On June 17, 2024, a federal court in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement in Louisiana and Mississippi of the portion of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) final rule...more
7/1/2024
/ Abortion ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Rules ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Standing ,
Statutory Authority ,
Title VII
On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) unveiled its final rule and interpretive guidance implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), clarifying employers’ responsibilities under...more
SkyWest Airlines, Inc., was justified in discharging a deaf ramp agent because his inability to hear or effectively communicate posed a “direct threat” to the safety of himself and others, the U.S. District Court for the...more
2/14/2024
/ Airlines ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights Code ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Workplace Hazards
In September 2023, federal trial courts in Wisconsin and Kentucky issued decisions dismissing plaintiffs’ claims related to employers’ COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements....more
10/17/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On August 11, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will publish its proposed regulations on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in the Federal Register. The PWFA became effective on June 27,...more
8/10/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Comment Period ,
Duty to Accommodate ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
NPRM ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
Reasonable Accommodation
Complying with the various legal and practical requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and its regulations is an ongoing challenge for employers, particularly when it comes to questions about when an employee...more
On April 27, 2023, the Kansas Legislature overrode Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill (SB) 180, which defines “male” and “female” only by biological sex.
SB 180, described by the Kansas Senate as a “women’s bill...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently released informal guidance to address some issues arising under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that...more
In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently held in Williams v. Kincaid that individuals with gender dysphoria may be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act...more
On August 26, 2022, Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed a putative class action representing approximately 100 healthcare...more
9/2/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Seeking “compromise” and following in the footsteps of other governors, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill (HB) No. 2001 into law on November 23, 2021, broadening exemptions from employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates,...more
On September 15, 2021, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer. In Brown v. Austin, the Tenth Circuit found that an employee’s telework, weekend work, and...more
9/27/2021
/ Appeals ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Litigation ,
Essential Functions ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Paid Leave ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Summary Judgment ,
Telecommuting
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama recently granted summary judgment to United States Steel Corporation, finding that the company did not deny Raymond Carr III, a former employee with chronic...more
On February 5, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware granted summary judgment in Snyder v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. and Company, No. 18-1266, holding that DuPont did not terminate the employment of...more
On July 16, 2020, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published new efforts to improve management of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).
These developments follow a...more
Unemployment insurance laws rarely change. For years, Missouri’s unemployment insurance program has remained steady. So stable, in fact, that it flew under the radar....more
On March 21, 2020, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas issued Second Amended Order 20-01, repealing the city’s earlier Amended Order dated March 16, 2020, and replacing it with a stricter, “Stay At Home” order to contain and...more
On February 26, 2020, in the case of Schmitz v. Alamance-Burlington Board of Education, the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss claims...more
3/12/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Associational Retaliation ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Disabled Children ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Performance Reviews ,
Public Policy ,
Public Schools ,
Retaliation ,
School Districts ,
Teachers ,
Wrongful Termination
On February 24, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued an opinion in Brown v. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. regarding disability discrimination, reasonable accommodations, and...more
3/12/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Essential Functions ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Genuine Issue of Material Fact ,
Interactive Process ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Undue Hardship ,
Wrongful Termination
On May 6, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied summary judgment on a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) retaliatory transfer claim. The court found that the employer’s explanation for...more
5/22/2019
/ Abandonment ,
Adverse Employment Action ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Transfers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
NYCHRL ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reinstatement ,
Retaliation ,
Termination
On April 1, 2019, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied summary judgment in an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) case, determining that occasionally excusing employees from...more
In March 2010, as part of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was amended to require most employers to provide nonexempt employees:
..“reasonable break time for an employee to...more
On January 8, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas issued an opinion and order granting summary judgment to an employer, finding the employer did not violate the Family and Medical Leave Act...more