Every employer knows that firing an employee who makes discrimination complaints can lead to a retaliation lawsuit. But what happens when the employee is fired for how they made the complaints, and not for making them? A court addressed this issue in a recent ruling. Emailed everyone Hector Jenkins, an immigrant from Costa Rica, worked […]
The EEOC has issued new guidance addressing religious objections to workplace COVID-19 vaccination requirements. This updated EEOC guidance discusses the interplay between vaccine requirements and Title VII. Title VII applies to employers with at least 15 employees. It does not say those employers must require vaccinations. Instead, it explains that they may require vaccinations, subject […]
The recent outcome of a discrimination lawsuit shows employers that racial bias doesn’t just affect minority employees. When one company discriminated against a white male worker, it ended up paying $10 million to settle the suit. Here’s what happened. Fired days before anniversary David Duvall worked at Novant Health Inc. in Michigan as a marketing […]
It’s never good when harassment occurs in the workplace, but when an employee is subjected to multiple types of harassment, the employer is going to be held liable if it doesn’t take swift action. Here’s a breakdown of a recent lawsuit. Unwanted advances DeAnna Johnson was hired as a production supervisor at a Michigan Ford […]
An office manager said that when she told her employer she was pregnant, it told her that she could take up to three months of FMLA leave but pressured her to return to work sooner. She and her supervisor agreed that she would take six weeks of leave, after which she would begin working from […]
The IRS just offered employers a helping hand. How? By removing barriers to hire retirees and possibly even encourage employees who reach retirement age to continue working. As a business, you know how hard it is to keep a full staff at this point in time. Hoping to make it easier on employers, the IRS […]
Finding substantial evidence supported a Tennessee school district’s decision to dismiss a teacher for driving under the influence and threatening a co-worker, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee upheld his dismissal. For almost 20 years, the teacher instructed students with special needs. His classroom performance was exemplary. But in 2018, law enforcement arrested him for […]
When an employee quit her job after only five days, citing terrible working conditions, she sued for constructive discharge. But a court sided with the company, ruling the employee didn’t give the employer enough time to correct the situation. Here’s a breakdown of the case. Satellite facility When Noni Boddie joined Pennsylvania-based Cardone Industries as […]
Sometimes, an applicant or employee is not qualified for a job because of a basic inability to adequately perform its essential functions. At other times, disqualification occurs because the plaintiff lacks required credentials for the position. That was the case here. Vanessa Reed was employed as a registered nurse for the Dallas Veterans Administration Medical […]
The transition from an onsite workforce to a fully remote workforce was quick. And at the time, few really expected the pandemic to last as long as it has. Now, we have to deal with the fact most federal, state and local wage-and-hour laws were created pre-COVID-19. What does this mean? Simple, the complexities of […]
A jury ruled in favor of an employee who said his employer unlawfully neglected to reasonably accommodate his claustrophobia when it put him an an office with no window. Robert Turco was a senior project manager for Zambelli Fireworks, which is a fireworks company in Pennsylvania. He has claustrophobia. Initially he worked in an office […]
When employers have issues with FMLA certifications it can make leave administration a true nightmare. But one of the best solutions to the problem often gets overlooked by employers. That solution: Going right to the doctor for help. That’s what employment law attorney Jeff Nowak did. Nowak, the author of the FMLA Insights blog (FmlaInsights.com), […]
Sometimes federal enforcement actions end with big payouts. But it isn’t very often that they get this big — or include this unusual twist. A temporary placement agency will pay a total of $3.525 million to resolve allegations that it illegally discriminated. A federal agency accused it of discriminating with respect to its hiring and […]
She asked a court for too much, and too soon. A judge refused to micromanage an employer’s disciplinary process. A firefighter sued for sex discrimination while the incident she’s suing over was still being investigated. She asked the court to order the city to “immediately” discipline another firefighter; not send him to fires; and to, apparently, […]
A New Mexico federal judge refused to block a vaccine mandate for certain workers from going into effect. The court said data show the vaccines are safe and effective. It also said the vaccines provide immunity that “is significantly more robust than natural immunity gained following infection.” Right now, the Delta variant causes almost all […]
A court refused to dismiss an equal protection claim filed by a gay firefighter who says he was subjected to discriminatory treatment in the workplace. Sex-based trash-talk and pranks are still the norm in some police and fire departments. But if it’s a “general, on-going, and accepted practice,” it might amount to an official policy […]
