What do you think: If news gets out that a new employee was once a man but is now a woman, are co-workers likely to hassle her? An Illinois federal judge said yes. The judge refused to dismiss her claims that a state transit company and others violated the employee’s rights. The employee says the […]
A new ruling from a federal appeals court favors employers who seek to steer employees toward arbitration and away from a courtroom in the event of an employment-related claim or dispute. The ruling makes it relatively easy for employers within this court’s jurisdiction to show they provided fair notice of a new arbitration rule – […]
Do you know the duck test? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it’s a duck. In Blake v. City of Montgomery, a firefighter-paramedic argued he didn’t resign. He said he asked for a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. But the Eleventh Circuit found his […]
If an employee mentions retirement, there’s nothing wrong with inquiring about their plans. But when an employer continually pesters an older employee about when they’re going to retire, that can be age discrimination. Here’s what a court said about a recent lawsuit on the matter. ‘Old skills’ Robert Sloat, a 60-year-old employee, worked for Hewlett-Packard […]
A carpet cleaning company employee said his employer forced him to work in an environment that exposed him to the virus. A Pennsylvania court issued a head-scratching decision. The employee cared for his elderly grandfather. The grandfather was an at-risk person for severe COVID-19. He told his employer he could only work at job sites […]
A mini-excavator operator died in an accident at work. He operated a machine that rolled down a mountainside. He was working for a company that was installing an avalanche control system. The system was near a ski resort. The state of Utah awarded the employer a contract to do the job. The state’s department of […]
With OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) in place and going into effect in Jan. 2022, many employees have begun to push back against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Most recently, a religious group petitioned the 5th Circuit to put a stop to OSHA’s ETS, saying imposing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate would violate religious workers’ beliefs. Here’s […]
When a worker takes FMLA leave, they’re entitled to certain protections, including job security and no retaliation for taking leave. So when a company fired an employee when she returned from FMLA leave, she sued for retaliation. The employer claimed she violated their attendance policy, but the 5th Circuit sided with the employee. Here’s what […]
Be super careful about asking medical questions and requiring medical exams. For a medical exam or inquiry of a current employee to be legal under the ADA, it must be “job-related and consistent with business necessity.” Don’t ask medical questions or subject employees to medical exams unless you have evidence that the employee has a […]
