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Ninth Circuit Finds Termination Based on Extramarital Affair Unlawful

Kollman & Saucier
02/13/2018
Employment Discrimination
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a female former police officer who alleged she was terminated because of her off-duty extramarital affair with another officer.  Perez v. City of Roseville, et al., No. 15-16430. During the first six months of her employment with the police department, Janelle Perez received positive performance reviews.  After the wife of a fellow officer called the...
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Fourth Circuit Allows EEOC to Proceed with Equal Pay Claim

Kollman & Saucier
01/17/2018
Employment Discrimination, Sex Discrimination
Last week, the Fourth Circuit issued a favorable decision for the EEOC in a case the federal agency brought against the Maryland Insurance Administration (“MIA”) for violations of the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”).  United States EEOC v. Md. Ins. Admin., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 298 (4th Cir. Jan. 5, 2018). The Underlying Case The lawsuit grew from three female MIA Fraud Investigators’ complaints that they made less money than male Fraud...
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Maryland Senate President: A “Women Only” Commission on Harassment. Really?

Kollman & Saucier
01/12/2018
Employment Discrimination, Sexual Harassment
This from the Baltimore Sun’s Legislative Reporter Erin Cox (who does excellent work reporting from Annapolis) on the first day of the session:  “Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said Wednesday that the General Assembly will create a ‘powerful’ new commission to recommend how the legislature should root out sexual harassment in its ranks. “Miller said he and House Speaker Michael E. Busch will create the panel, which Miller said...
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DOL Reissues Opinion Letters Rescinded in 2009

Kollman & Saucier
01/10/2018
Agency Activity, Wage & Hour
Last June, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that was reinstating Wage & Hour Opinion Letters. The agency also revamped its website where Opinion Letters and other guidance live. See https://www.dol.gov/whd/opinion/guidance.htm Now, the DOL has reissued more than a dozen advisory opinion letters that had been published late in George W. Bush’s administration but then rescinded by the Obama DOL. These letters could give employers guidance...
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DOL Ends Six-Factor Intern Test; Adopts “Primary Beneficiary” Standard

Kollman & Saucier
01/08/2018
Agency Activity, Wage & Hour
Last Friday, the United States Department of Labor made the following announcement: “On Dec. 19, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the fourth federal appellate court to expressly reject the U.S. Department of Labor’s six-part test for determining whether interns and students are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department of Labor today clarified that going forward, the Department will conform...
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Employers Receive Three Big Gifts From NLRB

Kollman & Saucier
12/22/2017
Labor Law
In the middle of this holiday season, the NLRB was in a gift-giving mood to employers, updating standards in several important areas of labor law.  In the 48 hours before the expiration of his term (and unconfirmed return to the North Pole), departing Chairman Philip Miscimarra issued three pivotal, 3-2 decisions that will substantially benefit employers going forward in three areas: (1) employee handbooks; (2) joint employment; and (3) bargaining...
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Maryland Federal Court Dismisses Three Lawsuits Against County Boards of Education

Kollman & Saucier
12/15/2017
Employment Discrimination
In the traditional sense, the “three Rs” charmingly stand for “reading, writing and arithmetic.” But retaliation, res judicata, and exhaustion of administrative remedies are the three Rs at the center of last week’s dismissals of three lawsuits involving the Boards of Education for Prince George’s, Montgomery, and Charles Counties in Maryland. In Smith v. Board of Education of Prince George’s County, the plaintiff, a teacher, was...
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Maryland’s Medical Cannabis Law: Does It Impact Your Workplace Drug Testing Policy?

Kollman & Saucier
12/13/2017
State Law
Google “medical marijuana”, and you’ll likely find new headlines, stories, and issues just about each day.  This is so after at least 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the drug for medicinal use.  Of course, the possession and consumption of marijuana for any reason remains in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act.  The ensuing legal landscape makes it difficult for individuals and businesses to...
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Court Orders Arbitration in FMLA Termination Case

Kollman & Saucier
10/26/2017
Arbitration, FMLA
The question of whether and when an employer can compel an employee who is suing it to arbitrate her case rather than proceed in court depends upon the terms of the agreement between the parties.  In Mason v. Athletic & Therapeutic Inst. of Naperville, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173046 (S.D. Ind. Oct. 19, 2017), a federal district court told the former employee of an Indiana sports therapy clinic that arbitration is the proper forum for her...
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EEOC Lawsuit Tossed for Lack of Factual Allegations

Kollman & Saucier
10/24/2017
Employment Discrimination
As every first year law student learns, when a party files a lawsuit in federal court, the expectation is that sufficient facts will be alleged to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.  When this does not occur, a defendant may file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).  Seems simple enough, but it is not. On one hand, there’s the Supreme Court’s decision in Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534...
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