IKEA Pays the Price for Deleting Evidence

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
08/12/2024
Deleting emails can be expensive (more than a few Swedish meatballs). A federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered the popular national retailer, IKEA, to pay more than $566,000 in fees after it failed to preserve emails involved in an age bias class action suit. The class action suit, initiated in 2018, alleges the retailer improperly favored younger workers for promotions and mentoring opportunities. 80 plaintiffs allege IKEA...
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The EEOC’s Increase in Commissioner Charges

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
06/04/2024
Early in my law practice, one of the first matters I worked on was an EEOC Commissioner’s charge.  It had been filed against a public school system that announced its goal for new teacher hires in the coming school year was an average of two years’ experience. An EEOC Commissioner initiated the charge and an investigation ensued as to whether that stated goal was in fact a proxy for either intentional age discrimination or created an adverse...
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The Future of the NLRB’s New Joint Employer Rule Remains Unclear

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
03/15/2024
A federal district court in Texas struck down the National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB or the Board) new joint employer rule that was set to take effect March 11th. However, this may not be the end of the road for the NLRB’s new joint employer rule. The NLRB’s new joint employer rule expanded the conditions and types of control over terms of employment that trigger a finding of a joint employer relationship. The NLRB outlined seven factors of...
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind… Bye Bye?

I struggled a bit with an appropriate song reference for this blog.   I’m going with “So Far Away,” written by Carole King and track 2 on Tapestry (1971).   In the post-pandemic world there’s been a seismic shift in the world of where you work.   Remote, hybrid, full-time in office… it’s all over the map (pun intended).  As employers try to navigate this new work world order, it’s important to consider what can and cannot be...
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Underpaid Millionaires? The NFL’s Running Back Problem.

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
07/28/2023
Recently, superstar running back Saquon Barkley and the New York Giants agreed to a one-year $11 million deal. The deal - less than $1 million more than Barkley would have received under the franchise tag - prevents a potential hold-out from the Giant’s centerpiece. Barkley’s situation is an illustration of a much larger problem that exists in the NFL today; running backs are severely underpaid for the value they bring to NFL offenses. Running...
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Santa’s Naughty List Said “No Rockettes for You!”

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
12/26/2022
t’s the season of merriment and good cheer, right?  Well, not if you are an attorney who (or if you work for a law firm that) has sued MSG Entertainment – the folks who run Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, as well as other venues in New York City and elsewhere. According to an article on the New York Times website last Thursday (in the print edition on Friday, December 23, 2022),...
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Quiet Quitting: Is This Your Best Work?

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
08/24/2022
One of my son’s favorite movies when he was in high school was Office Space (1999).  I also enjoyed it alot. You may recall the following dialogue between Peter (Ron Livingston) and Joanna (Jennifer Aniston): Peter:               I, uh, I don't like my job. I don't think I'm gonna go anymore. Joanna:            You’re just not gonna go? Peter:               Yeah. Joanna:            Won’t you...
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Texas Federal Court Reinstates Trump Independent Contractor Rule

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
03/19/2022
On September 21, 2020, the Trump administration Department of Labor (DOL) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking related to worker classification. The proposed rule set forth a new test for determining a worker’s status as an independent contractor or an employee. The changes overall would have made it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  My colleague blogged about...
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District of Columbia Expands Its Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefit

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
03/03/2022
The District of Columbia will boost its paid family and medical leave program to offer a maximum of 12 weeks of leave annually, as well as reducing the payroll tax rate that employers will pay. The expansion resulted from a review of the paid leave program finances by D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer, who concluded that the program would have a nearly $500 million surplus this year at the current 8-week benefit level.  The program began paying...
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The EEOC Takes On Its First COVID-Telework Lawsuit Under The ADA.

Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed its first lawsuit under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) against a facility management services company, ISS Facility Services, Inc., due its failure to permit one of its employees to continue working remotely amidst COVID.  The case is EEOC v. ISS Facility Servs., Inc., No. 1:21-CV-3708-SCJ-RDC (N.D. Ga. 2021). Ronisha Moncrief worked as a Health Safety and...
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