10th Circuit Affirms SOX Whistleblower Ruling

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/08/2013
On June 4, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit affirmed a ruling by the United States Department of Labor's Administrative  Review Board and held that Lockheed Martin violated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) by constructively discharging an employee after she complained about an executive who allegedly had sexual affairs with soldiers she met through the company's pen-pal program.  Lockheed Martin Corp. v. ARB, 10th Cir...
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Employee Who Refused To Cooperate In Employer’s Investigation Cannot Recover For Sexual Harassment

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/05/2013
The Fourth Circuit recently dismissed the sexual harassment claim of an employee who brought a vague complaint of “horrible” conduct to her human resources department, but refused to cooperate in her employer’s efforts to investigate.  Crockett v. Mission Hosp. Inc., No. 12-1910 (4th Cir. May 30, 2013). Stephanie Crockett worked for Mission Hospital as a radiologic technologist.  Her supervisor, Harry Kemp, issued her a final warning for...
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Chambers USA Recognizes Kollman & Saucier as One of Maryland’s Top Employment Law Firms

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/24/2013
On May 24th, 2013, Chambers and Partners announced that Kollman and Saucier has once again been ranked as one of the top management-side labor and employment firms in Maryland.  This is the tenth consecutive year that our attorneys have been honored by Chambers as one of the premier firms in the region.  Significantly, our 13 attorney firm  outranked a number of much larger law firms. According to Chambers: “This practice is well placed to...
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Maryland Employers Required To Provide “Light Duty” And Other Reasonable Accommodations For Pregnant Temporarily Disabled Employees

One of the biggest changes coming to Maryland employers with 15 or more employees will last more than 9 months.   Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law the requirement that employers provide to pregnant employees certain reasonable accommodations beyond those presently required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA).  Under the Reasonable Accommodations for Disabilities Due to Pregnancy Act,...
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Have A Coke And A Smile . . . And A Fitness For Duty Evaluation

In a recent decision, the Eleventh Circuit concluded that the Coca-Cola Company acted lawfully when it required an employee to undergo a “fitness for duty” evaluation where the inquiry was both job-related and consistent with business necessity.  Owusu-Ansah v. Coca-Cola Co., No. 11-13663 (11th Cir. May 8, 2013) Franklin Owusu-Ansah began working for Coca-Cola in 1999 at the company’s Dunwoody, Georgia call center.  Owusu-Ansah performed...
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Maryland Governor Signs New Law to Enforce Wage Claims

Last week, Maryland Gov. O'Malley signed into law the "Lien for Unpaid Wages Act." This new law, SB 758, allows employees to file a lien against their employer’s real or personal property for unpaid wages allegedly due them. Once the employee files a lien, the employer must file a complaint setting forth its defenses in the Circuit Court where the employer's property is located within 30 days. If the employer fails to do so, the employee will have...
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GINA Gets Her First Class Action Suit

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/19/2013
The Genetic Information and Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was enacted in 2008 and became effective for employment purposes on November 21, 2009.  GINA makes it unlawful for an employer to “request, require, or purchase” an individual’s genetic information, which includes the “manifestation of a disease or disorder” in the individuals’ family members.  While there is a sizeable list of prohibitions that GINA has put in place, the biggest...
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A Fresh Blog

Frank Kollman
Frank Kollman
05/17/2013
Yesterday, our new website went “live.”  I want to thank John Armistead of Armistead Technologies for his many years as our webmaster (and designer of our prior website).  Armistead Technologies specializes in reverse engineering (you can look it up), and John had reduced the number of websites he managed over the past few years to devote more time to his core business.  Our new webmaster will continue the high quality website that John...
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Bank is Not Joint Employer of Security Guards Under FLSA

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/16/2013
In today’s workplace, most employers rely upon outside vendors to supply security services. What employers may not know is that the fact that the security guards are not their own employees does not necessarily mean that the employer is not liable for violations of employment laws. The answer to the liability question turns in large part on how much control the employer has over the terms of employment for the guards. On May 14, 2013, a federal...
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Twenty-Fifth Anniversary

Frank Kollman
Frank Kollman
05/10/2013
On May 2, 1988, Pete Rose was suspended 30 days for pushing an ump, the Orioles signed a 15-year lease to stay in Baltimore, and I put up a handwritten sign on the 8th Floor of the Sun Life Building to announce that K&S was open for business.  My partner joined me six days later, and with one computer, one printer, telephones (no mobile phones yet) and temporary office space (we moved to the 9th Floor several weeks later), we started a new law...
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