The Chartwell Chronicles: Employment Law
Managing the Size and Structure of Your Post-Pandemic Workforce
#WorkforceWednesday: OSHA ETS on Hold, Retaliation Claims Increase, "Vaccination Ambassadors" - Employment Law This Week®
In Michigan, various state employment laws prohibit employers from retaliating against employees. But can an employee pursue a public policy retaliation claim against the employer in addition to a statutory retaliation claim?...more
The Michigan Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the case of Miller v. Department of Corrections expands the scope of retaliation claims under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA). This decision could have important...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision that “but-for” is the proper causation standard for FMLA retaliation claims addressed within the...more
In McCharles v Jaco Line Contractors Ltd., 2022 AHRC 115, an employee alleged that her employer discriminated against her on the basis of gender contrary to the Alberta Human Rights Act (AHRA) when it terminated her...more
Employment lawyers always win war story contests at cocktail parties. Facts like the ones in Davis v. ULP provide ample fodder for those type of conversations. Performance Problems or Age Discrimination? The...more
On August 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held in Roberts v. Gestamp West Virginia, LLC, that an employer’s “usual and customary” notice procedures relating to absences extended beyond the company’s...more
On July 15, 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court clarified and, arguably, expanded the public-policy exception to the well-established at-will employment presumption in Michigan. Although the case may conclude differently after...more
On December 17, 2021, the highest state court in Massachusetts held that an employer may not terminate an employee solely for exercising his right to file a rebuttal to be included in his personnel file....more
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas recently denied an employer’s motion for summary judgment when its alleged shifting reasons for terminating the plaintiff’s employment contract raised genuine issues...more
Civil litigation by private parties alleging False Claims Act (“FCA”) violations related to Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) fraud appears to be heating up. On September 22, 2021, a former restaurant manager filed a...more
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects the rights of employees to engage in “concerted activity,” regardless of whether they are members of a union. Concerted activity means two or more employees working...more
Fisher Phillips’ COVID-19 Employment Litigation Tracker continues to report that the healthcare industry is the hardest hit by COVID-19 employment litigation. As of the beginning of June, more than one in five of every...more
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a decision by the NLRB dismissing a complaint against two joint employers alleging unlawful termination in retaliation for picketing activity. The...more
Welcome to #WorkforceWednesday. This week, employers continue waiting on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) COVID-19 emergency temporary standard as retaliation claims rise. Secretary of Labor Puts...more
On April 6, 2021, the total number of COVID-19-related employment complaints filed in United States courts passed the 2,000 mark. Although it took eight months to reach the first 1,000 complaints (March–November 2020), it...more
On March 31, 2021, in United States ex rel. Felten v. William Beaumont Hospital, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer’s allegedly retaliatory conduct directed at an employee after the employee’s...more
On March 3, 2021, in Rohrer v. Oswego Cove, LLC, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s dismissal of an employee’s common-law wrongful discharge claim for seeking legal advice about her employment....more
Warmington v. Board of Regents of the Univ. of Minnesota U.S. Dist. Ct., D. Minn. (April 21, 2020) - PROCEDURAL HISTORY: Warmington, a highly accomplished and nationally recognized track and field coach, resigned in...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit last week against L’Oreal USA Inc., the personal care company, and the American subsidiary of L’Oréal, S.A. (“L’Oreal”), over the...more
Since March 12, there have been 937 lawsuits (including 96 class actions) filed against employers due to alleged labor and employment violations related to the coronavirus....more
Under the Tennessee Public Protection Act (TPPA), also known as “the whistleblowing statute,” it’s illegal to fire an employee if the sole cause for the termination was for refusing to either remain silent about or to...more
Former Pinterest Chief Operating Officer and top ranking female executive Françoise Brougher just filed a 17-page complaint in San Francisco Superior Court against Pinterest alleging a toxic work environment that allowed...more
On June 16, 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court opened a new avenue for employees to file retaliation claims. In a majority decision, the court held that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) is not the only pathway...more
In the immediate short term, as they deal with the difficulties imposed by COVID-19, employers are making employment decisions on a daily and weekly basis, not only adding to their stress levels, but also increasing their...more
In a February 12, 2020 decision, Parker v. EnerNOC, Inc., SJC-12703, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the full commission which would have been due to an employee had she not been retaliated against and...more