The Employment Brief | Employment Law | Kollman & Saucier, P.A.

UPS Manager’s Disability Does Not Excuse Perceived Racist Comment

Kollman & Saucier

08/09/2015

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden

Christopher Schaffhauser, a white male, sued United Parcel Services (UPS) after he was demoted from manager to supervisor for saying he would hit an African-American coworker so hard it would "knock the black off him." Schaffhauser’s lawsuit asserted race discrimination and a failure to accommodate his medical condition. This note focuses on the ADA failure to accommodate claim. The Court described the circumstances leading to Schaffhauser’s...

Kollman & Saucier

07/31/2015

Employment Discrimination

In litigation, as in many other parts of life, timing is everything. In a post earlier this week, we discussed the issues surrounding lawsuits filed after the resolution of EEOC and state agency charges. A similar issue came before a New York federal court recently and was met with a similar outcome: a plaintiff who files a claim too late has nobody but him or herself to blame. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (“Ledbetter Act”) was...

Kollman & Saucier

07/29/2015

Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination

An individual who files a charge of discrimination with the EEOC or similar state agency is required to provide the agency with his or her contact information, including a mailing address and phone number, so that the agency can notify him or her of any developments, including the outcome of the charge. Current regulations require the individual to notify the agency “of any change in address and . . . any prolonged absence from that current address...

Kollman & Saucier

07/24/2015

Disability & Leave

It was a victory for employers this week when Maryland’s federal district court determined that an employer is not obligated to accommodate a disabled employee who cannot perform the essential functions of his job by reassigning the employee to a new position that eliminates the essential functions of the former position. Raiford v. Md. Dep't of Juvenile Servs., No. 8:12-cv-03795, D. Md. (7/21/15). Plaintiff Raiford was a Resident Advisor (RA)...

Kollman & Saucier

07/23/2015

Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination

An employee alleges a claim for discrimination based on sexual orientation but sexual orientation isn’t mentioned under Title VII. Does the employee have a viable Title VII claim? According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) recent opinion in Complainant v. Foxx, E.E.O.C., Appeal No. 0120133080 (7/16/15), the answer is “Yes.” In the view of the EEOC, “allegations of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation...

Kollman & Saucier

07/17/2015

Employer Liability, Joint Employer

In Butler v. Drive Automobile Industries of America, Inc., the Fourth Circuit joined seven (the Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh) other federal appellate courts in holding that multiple companies can each be the "employer" of the same employee under Title VII. In Butler, the appellate court concluded that Drive Automotive was the joint employer of a former factory worker who was hired through a temporary staffing agency,...

Kollman & Saucier

07/16/2015

Agency Activity, Independent Contractors

On July 15, 2015, the Department of Labor (DOL), through its Wage and Hour Division, issued its first Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) of the year, and in more than a year (2015-1). AI 2015-1 focuses on the always complex issue of independent contractor versus employee classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The DOL has not held back, at all. This AI makes clear the DOL has little tolerance for the concept of independent...

Kollman & Saucier

07/10/2015

Independent Contractors, Wage & Hour

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently established a new test to determine whether an individual should be classified as an intern, and thus not subject to the FLSA and local wage and hour law. Rejecting the test employed by the Department of Labor (which filed an amicus brief with the appellate court), the Second Circuit’s new test is less rigid and seems, at least at first blush, to give more weight to the educational...

Kollman & Saucier

07/02/2015

Agency Activity, Wage & Hour

On June 30, 2015, the Obama Administration unveiled a long-anticipated proposed rule increasing the threshold amount required to be paid to certain salaried workers before they are exempt from receiving overtime. The current rule is that any salaried worker who earns below $455 a week or $23,660 per year (i.e., less than the poverty line for a family of four) must receive overtime. The proposed rule would more than double that to $50,440 (i.e. close...

Kollman & Saucier

06/30/2015

Business Law, Sexual Harassment

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a female African American travelling phlebotomist’s claims of hostile work environment, constructive discharge, and retaliation for allegedly failing to adequately mitigate sexual and racial harassment by a nursing home patient were properly dismissed. The patient’s conduct was not so severe that it rose to the level of actionable hostile work environment sexual harassment. Likewise, the employee...

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Email Updates

UPS Manager’s Disability Does Not Excuse Perceived Racist Comment

Ledbetter Act Does Not Extend Time to Bring Demotion Claims

Plaintiff Bears Burden of Maintaining Correct Address with EEOC

Maryland District Court Holds Employer's Failure to Reassign Disabled Employee to a New Position Was Not Disability Discrimination

EEOC Rules Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation Violates Title VII

Fourth Circuit Holds Hiring Through Temp Agency Does Not Evade Title VII

New DOL Guidance Makes The Independent Contractor A Rare Breed Indeed

Second Circuit Adopts New Intern Test

Obama Administration Seeks to More Than Double Salary Requirement for Overtime Exemption

Touching in the “Crotch Area” Only A Few Times Doesn’t Create a Hostile Work Environment

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