The Employment Brief | Employment Law | Kollman & Saucier, P.A.

It’s That Scene from When Harry Met Sally…

Darrell VanDeusen

07/05/2017

Last Sunday’s print New York Times’ article by Claire Cain Miller titled “When Job Puts Sexes Together, Workers Cringe” (found online as “It’s Not Just Mike Pence. Americans Are Wary of Being Alone With the Opposite Sex,” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/upshot/members-of-the-opposite-sex-at-work-gender-study.html), reminded me of a scene from When Harry Met Sally. No, not THAT scene. This scene: Harry: You realize, of course,...

Darrell VanDeusen

07/03/2017

Agency Activity, State Law, Wage & Hour

Here’s a brief update on things Wage and Hour: Maryland Minimum Wage Rates Continuing the step increase in Maryland’s minimum wage passed by the General Assembly a few years ago, on July 1, the state minimum wage increased to $9.25/hour. The final planned increase to $10.10/hour will occur on July 1, 2018.. July 1 also saw an increase in the minimum wage required to be paid in Montgomery County to $11.50/hour. Prince George’s County...

Kollman & Saucier

06/28/2017

Virginia Employment Law, Wrongful Discharge

Virginia courts recognize a narrow exception to the employment at will doctrine for employees who claim to have been discharged in violation of public policy. Known as Bowman claims (after the seminal 1985 Bowman v. State Bank of Keysville decision), employees can bring a claim for "wrongful discharge" if they can show that a statute expressly or implicitly protects them from being discharged for conduct covered by the statute. In the recent...

Kollman & Saucier

06/16/2017

Sexual Harassment, Virginia Employment Law

Sex, lies, but no videotape. A Virginia restaurant was faced with this juicy but difficult harassment investigation involving several current and former employees. After sorting out the sordid claims, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that employers who honestly believe, after investigation, that employees have made false harassment complaints are permitted to use their business judgment to discipline or terminate the person who they...

Kollman & Saucier

06/14/2017

Religious Discrimination

The balance between individual religious beliefs and technology in the workforce can be a tricky one to strike. The Fourth Circuit recently addressed potential ramifications of failing to strike that balance appropriately in its decision in EEOC v. Consol Energy, Inc. No. 16-1406 (4th Cir. June 12, 2017). Beverly Butcher worked as a coal miner at the Robinson Run Mine in West Virginia for 37 years with no record of performance issues. Butcher...

Kollman & Saucier

06/09/2017

Employment Discrimination, FMLA, Virginia Employment Law

It is no secret that businesses today are increasingly outsourcing human resources functions in an effort to cut costs. But absent careful planning, the outsourcing employer may still bear legal liability for workplace discrimination issues. Here’s what the Fourth Circuit had to say about the subject in a case decided this week. Quintana v. City of Alexandria, et al., No. 16-1630 (4th Cir. 6/6/17). The case arose from the City of...

Kollman & Saucier

06/06/2017

Employment Discrimination

Maryland employers will welcome a decision last week by a local federal court holding a plaintiff’s checking the box on an EEO charge is not enough to pursue the claim in court. (Wallace v. Bd. of Educ. of Calvert Ct’y, No. PX 16-3242, 5/31/17). In this case, Plaintiff Wallace was a substitute bus driver for Calvert County Public Schools. Her complaint alleged that she was forced to take time off for stress and anxiety due to ongoing...

Kollman & Saucier

06/02/2017

Legislative Developments, Paid Leave, State Law

We reported two months ago here that Maryland's General Assembly had passed veto-proof sick leave legislation, the Healthy Working Families Act, which would have guaranteed sick leave to most employees working in Maryland. Governor Hogan, however, vetoed that bill calling the bill "deeply flawed" and "job-killing." That done, Governor Hogan made clear he favors a viable compromise with the General Assembly before January 2018, when the legislation...

Kollman & Saucier

06/01/2017

Firm News

The 2017 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business has once again ranked Kollman & Saucier as a leader in the field of Labor and Employment law. Chambers ranks the top firms and lawyers across the country in a variety of practice areas based on attorney and client interviews and its own database resources. The firm was praised for its "very unique combination of extraordinarily talented lawyers" and its "strong...

Kollman & Saucier

05/31/2017

Sexual Orientation

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to let its full panel determine whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of an individual's sexual orientation. Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., No. 15-3775 (2d Cir. May 25, 2017) (en banc review granted). As we wrote about last month, the full Seventh Circuit concluded in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana (7th Cir. 2017), in an 8-3...

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Email Updates

It’s That Scene from When Harry Met Sally…

Maryland’s Minimum Wage $9.25/hour as of July 1, 2017; and a DOL Update

Virginia Court Refuses to Dismiss Jeweler's Bowman Claim

Employer Lawfully Fired Employee for Making Harassment Claim

Fourth Circuit Affirms Finding that Coal Mine Failed to Accommodate Fears of "Mark of the Beast"

Appellate Court Rules Employee Can Sue City of Alexandria as Joint Employer Under FMLA

Maryland Federal Court Rules Exhaustion of Disability Claim Requires More than Checking a Box

Maryland Sick Leave Bill Has Died, For Now

2017 Rankings Again Place K&S Among Top Maryland Firms

Full Second Circuit Joins The "Does Title VII Prohibit Sexual Orientation Bias" Party.

Email Updates