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

Seventh Circuit Weighs In On Obesity Disability Debate

Kollman & Saucier

06/19/2019

Disability & Leave, Fitness For Duty Evaluations, obesity

In general, federal appellate courts addressing obesity claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have held that absent an underlying physiological disorder, obesity is not a disability. However, EEOC guidance suggests, and some lower courts have concluded, that morbid obesity alone is an impairment under the ADA. In a recent case, Richardson v. Chicago Transit Authority, Nos. 17-3508 and 18-2199 (7th Cir. 6/12/19), the Seventh Circuit...

Kollman & Saucier

06/14/2019

Public Sector Employment Law, Sovereign Immunity, State Law

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Maryland's employment discrimination statute (FEPA), Md. Code Ann., St. Gov't § 20-601 et seq., does not waive the State's immunity to be sued in federal court under that law for alleged employment discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation. In Pense v. Maryland Dept' of Public Safety and Correctional Services, No. 18-1554 (4th Cir. June 11, 2019), the appellate court concluded that the State...

Kollman & Saucier

06/11/2019

State Law, Workplace Safety

In the past three months, four states [Florida, New Mexico, South Dakota and Minnesota] have put in place no vaping laws for most indoor workplaces. Wisconsin may become the fifth, with a bill introduced last month that seeks to expand its no workplace smoking ban to include vaping and e-cigarettes. Thus far, 17 states have general workplace bans on vaping and e-cigarettes, including our neighbors D.C. and Delaware. Maryland presently does not...

Kollman & Saucier

06/06/2019

Pretext, Race Discrimination

Peggy Gordon worked for Holy Cross Hospital Germantown, Inc. from April 2012 until February 2017. Gordon had a spotless employment record until an incident on February 22, 2017. That evening, when Gordon went to draw blood from a patient, the patient refused to let her do so and asked for another nurse. Gordon stopped the procedure, apologized to the patient, and left the room. She also reported to the charge nurse that the patient was upset...

Kollman & Saucier

06/03/2019

Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies, Supreme Court Decisions

The Supreme Court held today in a unanimous opinion that the charge-filing requirement in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is not jurisdictional. Fort Bend County, Texas v. Davis, No. 18-525 (June 3, 2019). Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, as well as retaliation against those who engage in protected activity. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(a)(1); § 2000e–3(a)....

Kollman & Saucier

05/28/2019

Restrictive Covenants, Virginia Employment Law

Restrictive covenants in employment agreements are often hotly contested, and can be difficult for employers to enforce. The Circuit Court of Fairfax County recently addressed the complexities of these agreements in ruling that a non-solicitation and non–disclosure agreement was enforceable, while a non-competition provision was not. Omnisec International Investigations, Inc., et. al. v. Slavica Stone, et. al., CL 2018-6368 (March...

Darrell VanDeusen

05/22/2019

FMLA

Another “head-shaker” case from FMLA land. Section 825.303(a) of the DOL’s regulations on requesting FMLA leave provides that when an unforeseen need for FMLA leave arises, “an employee must provide notice to the employer as soon as practicable . . . within the time prescribed by the employer's usual and customary notice requirements applicable to such leave." 29 C.F.R. § 825.303(a) (emphasis added). But what happens when the employer has...

Darrell VanDeusen

05/20/2019

Employer Liability, FMLA

I have been updating my book on the FMLA/Wage & Hour Law (available through LexisNexis). But enough gratuitous self-promotion. The point is that in doing so I get to read a whole mess of recent FMLA decisions. A few of them make me shake my head at the decision-making skills of some members of our species. I share one of those with you, dear reader. It would seem self-evident, but employers sometimes forget that the concept of leave...

Kollman & Saucier

05/15/2019

Employment Discrimination

In Figueroa v. Pompeo, No. 18-5064 (D.C. Cir. 5/10/2019), the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that an employer cannot meet its burden to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its action with vague assertions about the reasons for an adverse employment action. Richard Figueroa was employed by the U.S. Department of State (the “Department”) as a foreign service officer. He applied for...

Kollman & Saucier

05/10/2019

Employment Discrimination, Independent Contractors

To build on my colleague Vince Jackson’s recent post about the Department of Labor’s distinction between independent contractors and employees, teasing out whether an individual is (or was) a company’s employee who is generally covered by equal employment opportunity laws, or an independent contractor who is not covered, is an often difficult but critically important issue in handling employment litigation. This week, a federal court of...

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Seventh Circuit Weighs In On Obesity Disability Debate

State Of Maryland Cannot Be Sued In Federal Court For State Law Discrimination Claims

Vaping and E-Cigarette Use Increasingly Included In "No Smoking" In The Workplace Bans

Hospital Dodges Discrimination Claim Despite “Unfair” Termination

Supreme Court Holds That Title VII’s Charge-Filing Requirement Is Not Jurisdictional

Virginia Court Enforces Narrowly Drawn Restrictive Covenants

Follow The Company Rule To Request FMLA. No, The Other One.

Requiring Employee to Work While on FMLA: Bad idea. Duh.

U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Joins Other Circuits Rejecting Vague Explanations From Employers

Surgeon Is Not Hospital Employee For Title VII Purposes, Seventh Circuit Holds

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