Author: Kollman & Saucier

In a decision that many are calling a resounding victory for religious organizations, the Supreme Court has unanimously decided that the First Amendment’s establishment and free exercise clauses create a “ministerial exception” that bars an ADA lawsuit (and by extension all discrimination cases) brought against a religious organization by a former elementary school teacher who was a Lutheran “commissioned minister.  Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical...

Two members of the NLRB (and with one member recusing himself) held that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act by requiring non-union employees to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement that waived employees’ rights to participate in class or collective actions.  D.R. Horton Inc., 357 N.L.R.B. No. 184, (January 3, 2012). NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce and Member Craig Becker found that D.R. Horton Inc.'s mandatory arbitration...

It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes courts find that the EEOC has overreached so greatly in its prosecution of a claim that a win for the employer is not enough - the EEOC is required to pay the company's legal fees too.  This just happened in EEOC v. TriCore Reference Labs., No. 09-CV-956 (D. New Mexico Oct. 26, 2011), where the court found that the EEOC's decision to continue pursuing an ADA reasonable accommodation case was  "frivolous,...

In United States v. Weaver, 2011 U.S. LEXIS 21485 (4th Cir. Oct. 24 2011), the Fourth Circuit held that the Federal law prohibiting a person "employed for" a convicted felon from carrying a firearm applies to gang members.  Floyd Moore was the national vice president of the Pagans Motorcycle Club (PMC) and a convicted felon.  Weaver and others were PMC members and took orders from Moore.  As a convicted felon, Moore was prohibited from carrying a...

Last month the Seventh Circuit - the most active appellate court interpreting the FMLA - dismissed a claim by an employee who claimed that his supervisor's conduct exacerbated his pre-existing serious health condition.  Breneisen v. Motorola Inc., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 18301 (7th Cir. Sept. 2, 2011).  This was a case of first impression for the court, but it followed the Sixth Circuit's reasoning in Edgar v. JAC Prods. Inc., 443 F.3d 501 (6th Cir....

The common law doctrine of "employment at will" permits either an employer or employee to terminate the employment relationship at any time or for any reason.   Maryland courts are reluctant to diminish employers' decision-making discretion, but the a tort claim of "wrongful discharge" has been recognized in limited circumstances.  The seminal case in Maryland is Adler v. Am. Standard Corp., 291 Md. 31 (1981).  In Adler, an employee filed a...

The Second Circuit has joined five other Circuits in holding that the correct definition of a "materially adverse employment action" in FMLA retaliation cases is the one used by Supreme Court in its 2006 decision in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White.  The Burlington definition includes employer actions that are likely to dissuade reasonable workers from exercising their rights under anti-discrimination laws.  Millea v....

Affirming dismissal of an FLSA suit against SAIC, the Fourth Circuit has held that a job applicant who alleged the company withdrew a conditional offer of employment upon learning that she had sued a former employer for wage and hour violations cannot pursue an FLSA retaliation claim against the prospective employer because the Act only permits "employees" to file retaliation claims against their current or former employer.  Dellinger v. SAIC, No....