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Reminder to Maryland Employers: Reasonable Accommodations For Disabilities Due To Pregnancy Act Takes Effect October 1st

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
09/19/2013
Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination, Pregnancy Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden
Beginning on October 1, 2013, Maryland employers with 15 or more employees will have to comply with Maryland’s Reasonable Accommodations for Disabilities Due to Pregnancy Act.  As previously reported in The Employment Brief, the new law requires employers to explore “all possible means” of providing reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees, and also establishes new notice requirements.  However, employers do not have to make an...
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Employer Triumphs Over EEOC In Background Check Lawsuit

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
09/16/2013
Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination
A Maryland federal court recently skewered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its disparate impact lawsuit challenging a nationwide employer’s use of background checks on applicants.  EEOC v. Freeman, No. RWT 09cv2573 (D. Md. Aug. 9, 2013).  The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted summary judgment in favor of the employer, heavily criticizing the EEOC’s shoddy assemblage of statistical data used in its attempt...
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Fourth Circuit Gives Bad News To NLRB And Union, Again.

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
09/12/2013
Agency Activity, Labor Law
Two  appellate courts have decided that the recess appointments Obama made of three NLRB members in January 2012 were made without proper legal authority resulting. therefore, with the NLRB acting without a valid quorum. Indeed, the Supreme Court has agreed to review the first such decision, Noel Canning Division of Noel Corp. v. NLRB, 705 F.3d 4901 (D.C. Cir. 2013), which held that the 2012 appointments were unconstitutional. In NLRB v. Enterprise...
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The IRS Has Spoken: Legal Same-Sex Marriage Recognized For Federal Tax Purposes

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
09/12/2013
Agency Activity, Legal Developments, Same-Sex Marriage
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued a joint news release and Revenue Ruling 2013-17, in which the agencies announced that same-sex married couples will be recognized as legally married for federal tax purposes, regardless of where they reside, so long as they were married in any U.S. state or territory, or a foreign country, that legally recognizes same-sex marriages.  This ruling implements federal tax aspects of the Supreme...
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Treasury Department Issues Proposed ACA Reporting Rules

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
09/06/2013
Employee Benefits
On September 5, 2013, the Treasury Department, in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service, issued proposed rules concerning the reporting requirements for insurers and select employers mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Interested parties and the public can submit comments on the proposed regulations through early November.  Once the rules have been finalized, voluntary compliance is encouraged through 2014 (during which time...
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NFL Settles Concussion Lawsuits

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
09/05/2013
Employer Liability, Legal Developments, Workplace Safety
On August 29th, 201, the court-appointed mediator in the consolidated concussion lawsuits filed against the NFL and other entities announced that the players and the NFL had reached a tentative agreement.  The lawsuits, which had been widely reported in the wake of several high profile deaths allegedly linked to concussions suffered while playing football, were filed by over 4,500 retired football players and allege a host of claims.  The...
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Legal Pot Smoking Not Protected by Disability Discrimination Law

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
08/29/2013
Disability & Leave, State Law
According to a federal court in Colorado, having a prescription for medical marijuana does not excuse a failed drug test.   Curry v. MillerCoors, Inc., Docket No. 1:12-cv-02471 (D. Colo. Sept 17, 2012) Paul Curry worked for MillerCoors, Inc.  According to his complaint, Mr. Curry suffers from hepatitis C, osteoarthritis and pain, and he is licensed by the State of Colorado to use medical marijuana pursuant to that state’s Medical Marijuana...
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Court Dismisses Race Discrimination Claims Against Paula Deen

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
08/14/2013
Employment Discrimination
Over the past few months, there has been a great deal of media attention focused on racially offensive statements allegedly made by Paula Deen, the renowned restaurateur and celebrity cooking show host. Deen's career and public reputation went south (so to speak) earlier this summer after her deposition in a race discrimination lawsuit filed by Lisa Jackson, the white general manager of a restaurant owned by Paula Deen and her family. In the...
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Eleventh Circuit Rules That Casino Failed to Meet WARN’s Unforeseeable Business Circumstances Exception

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
08/09/2013
WARN
In Weekes-Walker v. Macon Cnty. Greyhound Park, Inc. (11th Cir., No. 12-14673, Aug. 5, 2013), the employees of Macon County Greyhound Park Inc. (“MCGP”) filed suit under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act of 1988 (“WARN”), alleging that MCGP violated WARN’s requirement that prior to a plant closing or a mass layoff, an employer must provide employees with 60-days notice. In January 2010, MCGP, an Alabama casino, temporarily laid off...
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Employee’s Failure to Estimate Overtime Hours May Defeat FLSA Claims

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson
08/06/2013
Wage & Hour
 On August 5, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court decision holding that an employee’s FLSA claims were properly dismissed by the trial court.  Dejesus v. HF Mgmt. Servs., LLC, No. 12-4565 (2d. Cir. Aug. 5, 2013).  The district court had dismissed Plaintiff’s complaint because it lacked the factual specificity detailing the alleged unpaid overtime hours that she had allegedly...
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