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

Maryland Judge Dismisses Discrimination and Retaliation Claims

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/06/2013

On May 1, 2013, Maryland’s newest federal judge, George Levi Russell, III, dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former employee of a kidney dialysis clinic near Baltimore. In Ezeh v. Bio-Med. Applications of Md., No. 11-3411 (D. Md. 2013), Judge Russell granted summary judgment to the employer and dismissed plaintiff’s claims of retaliation and race and national origin discrimination. The plaintiff, Perpetua Ezeh, is of Nigerian descent and worked...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/16/2013

Legislative Developments

Citing the lack of paid sick days for workers, and the associated costs of sick workers showing up for work, Senator Tom Harkin (D–Iowa) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D–Connecticut) on March 20, 2013 reintroduced the Healthy Families Act (Sen. 631 and H.R. 1286). The bill would allow workers to accumulate up to 56 hours of paid sick time to be used when they or family members were ill. The bill was first introduced in 2004. Affecting...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/15/2013

Employment Discrimination

Generally speaking, in order to state a claim for a hostile work environment claim, the employee must demonstrate conduct that creates an “objective hostile or abuse work environment.” Ordinarily, this requires demonstrating that the workplace is “permeated with discriminatory intimidations, ridicule and insults” to the point that it is so severe and pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment. Isolated racial...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/12/2013

Employment Discrimination, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment

A federal appeals court recently held that an employer was not liable for sexual harassment to an employee who complained only about harassment, not sex-based harassment. Medina-Rivera v. MVM Inc., No. 11-2419 (1st Cir. April 10, 2013). In 2008, Estrella Medina-Rivera worked as a part-time detention officer for MVM, Inc., a security company in Puerto Rico. In October 2008, Medina complained to her supervisor that an unnamed federal agent with...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/11/2013

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination, FMLA, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden, Retaliation, State Law

In Anderson v. Discovery Communications, 8:08-cv-02424, 2013 WL 1364345 (4th Cir. Apr. 5, 2013), the Fourth Circuit affirmed a decision from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland granting summary judgment to Discovery and a cadre of individual defendants on claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Montgomery County Human Rights Act (MCHRA), and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Though unremarkable in and of...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

04/10/2013

Disability & Leave

A Pennsylvania newspaper soundly defeated a partially deaf former employee’s claims of gender and disability discrimination in federal court. Mengel v. Reading Eagle Co., No. 11-6151, (E.D. Pa. Mar. 28, 2013) Christine Mengel had worked at Reading Eagle Company since 1999 as a copy editor and page designer, receiving satisfactory performance evaluations between 2001 and 2008. In 2007, Mengel became completely deaf in her left ear and developed...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

03/20/2013

Age Discrimination, Public Sector Employment Law

This past Monday, March 18, 2013, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Madigan v. Levin, an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) case from the Seventh Circuit. In Madigan, the issue is whether state and local government employees can bring age discrimination claims directly under the Equal Protection Clause through Section 1983. The Seventh Circuit’s opinion conflicts with that of the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, each of...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

03/20/2013

Employment Discrimination, Litigation, Sexual Harassment

Under Title VII, an employee suing for discrimination or retaliation must first file an administrative charge of discrimination with the EEOC or a state or local fair employment practices agency. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that the employer is put on notice of the allegations, and that the administrative agency is given a chance to investigate, before an employee pursues the case in court. Because of this requirement, one issue...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

03/13/2013

Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination

On January 29, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) issued Directive 306, “Complying with Nondiscrimination Provisions: Criminal Record Restrictions and Discrimination Based on Race and National Origin.” Effective upon its issuance, Directive 306 applies to all covered federal contractors and subcontractors, and requires contractors to carefully tailor the use of an applicant’s...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

03/06/2013

Employment Discrimination, Retaliation

The Fourth Circuit recently issued an opinion addressing employment discrimination allegations raised by three former female employees of Virginia Tech University. In Maron v. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, No. 12-1146 (4th Cir. Jan. 31, 2013) (unpublished), the plaintiffs claimed that Virginia Tech violated the Equal Pay Act (EPA) when the University paid female employees less than males employees performing the same work. ...

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Email Updates

Maryland Judge Dismisses Discrimination and Retaliation Claims

Sick Pay Law Reintroduced

Stray Remark Overturns Summary Judgment in D.C. Circuit

No Employer Liability For Sexual Harassment If Employee Doesn’t Complain About Sex-Based Conduct

Employer’s Consistent Explanation for Discharging Employee Defeats Discrimination Claims

Partial Deafness Not A Disability Under The ADAAA

Supreme Court To Decide Age Discrimination Claims For Government Employees

Fourth Circuit Limits Scope of EEOC Charge

New Federal Guidelines for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors in Considering Criminal Records

Former Virginia Tech Employees’ Title VII and Equal Pay Act Claims Remain Viable

Email Updates