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

Federal Appeals Court: Cancer and FMLA Leave No Excuse for Being a Bad Supervisor

Frank Kollman

11/04/2019

The Sixth Circuit, headquartered in Cincinnati, has affirmed a decision that the termination of an employee with cancer following his return from FMLA leave was not a pretext for discrimination. Williams v. Graphic Packaging International, Inc. The employee in question, an upper level supervisor, was apparently mismanaging and intimidating his employees, which only came to light to his boss when the supervisor was out on FMLA leave. Normally,...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

10/31/2019

Disability & Leave

“Being regarded as having” a disability is covered by the ADA. “Being regarded as will be having” a disability is awkward to say -- and not covered by the ADA. This is the conclusion at which the Seventh Circuit recently arrived in Shell v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co., No. 19-1030 (7th Cir. 10/29/19). Shell worked for Corwith Rail Yard when Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) took over operations in 2010. BNSF...

Frank Kollman

10/30/2019

Agency Activity, Wage & Hour

The Department of Labor is reporting that it collected $322 million in back wages for workers in fiscal year 2019, which is a record. The amount collected in fiscal year 2018 was also a record at that time. This should put to rest any concerns about DOL enforcement policies under a Republican administration. Most of the cases involved overtime compensation ($186 million), and about $40 million involved failure to pay minimum wage. In any...

Frank Kollman

10/29/2019

Labor Law

The National Labor Relations Board recently affirmed a decision that an employee's rudeness and disrespect toward his supervisor (in this case the president of the company) did not necessarily warrant termination if the employee is exercising statutory rights. Blue Earth Digital Printing, Inc., 31-CA-133542 (2019). The employee, after a somewhat heated exchange with the employer, said: “I don’t think that you really care about our jobs or...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

10/28/2019

Litigation

People sometimes gripe about having to show up for jury duty. But as an employer, in many states at least, firing an employee for refusing to lie to get out of his jury duty is not the way to go about handling it, as demonstrated by a recent case out of the Fifth Circuit. Simmons v. Pacific Bells, L.L.C., No. 19-60001 (5th Cir. 9/27/19) (unpublished). Simmons worked for Taco Bell in Mississippi as a manager along with the restaurant’s...

Frank Kollman

10/25/2019

Labor Law

When a company purchases another company that has a unionized workforce, there are various rules developed by the National Labor Relations Board to decide the status of the union following the purchase. Generally, the purchaser is not obligated to adopt the Union contract, and it can set whatever rates and benefits it wants for any employees it hires. The purchaser, however, may be obligated to recognize and bargain for a new contract with the...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

10/23/2019

Employment Discrimination

Can an employment agreement entered into at the start of the employment relationship mandate that an employee file any claim she may have under Title VII within six months? Sure. Is it enforceable? Nope, said the Sixth Circuit recently in Logan v. MGM Grand Detroit Casino, No. 18-1381 (9/25/19). Logan worked for MGM Grand Detroit Casino (MGM) as a culinary utility worker. At the start of her employment, she entered into an...

Frank Kollman

10/22/2019

Agency Activity, Hiring Process

The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a conciliation agreement with Wells Fargo & Co. to settle allegations that it discriminated in hiring on the basis of sex and race. The Office of Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) found that Wells Fargo (a federal contractor) had discriminated against 2,066 female applicants for positions as online customer service representatives in Glen Allen, Virginia, and Salt Lake City, Utah, and 282...

Frank Kollman

10/21/2019

Agency Activity, Wage & Hour

The wage and hour laws are complicated, and rarely intuitive. Technical violations of wage and hour laws are so common that no company can be absolutely positive that it is complying with all Department of Labor regulations, and the laws and regulations of states and local jurisdictions. In fact, these laws and regulations are so complicated that even the investigators hired to enforce them often interpret them incorrectly. There are statutes,...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

10/18/2019

Labor Law

As you may recall, under President Obama's National Labor Relations Board, seemingly innocuous work rules set forth in employee handbooks were routinely struck down as violating Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. The pendulum has swung the other way under President Trump's NLRB, as is shown by the Board's recent decision in LA Specialty Produce Company, No. 32-CA-207919 (10/10/19). The case concerned two rules that...

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Email Updates

Federal Appeals Court: Cancer and FMLA Leave No Excuse for Being a Bad Supervisor

Courts of Appeal Shed Light on "Regarded as Disabled" Claims

Employers: Don’t Be Part of the Department of Labor’s Statistics

Determining How Rude An Employee Can Be to the Boss

Firing Employee for Refusal to Get Out of Jury Duty Gives Rise to Wrongful Discharge Clam

NLRB To Review Successor Rule on Bargaining

Sixth Circuit Holds Agreement to Shorten Title VII Statute of Limitations Period Void

Wells Fargo Learns That Hiring Matters Too

Tell Us About Bad Wage and Hour Investigators Says Head of Wage and Hour Division

NLRB Finds Confidentiality and Media Contact Rules Lawful

Email Updates