Announcing Kollman, Saucier & Jackson, P.A. and our relocation to Hunt Valley Read More
Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Weight Watchers Thrown for a Loss in EEOC Lawsuit

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
12/13/2013
Pregnancy Discrimination
A federal judge recently denied Weight Watchers’ attempt to dismiss  a Pregnancy Discrimination Act lawsuit filed against it by the EEOC.   EEOC v. The WW Group, Inc., d/b/a Weight Watchers, Case 2:12-cv-11124 PDB-MAR (E.D. Mich. Dec. 2, 2013). The suit claims that the company did not permit Wendy Lamond-Broughton (“Broughton”) to apply for a job because she was pregnant.  The company defended on the grounds that Broughton was not...
read more

Appellate Court Reverses NLRB and Upholds Legality of Class Action Waivers

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
12/04/2013
Agency Activity, Arbitration, Labor Law
Employers scored a big victory yesterday when the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the National Labor Relations Board's D.R Horton ruling, which invalidated an employer's arbitration agreement containing a waiver of an employee's right to file class-action claims. D.R. Horton v. NLRB, 5th Cir No. 12-60031 (12/3/13).  The decision will make it  easier for employers to enforce class-action waivers, including waivers of...
read more

Profanity-Laced Facebook Exchange Not Protected By NLRA

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/25/2013
Labor Law, Social Media
On November 12, 2013, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge (ALJ) concluded that discharged employees forfeited their rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when their Facebook conversation includes comments about being insubordinate and disruptive in the workplace. The Richmond District Neighborhood Center (“Richmond”) is a California-based non-profit corporation.  Richmond operates after...
read more

Appellate Court Rejects Use of Title II of the ADA to Sue for Discrimination In Public Employment

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/21/2013
Disability & Leave, Public Sector Employment Law
As regular readers of The Employment Brief are aware, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides the basis for many lawsuits filed by current and former employees.  In the employment law arena, plaintiffs usually rely upon Title I of the ADA, which specifically prohibits employment discrimination based on a persons’ disability.  42 U.S.C. 12112(a). Government employees, however, sometimes rely upon Title II of the ADA when filing suit...
read more

Exhaustion of FMLA Leave with No Return Date Dooms Plaintiff’s Claims

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/18/2013
Age Discrimination, Disability & Leave, FMLA
In Owens v. Calhoun County School District, No. 12-60897 (Oct. 8, 2013), the Fifth Circuit upheld a district court’s granting of summary judgment to an employer on a former employee’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claim. Karen Darlene Mann Owens taught at Bruce Upper Elementary School in Mississippi for seventeen years until she was fired in February 2010.  Owens suffered from neck and back pain, conditions which worsened over the...
read more

Court Finds Odor Sensitivity May Be Disability under ADAAA

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/15/2013
Disability & Leave
It seems like even the most minor ailment can make an employee “disabled” under the ADA these days.  For example, in 2010, the City of Detroit paid $100,000 to settle an accommodation claim raised by a “chemically sensitive” city worker who alleged that a coworker’s perfume and room deodorizer caused her to experience migraines, nausea and coughing.  McBride v. City of Detroit, No. 2:07-cv-12794 (E.D. Mich. 2010).  Last week, an...
read more

Texas Court Strikes Down FLSA Collective Action

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/14/2013
Wage & Hour
Over the past few years, employers have been besieged by "collective actions" filed under federal and state wage and hour laws. These lawsuits aggregate individual claims for unpaid overtime into class actions, thereby making it much more lucrative for a plaintiff's attorney to invest the time and effort into pursuing the case. In  Jones v. Xerox Commercial Solutions, LLC, No. 4:13-cv-650 (S.D. Tex., November 6, 2013), a federal court in Texas...
read more

Sexual Orientation One Step Closer To Becoming A Federally Protected Status

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/08/2013
Employment Discrimination, Legislative Developments
On November 7, 2013, the Senate voted in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), with a bipartisan vote of 64-32.  The ENDA would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  The ENDA, however, is unlikely to have the same success in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where House Speaker John Boehner has voiced his opposition to the bill. The Senate last voted on legislation prohibiting...
read more

Election Day Politics For Employers

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/04/2013
Voting Leave
In anticipation of tomorrow -- Election Day 2013 -- employers should be sure their policies and practices on permitting time off to vote are legally compliant.  Some states have no time-off requirements while others require time off to vote, with civil or criminal penalties for employers that fail to do so. State laws vary, as well, regarding the notice, if any, an employee is required to provide regarding his or her intent to take time off to...
read more

Court Allows Ed O’Bannon Lawsuit Against NCAA To Go Forward

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
11/01/2013
Legal Developments
Money, it's a crime Share it fairly But don't take a slice of my pie - “Money” by Pink Floyd   The Times They Are a-Changin' - Bob Dylan The times are changing in college athletics.  Most fans of college sports know that college athletes cannot be paid for their efforts without jeopardizing their amateur status and possibly incurring (for them and their schools) severe penalties.  This long held bastion of college athletics, however, is...
read more
Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.