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

FMLA Case Goes to Jury, Says Tenth Circuit

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/27/2014

Employers who decide to fire an employee for a work rule violation usually feel pretty secure in the decision when the employee has admitted to the infraction. But it is important to remember that, in discrimination or retaliation cases, the real question is “how has the employer treated other employees in similar circumstances?” The need to focus on this “similarly situated” factor, as well as the possible “bad facts” in a case, was...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/23/2014

Employment Discrimination

When the Washington Bullets (remember them?) won the 1978 NBA Championship, Coach Dick Motta inspired fans with the phrase "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings." That phrase came to mind this week when I read about a decision reversing a $1.6 million dollar verdict against CSX Transportation in a race discrimination case. Bennett v. CSX Transportation, 4th Cir. No. 12-2477 ( unpublished 1/21/14). In Bennett, an African-American former...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/21/2014

Litigation

As any employer who has been through a federal court lawsuit can attest, litigation costs make the defense of employment lawsuits a costly proposition. In many cases, the costs of defense are greater than the potential recovery if the employee wins the case. Perhaps the biggest driver of litigation costs is what has become known as "electronic discovery" or "e-discovery." This is the process of preserving, reviewing, and disclosing emails...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/17/2014

Agency Activity, Labor Law, Supreme Court Decisions

It turns out that schoolchildren aren’t the only ones who care about how long recess is. On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, No. 12-1281, a case that is expected to decide how to allocate power between the President and Senate when it comes to recess appointments and could result in the invalidation of hundreds of NLRB decisions . For those unfamiliar with the case, by January 3,...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/15/2014

Employment Discrimination, Litigation

Baiting your supervisor to make racially offensive comments while secretly recording the conversation might seem like a great way to score a big settlement out of your employer. However, that strategy can prove to be something of a double-edged sword -- at least in the eyes of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Johnson v. STRIVE E. Harlem Emp’t Grp., No. 1:12-cv-04460 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 2, 2014). Rob...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/13/2014

Agency Activity, Pregnancy Discrimination

As we have previously reported, on October 1, 2013, the Reasonable Accommodations for Disabilities Due to Pregnancy Act took effect for Maryland employers who have 15 or more employees. The new law requires that, unless an employer can show undue hardship, it must provide pregnant employees with various categories of accommodations upon request, including: changing the employee’s job duties; changing the employee’s work hours; relocating the...

Frank Kollman

01/10/2014

Frank Kollman's Blog

There was a thoughtful piece in the Wall Street Journal today written by Joni Eareckson Tada, who happens to be quadriplegic. She was commenting on a recent "wrongful birth" case and efforts by some legislatures to legalize euthanasia of people with disabilities. I think the following paragraph summarizes her thoughts: This winter, the American Medical Association classified obesity as a disability. We need to make up our minds. We cannot...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/04/2014

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination, Pregnancy Discrimination

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently held that a nursing home’s policy of accommodating only restrictions from work-related incidents could be pretext for pregnancy discrimination. Latowski v. Northwoods Nursing Center, No. 12-2408 (6th Cir. Dec. 23, 2013). Jennifer Latowski was employed as a certified nursing assistant (“CNA”) by Northwoods Nursing Center in Michigan. Her doctor recommended a 50-pound lifting...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

01/02/2014

Employment Discrimination, Sexual Harassment

Just prior to Christmas, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland denied in part a motion to dismiss filed by Ledo’s Pizza & Pasta and permitted a 16 year old plaintiff to move forward on her sexual harassment claims, but not her claims of disparate treatment and national origin discrimination. Lopez v. BMA Corp., No. DKC 13-2406, 2013 BL 354687 (D. Md. Dec. 24, 2013). Plaintiff Rosa Lopez filed suit as parent and...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

12/27/2013

Employment Discrimination

During the past month, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has reached the opposite result in two cases involving claims of associational discrimination — claims where the plaintiff alleges that he was discriminated against because of his association with others of a different race. In Terry v. Yeadon Borough, No. 12-6205 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 13, 2013), the court concluded that the plaintiff’s claims could...

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Email Updates

FMLA Case Goes to Jury, Says Tenth Circuit

Fourth Circuit Overturns $1.6 Million Dollar Verdict in Race Discrimination Case

Federal Courts Considering Revisions to Electronic Discovery Rules

Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Validity of NLRB Recess Appointments

Recording Supervisor's Racially Offensive Remarks Leads to Reduced Jury Verdict

Maryland Commission on Civil Rights Issues Poster for New Pregnancy Discrimination Law

Some Thoughts on the ADA

Nursing Home's Limited Accommodations Deemed Unlawful Pregnancy Discrimination

Maryland Court Allows Sex Harassment Claim Against Ledo's Pizza to Proceed

Two Associational Discrimination Claims Treated Differently By Federal Court In Pennsylvania

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