Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson, Author at Kollman, Saucier & Jackson P.A.

GINA Gets Her First Class Action Suit

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/19/2013

Employment Discrimination, Genetic Information

The Genetic Information and Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was enacted in 2008 and became effective for employment purposes on November 21, 2009. GINA makes it unlawful for an employer to “request, require, or purchase” an individual’s genetic information, which includes the “manifestation of a disease or disorder” in the individuals’ family members. While there is a sizeable list of prohibitions that GINA has put in place, the biggest...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/16/2013

Independent Contractors, Wage & Hour

In today’s workplace, most employers rely upon outside vendors to supply security services. What employers may not know is that the fact that the security guards are not their own employees does not necessarily mean that the employer is not liable for violations of employment laws. The answer to the liability question turns in large part on how much control the employer has over the terms of employment for the guards. On May 14, 2013, a federal...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/09/2013

Agency Activity, Labor Law, Union Activity

On May, 7, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the National Labor Relations Board lacked the authority to issue a 2011 rule which would have required all employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) to post a workplace notice to employees. The decision, National Association of Manufacturers v. NLRB, drove yet another stake in the heart of the Obama NLRB’s activist agenda. As...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/08/2013

Arbitration, Employment Discrimination

Quality Restaurant Concepts, LLC (perhaps better known as Applebee’s), maintains an internal dispute resolution (IDR) process and an Employment Arbitration Policy. The company’s arbitration policy covers Title VII claims, and the IDR policy set a 20-day deadline for employees to pursue claims of discrimination. Under the arbitration policy, Applebee’s employees are required to complete the IDR process before participating in arbitration. ...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/07/2013

Labor Law, Legislative Developments, Public Sector Employment Law, Union Activity

Over the past two weeks, we have heard a lot about the scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center, where guards allegedly conspired with members of a notorious prison gang to traffic drugs, cell phones, and sexual favors. In case you missed this, the leader of the gang (the Black Guerilla Family) fathered five children with four female prison guards and was heard telling an acquaintance in a wiretapped call “This is my jail …. I make every...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/06/2013

Employment Discrimination, Retaliation

On May 1, 2013, Maryland’s newest federal judge, George Levi Russell, III, dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former employee of a kidney dialysis clinic near Baltimore. In Ezeh v. Bio-Med. Applications of Md., No. 11-3411 (D. Md. 2013), Judge Russell granted summary judgment to the employer and dismissed plaintiff’s claims of retaliation and race and national origin discrimination. The plaintiff, Perpetua Ezeh, is of Nigerian descent and worked...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/16/2013

Legislative Developments

Citing the lack of paid sick days for workers, and the associated costs of sick workers showing up for work, Senator Tom Harkin (D–Iowa) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D–Connecticut) on March 20, 2013 reintroduced the Healthy Families Act (Sen. 631 and H.R. 1286). The bill would allow workers to accumulate up to 56 hours of paid sick time to be used when they or family members were ill. The bill was first introduced in 2004. Affecting...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/15/2013

Employment Discrimination

Generally speaking, in order to state a claim for a hostile work environment claim, the employee must demonstrate conduct that creates an “objective hostile or abuse work environment.” Ordinarily, this requires demonstrating that the workplace is “permeated with discriminatory intimidations, ridicule and insults” to the point that it is so severe and pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment. Isolated racial...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/12/2013

Employment Discrimination, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment

A federal appeals court recently held that an employer was not liable for sexual harassment to an employee who complained only about harassment, not sex-based harassment. Medina-Rivera v. MVM Inc., No. 11-2419 (1st Cir. April 10, 2013). In 2008, Estrella Medina-Rivera worked as a part-time detention officer for MVM, Inc., a security company in Puerto Rico. In October 2008, Medina complained to her supervisor that an unnamed federal agent with...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/11/2013

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination, FMLA, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden, Retaliation, State Law

In Anderson v. Discovery Communications, 8:08-cv-02424, 2013 WL 1364345 (4th Cir. Apr. 5, 2013), the Fourth Circuit affirmed a decision from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland granting summary judgment to Discovery and a cadre of individual defendants on claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Montgomery County Human Rights Act (MCHRA), and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Though unremarkable in and of...

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GINA Gets Her First Class Action Suit

Bank is Not Joint Employer of Security Guards Under FLSA

NLRB Notice Rule Struck Down

20-Day Window Too Short A Time To File Internal Complaint Of Discrimination

Unions, Gangs and Prison Scandals

Maryland Judge Dismisses Discrimination and Retaliation Claims

Sick Pay Law Reintroduced

Stray Remark Overturns Summary Judgment in D.C. Circuit

No Employer Liability For Sexual Harassment If Employee Doesn’t Complain About Sex-Based Conduct

Employer’s Consistent Explanation for Discharging Employee Defeats Discrimination Claims

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