The NLRA and the NFL’s New Anthem Policy

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/07/2018
As many readers know, the issue of player protests during the national anthem has hovered over the National Football League (NFL) since 2016.  Two weeks ago, in an effort to refocus coverage on the sport rather than the spectacle, the NFL unveiled its new national anthem policy, which will take effect this season. The policy gives players the option to remain in the locker room during the anthem.  Players that take the field must “stand and show...
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Supreme Court Dodges Sticky Issues in Same-Sex Wedding Cake Case

Both sides of the political divide had been eagerly awaiting the decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.  The Supreme Court’s decision, however, largely left the central issue of the case unresolved. This case involves a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012 because doing so would have gone against his religious beliefs.  At the time he made this decision, Colorado’s...
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Maryland Enacts “Disclosing Sexual Harassment In The Workplace Act of 2018”

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/30/2018
On May 15, 2018, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed into law the "Disclosing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Act of 2018" (“Act”). The Act, which can be found here, goes into effect on October 1, 2018, and sunsets without any further action on June 30, 2023. The Act, which is codified at Md. Code Ann., Labor & Employment § 3-715, adds two requirements to current Maryland labor and employment law.  First, the Act declares that any...
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A Potentially Epic Alternative To Class-Action Waiver Arbitration Clauses

In the aftermath of Monday’s Supreme Court decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, as discussed on this blog, employers are free to include class-action waivers as part of their arbitration clauses in employment agreements. There is, however, a difference between whether employers can include such clauses and whether all employers should include them.  Some of the assumed benefits of arbitration are that it is less formal, less expensive, and...
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A Case of Pregnancy and Pretext

How do courts handle cases of alleged pretextual behavior designed to cover up discriminatory actions? A recent Tenth Circuit decision sheds a little light on this issue. Fassbender v. Correct Care Solutions, LLC, No. 17-3054 (10th Cir. May 15, 2018). Alena Fassbender worked for Correct Care Solutions (CCS) as a medication aide at a Kansas detention center.  Fassbender was pushing her medication cart down one of the center’s cell blocks on April...
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Supreme Court Upholds Individual Arbitration Clauses In Employment Contracts

Mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts are increasingly a fact of workplace life.  What happens, though, when an employee signs an employment agreement requiring that any job-related disputes be submitted to individual arbitration, rather than class- or collective-action lawsuits?  Do longstanding federal labor laws protecting workers’ right to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of . . . mutual aid or protection”...
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NLRB Judge Strikes Down Moonlighting Rule

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/18/2018
A National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge has invalidated an employer's work rule prohibiting employees from working another job without the company's approval. Nicholson Terminal & Dock Co., Case No. 07-CA-187907 (May 16, 2018).  Judge Elizabeth Tafe held that the  rule could be interpreted to prohibit employees from working for a union outside of working time and, therefore, unlawfully interfered with employee Section 7...
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Federal Court Dismisses Discrimination Claim for Failure to Show Disparate Treatment

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/16/2018
A Lousiana federa court dismissed a sex discrimination claim brought by a former UPS manager because he failed to show that the company treated similarly situated female employees  better than him.  Williams v . UPS, No. 16-450-SDD-RLB (M.D.La. 5/11/18).  The decision reinforces the importance of proving that a discrimination plaintiff was treated  differently than persons outside their protected group to get a case to trial. In Williams, UPS...
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D.C. Circuit Rejects Union’s In-Person, Voter ID Resignation Requirement

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
05/10/2018
Imagine this:  the only way you can vote is if you show up in person and bring your ID with you.  Otherwise voicing your will cannot and will not be accepted. In defense of such a rule, proponents say that the requirements are “merely procedural steps necessary to prevent fraud.”  Those who oppose it say the requirements significantly burden the exercise of the protected rights of those who live some distance from the voting place or who lack...
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Lawsuit over Adjunct’s use of Tenured Faculty’s Syllabus Fails Test

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
05/09/2018
I have represented Colleges and Universities for 33 years and I love the work.  I was an adjunct at the University of Baltimore Law School for 30 years and I loved that too.  The unique things that happen in the world of higher education never cease to amaze me.  So, through that lens, let’s take a look at a recent decision from the Third Circuit, which provides a variety of teachable moments regarding interaction among faculty, a university’s...
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