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

Pregnancy Discrimination, Aisle 12? Maybe Not.

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/22/2022

Pregnancy has been in the news a lot this year, mostly due to the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. ___ (2022), which overturned Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). The Dobbs decision impacts employers, but I will save that discussion for another day. Today we will revisit the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978, and a recent decision from the Seventh Circuit that held Walmart...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/18/2022

Monkeypox

The recent outbreak of monkeypox creates an issue for employers whose employees, especially healthcare workers, are more susceptible to contracting the virus. First, what is monkeypox? Per the CDC, monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. The monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, and...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/17/2022

Drug Testing, Medical/Legal Marijuana, State Law

The D.C. Mayor signed the Cannabis Employment Protections Amendment Act of 2022, which prohibits adverse employment actions against marijuana/cannabis users for most off-duty use, with certain exceptions. Once the Congressional review period occurs, the law will become effective once its fiscal impact is included in an approved budget and financial plan, or 365 days after the Mayor approves the Act, whichever is later (so, at least a year from...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/03/2022

Restrictive Covenants

In 2021, the District of Columbia City Council enacted the Ban on Non-Compete Amendments Act of 2020. The law was slated to prohibit the use and enforcement of non-compete agreements for nearly all employees working in D.C., with limited exceptions. The law would also prohibit anti-moonlighting and other workplace policies that bar an employee from performing work for another employer, even if a direct competitor, or operating their own...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/02/2022

Sexual Harassment, Virginia Employment Law

In a recent decision, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the difficult circumstances in which special education teacher often operate and how that environment can intersect with protections against workplace discrimination and harassment. The case, according to the court, brought “to light the difficult balance that schools must find between ensuring that all students have access to a public school education while simultaneously...

Vincent Jackson

07/29/2022

State Law, Wage & Hour

Earlier this month, the Court of Appeals held that the federal Portal-to-Portal Act--which provides that time spent by workers traveling to and from work is not compensable--has not been implicitly adopted into Maryland law. Put another way, Maryland law does not define “compensable work” to exclude travel time. At issue in the case--which was actually two separate cases consolidated for purposes of the appeal--was whether construction workers...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/27/2022

Disability & Leave, Virginia Employment Law

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia recently dismissed a claim of hostile work environment under the Rehabilitation Act. Katz v. Department of Justice, No. 1:20-cv-554 (June 20, 2022). In dismissing the case, Judge Ellis found that the plaintiff's own pleadings doomed his claim. The plaintiff was employed as a Special Agent for the DEA from May 1996 until April 2020. In 2017, Katz was diagnosed with a brain...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/22/2022

Employment Discrimination

While claims of employment discrimination are somewhat commonplace, it is far less common to see cases of discrimination based on color. In Felder v MGM National Harbor, No. 20-2373, the United States Court of Appeals for the Court Circuit reversed a trial court and allowed a claim of color discrimination to proceed beyond the Motion to Dismiss stage. The case arose when the plaintiff, Britney Felder, filed suit alleging that she was...

Vincent Jackson

07/22/2022

Agency Activity, Sexual Orientation

A federal judge in Tennessee took the rare step of issuing a preliminary injunction to block the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from issuing guidance regarding employment discrimination based upon sexual orientation or gender identity. The case stems from the EEOC’s attempt to implement the Supreme Court’s landmark 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination applied to...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/13/2022

Employee Benefits, State Law

Maryland employers need to be aware that, effective September 1, 2022, certain employers must set up a mandatory retirement program for employees. In 2016, the Maryland General Assembly passed House Bill 1378 creating the Maryland Small Business Retirement Savings Program and Trust, or “MarylandSaves” for short. Initially planned to go into effect in 2020, but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the law creates an obligation on employers...

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Email Updates

Pregnancy Discrimination, Aisle 12? Maybe Not.

Monkeypox: "Hey COVID. Hold My Beer."

District of Columbia Enacts Employment Protections for Marijuana Users

D.C. Scales Back Non-Compete Ban

Disabled Student’s Inappropriate Touching Did Not Create a Hostile Work Environment

Court of Appeals Holds that Maryland Law Does Not Implicitly Adopt Federal Portal-to-Portal Act

Court Dismisses Hostile Work Environment Claim

Fourth Circuit Allows Claim of Color Discrimination to Advance

Federal Judge Halts EEOC Guidance on Protections for LGBTQ Employees

MarylandSaves: A Private Employer Retirement Savings Program, Launches September 1, 2022

Email Updates