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

Court Rules Private Settlement Of FLSA Claims May Be Possible

Kollman & Saucier

09/19/2014

A different set of rules applies to settling wage and hours disputes under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Regular contract law does not apply, because the FLSA’s provisions are mandatory and generally are not subject to bargaining, waiver, modification by contract, or even settlement. Stated simply, an employee cannot waive his right to minimum wage or overtime. Therefore, for more than 30 years, since the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in...

Kollman & Saucier

09/17/2014

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

A federal court in North Carolina has ruled that a pharmaceutical company need not provide a legally blind sales representative with a driver as a reasonable accommodation. Stephenson v. Pfizer, Inc. No. 1:13cv147 (M.D.N.C. Sept. 8, 2014) Whitney Stephenson worked for Pfizer as a pharmaceutical sales representative. Stephenson’s job required her to meet with physicians to sell Pfizer products. She typically met with eight to ten physicians a...

Kollman & Saucier

09/11/2014

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

Even under the best of circumstances, most of us view rental car counters the way we view airport security: essential to get where we are going, but not a place we want to spend more time than absolutely necessary. The circumstances of one Hawaii rental car counter as described recently in Assaturian v. Hertz Motor Corp. provide a particularly memorable, messy example of this phenomenon. John Assaturian was a long-time Hertz employee who served from...

Kollman & Saucier

09/10/2014

Employment Discrimination

Remedying a problem in the wrong way may end up creating more problems for an employer than it solves. In EEOC v. New Prime, Inc., a federal court in Missouri held in that an employer’s policy enacted in response to an earlier sexual harassment suit brought against it was facially discriminatory on the basis of sex. New Prime, Inc. (“Prime”), an interstate trucking company, requires its drivers to have or to acquire a Commercial...

Kollman & Saucier

09/05/2014

Agency Activity, Wellness Programs

Wellness plans have been around for quite some time, and in varying forms. Employers are, more often and with regularity, implementing some category of wellness plan for multiple reasons: healthier workforce, better attendance and productivity, higher morale, lower health insurance costs, and the like. Indeed, the Affordable Care Act permits employers to offer financial incentives to employees to encourage participation in these programs. The...

Darrell VanDeusen

08/27/2014

FMLA

The DOL’s FMLA Regulations are pretty clear on when you can take action against an employee for failing to provide medical certification. Section 825.305(d) provides that: “At the time the employer requests certification, the employer must also advise an employee of the anticipated consequences of an employee’s failure to provide adequate certification.” 29 C.F.R. § 825.305(d). FedEx recently learned the hard – and expensive – way from...

Kollman & Saucier

08/25/2014

Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination

On August 19, 2014, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued guidance concerning enforcement actions for gender or transgender discrimination. This guidance follows up on President Obama’s Executive Order 13672, which added gender identity and sexual orientation as protected categories in federal employment and contracting. The DOL guidance makes clear that the OFCCP – the agency charged with...

Kollman & Saucier

08/20/2014

Labor Law

On August 14th, the National Labor Relations Board reversed an Administrative Law Judge’s decision dismissing an unfair labor practice against Philips Electronics. The NLRB’s three member panel ruled that Philips’ unwritten rule prohibiting employees from discussing discipline was an impermissible restraint on employee speech. Philips Electronics North America Corporation and Lee Craft, Case 26-CA-085613 (August 14, 2014). The Philips matter...

Kollman & Saucier

08/18/2014

Disability & Leave

In a strange case from the district of Oregon, a Catholic preschool teacher with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (“OCD”) claimed that her employer, Sisters of St. Mary Oregon Ministries Corporation, refused to accommodate her disability. Doby v. Sisters of St. Mary of Or. Ministries Corp., D. Or., No. 13-00977, 8/11/14 According to the court, Doby’s OCD made her believe that Mormon’s are “contaminated.” Apparently, her OCD-induced...

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Email Updates

Court Rules Private Settlement Of FLSA Claims May Be Possible

Blind Sales Representative Not Entitled To A Driver As An Accommodation

This Workplace Really is Going to the Dogs

Same Sex Trainer Policy for Truck Drivers Runs Afoul of Title VII

Wellness Plans - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished?

Failure to Follow FMLA Rule Costs FedEx Big Time

DOL Issues Guidance Concerning Gender Identity and Transgender Status

Informal Rule Prohibiting Discipline Discussions Held To Be Unfair Labor Practice

Teacher Who Refused Fitness-For-Duty Exam Has No Disability Accommodation Claim

Email Updates