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So You Think Your Boss is Strange? Check This Out ...

Kollman & Saucier
10/23/2013
Employment Discrimination, Sexual Harassment
On October 16, 2013, a  federal court in Alabama dismissed a sex discrimination claim brought by a female manager who alleged she was unfairly disciplined for sexual harassment while her male co-workers  were allowed  to get away with such behavior. Meyer v. Lincare, Inc. (M.D. Ala. 10/16/13).   The court found that there was no evidence of disparate treatment because the male comparator she identified   was not a manager, nor had he engaged in...
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The Supreme Court’s 2013-14 Labor & Employment Docket

Kollman & Saucier
10/16/2013
Supreme Court Decisions
The Supreme Court began its term last week with eight labor and employment cases on tap. Let’s take a look:  NLRB v. Noel Canning.  This is the case of the term. The Court will review the D.C. Circuit’s decision that President Obama’s January 2012 recess appointments of three National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) members were invalid because they did not occur between Senate sessions and did not fill vacancies that arose during such an...
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First Circuit Rules on FMLA Retaliation Rights for Employees Who Are Not FMLA-Eligible

Kollman & Saucier
10/14/2013
FMLA
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) grants eligible employees the right to take job protected leave.  An employer that denies an employee such rights may be faced with an FMLA “interference” claim.  The FMLA also precludes employers from discriminating or retaliating against employees for exercising those rights, and employers must defend against such “retaliation” claims as well. In the typical retaliation case, an employee subject to...
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USERRA “Reasonable Certainty” Test Applies To Discretionary Promotions

Kollman & Saucier
10/09/2013
Military Leave
In a recent opinion, the First Circuit recognized that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act’s (USERRA) escalator principle applies when a promotion is discretionary.  Rivera-Melendez v. Pfizer Pharm., LLC, No. 12-1023 (1st Cir. Sept. 20, 2013). Luis Rivera-Melendez began working for Pfizer in 1994.  He received several promotions over the next decade, and by 2004, held an hourly, non-exempt position as an active...
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EEOC Gets Slammed Again in Background Check Case

Kollman & Saucier
10/08/2013
Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination
Over the past two years, the EEOC has placed a great deal of emphasis upon challenging employer policies that bar applicants based upon criminal history. In August, the Commission suffered a major setback on this front when a federal court in Maryland dismissed a lawsuit brought by the EEOC because the statistical analysis it relied upon was severely flawed. On October 7, 2013, the EEOC suffered another setback when the United States Court of Appeals...
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The Impact of the Government Shutdown on Employment Law: Part II

Kollman & Saucier
10/05/2013
Agency Activity
As I write this, its 11:00 a.m on a  Saturday  and a number of my colleagues are hard at work with me in the office.  Some of the world is still working, without or without an appropriations bill being passed. As for the feds, here is a brief follow up on the impact of the shutdown as it pertains to employment-related matters: The Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) has determined that it will be “unable to...
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How the Government Shutdown Impacts Employment Matters

Kollman & Saucier
10/02/2013
Agency Activity
As those who recall last federal government shutdown in 1995 can attest, the closing of the federal government has implications for human resources professionals.  Government agencies that make and enforce laws governing the workplace have posted information about their operations (or lack thereof) during the shutdown. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission release states that the agency WILL continue to: 1) docket new charges and federal...
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ADA Does Not Require Reasonable Accommodation To Be Related To Essential Function

Kollman & Saucier
10/01/2013
Disability & Leave, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden
In Feist v. Louisiana, No. 12-31065 (5th Cir. Sept. 16, 2013), the Fifth Circuit concluded that a former employee of the Louisiana Department of Justice (LDOJ) was not required to demonstrate that she needed a designated parking spot in order to perform an essential job function. Pauline Feist, a former assistant attorney general for the LDOJ, sued her former employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), alleging that the LDOJ...
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Termination Letter Citing Employee’s “Medical Reasons” Was Direct Evidence Of Disability Discrimination

Kollman & Saucier
09/27/2013
Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination
A Tennessee federal district court granted summary judgment to an employee on his disability discrimination claim based on a letter confirming that he was terminated for “medical reasons.”  Lovell v. Champion Car Wash, 3:12-00254 (M.D. Tenn. September 3, 2013).  This case is the epitome of how an employer’s untrained approach to employment issues can be damaging. Mr. Lovell worked for a car wash company (Champion), and because of his medical...
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DOL Says Law Firms Need Not Pay Interns Doing Pro Bono Work

Kollman & Saucier
09/25/2013
Agency Activity, Wage & Hour
On September 12, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Solicitor M. Patricia Smith issued a letter to the American Bar Association (“ABA”) stating that interns working in private law firms need to be paid in certain circumstances.  The ABA specifically inquired into situations in which a law school places a student with a private law firm and acts as an intermediary to monitor the internship’s progress, and in which the law firm provides...
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