Category: Virginia Employment Law

An Arlington County  pre-kindergarten school teacher saw his claim of gender discrimination rejected by a federal court  when the County did not renew his contract due to poor performance.  In Ostrem v. Arlington County School Board, Judge Hilton of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment to the school board, concluding that the plaintiff had failed to establish a prima facie case...

As most parties who have been before the EEOC know, it can often take many months, if not years, for the agency to complete its investigation of a charge of discrimination.  However, there are times where the EEOC moves very quickly to dismiss a charge.  That is exactly what happened earlier this year in a charge of discrimination filed against Virginia Tech.  However, when the employee of Tech's College of Veterinary Medicine filed a lawsuit...

The Americans With Disabilities Act, like most other federal anti-discrimination statutes, requires that an employee file suit within 90 days of their receipt of a Right to Sue Notice from the Equal Employment Opportunity  Commission.  A Virginia man recently found out that federal courts take this requirement seriously when the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed his disability discrimination suit because it...

A Fourth Circuit case decided this past week is yet another example of how documenting employee performance problems-- at the time they actually occur-- can save an employer from a retaliation claim, even when an employee is fired immediately after a complaint of unfair treatment.  McDougald v. Quad/Graphics Mktg., No. 18-1026 (4th Cir. 12/13/18). In this case, Plaintiff McDougald worked as a press tech in a printing plant acquired by Quad/Graphics...