Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

NLRB Extends Protection to Lying and Using Vulgar Language at Work

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/28/2012
Labor Law
On September 19, 2012, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continued its assault on an employer’s right to set and enforce reasonable workplace rules.  This time, the target was a mean-spirited employer who had to gall to fire an employee who scrawled profanities on newsletters left in a break room and then lied to an investigator when asked if he had done it.  Because the conduct occurred in the context of a union decertification...
read more

Buttocks Slap Not Harassment; Complaint Not Protected Activity; Termination Not Retaliation. Really.

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
09/27/2012
Employment Discrimination, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment
It is football season, so apparently it is time to revisit the issue of the workplace buttocks slap.  Justice Scalia noted in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, 523 U.S. 75 (1998), when discussing whether an employee might find certain workplace behavior “objectionably offensive,” that a professional football player would not be embarrassed or harassed if his coach smacks him on the buttocks as he heads out onto the field.  This same...
read more

90 Day Right to Sue Requirement Runs from Time Lawyer Got Notice, First Circuit Says

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
09/26/2012
Employment Discrimination, Litigation
It’s pretty well recognized that a plaintiff needs to file a lawsuit within 90 days of her receipt of a notice of right to sue from the EEOC.  The timing requirement applies even if the recipient was not the plaintiff, but the plaintiff’s lawyer, according to the First Circuit.   Affirming summary judgment to Fondo del Seguro del Estado, Puerto Rico’s State Insurance Fund, the court held that Advilda Loubriel did not present sufficient...
read more

You Can’t Have Your Sex Harassment Cake and Eat It Too …

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/21/2012
Employment Discrimination, Sexual Harassment
In order for a plaintiff in a sex harassment case to prevail on a claim of hostile work environment sex harassment, the employee must show that the offensive behavior was unwelcome.  On September 17, 2012, a federal court in Illinois relied upon this principle of law to reject a harassment claim brought by a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee.   Jacober v. Dept. of Agriculture, No. 3:10-cv-00422 (S.D. Ill. 2012).  In Jacober, an employee...
read more

New York Expands Scope of Permissible Employer Deductions from Wages

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/19/2012
Agency Activity, Legislative Developments, Wage & Hour
For almost 50 years, New York has had one of the most restrictive state laws on deductions from wages.  Under Labor Law Section 193, wage deductions were permissible only when required by law or limited to “payments for insurance premiums, pension or health or welfare benefits, contributions to charitable organizations, payments for United States bonds, payments for dues or assessments to a labor organization, and similar payments for the benefit...
read more

Tenth Circuit Holds that ADA Title II Does Not Apply to Employment Claims

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
09/14/2012
Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination
There is a Circuit split regarding whether Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to employment discrimination claims.  Compare Zimmerman v. Oregon DOJ, 170 F.3d 1169, 1182–84 (9th Cir. 1999) (does not) with Bledsoe v. Palm Beach Cty. Soil & Water Conservation Dist., 133 F.3d 816 (11th Cir. 1998) (does too).  In the 1990s, other Circuits generally applied Title II to employment discrimination claims without analysis. ...
read more

NLRB Places New Restrictions on Social Media Policies

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/14/2012
Agency Activity, Labor Law, Social Media
As readers of this blog know, the National Labor Relations Board’s Acting General Counsel has had employer social media policies in his proverbial crosshairs for the past 18 months. Over that time period, the Acting General Counsel issued three Reports outlining his views on the legality of employer social media policies, generally finding them to be unlawful when the policy used generalized language to prohibit employees from making critical...
read more

Working From Home Is Not Necessarily A Reasonable Accommodation

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
09/14/2012
Disability & Leave
A federal district court in Michigan has granted summary judgment to an employer that denied an employee’s request to work at home because of her irritable bowel syndrome. EEOC v. Ford Motor Co., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128200 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 10, 2012). This case was brought under the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA), which significantly expanded the scope of protections for disabled. Even so, the decision shows that the law still...
read more

What Did You Learn in School Today Johnny? Oh, That’s Right, There’s No School...

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
09/12/2012
Labor Law, Public Sector Employment Law
So, school is out for children in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) - the nation’s third largest school district - and it looks like it will be for the foreseeable future. The Chicago Teachers Union continues to strike and has stated that, despite the offer of a huge 16% pay increase over four years, the parties are far apart in reaching a contract. It has been 25 years since there was a teacher strike in Chicago. Even more interesting, the union...
read more

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Will Target Hiring and Recruitment Discrimination

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/10/2012
Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination
On September 4, 2012, the EEOC released its Draft Strategic Enforcement Plan for 2012-2016, and identified numerous high priority agenda items for the Plan.  Chasing systemic recruiting and hiring discrimination will be the agency’s first priority, and specifically identified pre-employment tests, background screens and date of birth screens in online applications as employment practices of particular interest. Its second priority is protecting...
read more
Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.