Another Reason To Use E-Verify …

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/21/2014
Daisy Construction Company (“Daisy”) hired Jose Campos in 2008, but it did not verify his social security number despite the availability of e-Verify.   One day while working on a traffic crew, Campos was thrown from the back of a truck and injured his shoulder and back. Campos could not work, and he started receiving total disability benefits. Daisy’s workers’ compensation carrier asked Daisy to investigate Campos’ social security...
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Hiring Practices Come Under Increased Scrutiny

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/19/2014
Two very different recruitment strategies could lead to similar allegations of hiring discrimination. Many employers rely on word-of-mouth to find new applicants. But doing so exclusively could cause legal problems. For example, a Maryland based environmental remediation services contractor recently settled a class action alleging that the company engaged in a pattern or practice of race and sex discrimination in hiring and recruiting field...
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Supreme Court Set to Clarify Issues Surrounding Vesting of Retiree Health Benefits

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/14/2014
On November 10, 2014, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in M & G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, a case that has the potential to reshape significantly the legal landscape of retiree health benefit provisions in collective bargaining agreements (CBA). At issue is the legal framework courts should apply when faced with CBA retiree health benefit cases. There is currently a wide split among several federal circuits on the issue. On the...
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Math Teacher’s Accent-Based Claims of National Origin Discrimination Don’t Add Up

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/11/2014
There is no substitute for effective communication. In Fong v. School Board of Palm Beach County, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit again proved this lesson by upholding a school board’s decision to terminate one of its teachers in part because of her thick accent when speaking English. Ms. Jianxin Fong worked as a math teacher at Boynton Beach High School. Two years after her hiring, in 2008-09, the Palm Beach County School Board...
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More Than A Dollar: $2.3 Million Settlement Between Family Dollar Stores And Nearly 500 Employees

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/07/2014
On October 30, 2014, a Colorado federal court judge granted final approval of a $ 2.3 million settlement between the “Everything’s a Dollar” retail giant and a class of 488 current and former store managers who claimed they were misclassified as exempt employees and denied overtime pay in violation of state law. Under Colorado law, executive or supervisory employees are exempt from overtime pay if they supervise two or more full-time...
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Supreme Court Declines to Hear Baltimore County Pension Case

On November 3, 2014, the United States Supreme Court denied Baltimore County’s petition for review of the Fourth Circuit’s decision which held Baltimore County’s retirement plan violated the ADEA. Balt. Cnty. v. EEOC, No. 14-7, cert. denied 11/3/14. In 1945, Baltimore County established a retirement plan for its employees. The plan provided that employees could retire and receive pension benefits at age 65, regardless of their length of...
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UPS To Deliver Light Duty To Pregnant Employees

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
10/31/2014
In advance of the Supreme Court's oral argument on a former employee's pregnancy discrimination case (Young v. UPS, Inc., U.S. No. 12-1226), United Parcel Service (UPS) has announced that, effective, January 1, 2015, it will make light duty available to pregnant workers with lifting or other restrictions on the same level as it offers to employees who need light duty because of worker's compensation injuries.  In explaining this change in protocol,...
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Election Day Obligations

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
10/28/2014
Next Tuesday, November 4, 2014, many states will be conducting their respective gubernatorial and other elections.  In anticipation of Election Day, employers should review their policies and procedures to ensure employees are provided proper time off to vote, as may be required by applicable law, as well as by stated policy.  While some states do not mandate time off for voting (including the District of  Columbia, Delaware, New Jersey,...
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If You Play Me, You Gotta' Pay Me: NCAA Student-Athletes File FLSA Suit

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
10/23/2014
A former NCAA Division I soccer player at the University of Houston has filed a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action on behalf of herself and other Division I student-athletes. Samantha Sackos sued the NCAA and all of the NCAA Division I member schools, and claims that she should have been classified as a temporary employee of the schools as opposed to an uncompensated student-athlete. The lawsuit, filed this past Monday, can be found...
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Maryland Court Allows Satellite TV Installers Wage & Hours Claims to Proceed

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
10/22/2014
Maryland’s federal court recently permitted a collective action brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to proceed to trial. In Butler, et al. v. Directsat USA, LLC, et. al. Jeffrey Butler filed suit on behalf of himself and other similarly situated satellite installation technicians pursuant to the FLSA, as well as Maryland’s Wage and Hour Law, Maryland’s Wage Payment and Collection Law and the District of Columbia’s Minimum...
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