 7 ,
Statutory Employees ,
Student Athletes ,
Student Employees ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Recently, in a high-profile decision involving Columbia University, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined that private college and university graduate and undergraduate student assistants – that is, students...more
In a game-changing decision reversing clear legal precedent, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled by a 3-1 margin today that university students who work as teaching and research assistants at private universities...more
The US Department of Education (ED) recently released a significant Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which could impact most institutions of higher education. In a nutshell, the proposed regulations are designed to provide...more
The light criminal sentence meted out to former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner, coupled with a scathing independent report about the way Baylor University purportedly responded to claims of sex misconduct in general and sex...more
Almost five years ago, the Department of Education issued its “Dear Colleague” letter on Title IX and sexual violence. The letter was a not-so-subtle reminder that Title IX requires federally funded educational institutions...more
One Title IX issue that has received considerable attention over the past several months is how colleges and universities should assess the student conduct records of students interested in transferring onto campus. Putting a...more
Should anatomically male transgender high school students who identify as female be allowed to use female locker rooms? In what has been described as a “momentous” decision, the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights...more
Student-on-student sex-assault cases have recently taken center stage in the higher education arena. The last two months have seen legal developments in this area which aptly illustrate the seemingly Sisyphean task facing...more
This morning, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NCAA is subject to antitrust laws and that its payment rules are too restrictive in attempting to maintain amateurism. However, in what can only be deemed a...more
10/1/2015
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Appeals ,
College Athletes ,
Colleges ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
O'Bannon v NCAA ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Scholarships ,
UCLA ,
Universities
Following a week-long trial in May, an Iowa jury concluded that Bedford High School was negligent in the way it handled a head injury to former high school freshman football player Kacey Strough. The jury awarded Kacey $1...more
As has become its custom, the Supreme Court left one of its most high-profile decisions for the end of its term, holding by a 5-4 vote that the Constitution requires states to recognize same-sex marriages. As a result, state...more
We asked attorneys writing on JD Supra to share with us their initial thoughts on the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell decision in favor of same-sex marriage equaliy, especially with the regard to the...more
6/26/2015
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Discrimination ,
DOMA ,
First Glance ,
Marriage Equality ,
Obergefell v. Hodges ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
US v Windsor ,
Young Lawyers
Regulations interpreting the Violence against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) become effective for higher education institutions on July 1, 2015. Generally speaking, these regulations contain new reporting, policy,...more
In March, U.S. News & World Report featured a lengthy story provocatively titled, “High Schools and Middle Schools Are Failing Victims of Sexual Assault.” In addition to documenting situations where schools allegedly...more
In 1958, a Brown University senior was expelled because he had the temerity to bring his girlfriend to his dorm room. He did not contemplate litigation. Instead, Ted Turner moved back home to Atlanta to work at his family...more
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) revised its standard for determining when faculty members can unionize. Although the decision is expected to be appealed, it undoubtedly will open the door to a...more