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

NLRB Union Protests Board Chair and GC

Darrell VanDeusen

11/12/2018

The National Labor Relations Board, we are told, is supposed to be the neutral government agency that addresses workplace issues between unions and employers. And I saw a pink unicorn on the way to work this morning. It is not unusual to hear employers sometimes suggest they are skeptical of the Board’s supposed “neutral” stance. A number of decisions coming from the NLRB during the Obama presidency could be characterized as...

Kollman & Saucier

11/07/2018

Age Discrimination, Gender Identity, Legislative Developments, Medical/Legal Marijuana, State Law, Wage & Hour

As votes in yesterday’s elections continue to be tallied, there were several developments of interest to employers and to labor and employment practitioners alike. Age: The ADEA Applies To Public Sector Employers Of All Sizes First, yesterday morning, the Supreme Court announced its first decision of the 2018-19 term. In a unanimous (8-0) ruling, the Court held in Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act...

Kollman & Saucier

11/02/2018

Legislative Developments, State Law, Wage & Hour

You may recall that earlier this year, voters in the District of Columbia passed an initiative (Initiative 77) that would have increased the minimum wage for tipped employees (who predominantly work in the restaurant, hotel, and retail service industries) incrementally up to $15.00 an hour by 2025. Recently, however, the D.C. Council changed course by passing the Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018 (the "Act"). Most directly, the...

Kollman & Saucier

10/27/2018

Employment Discrimination

Earlier this year, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. appealed the Sixth Circuit’s decision against it that found that “sex” discrimination under Title VII encompasses “gender identity” discrimination. The case was brought by Aimee Stephens, a transgender former funeral home director, whom the funeral home terminated a few weeks after she announced that she intended transition to a woman. The funeral home maintained that...

Kollman & Saucier

10/24/2018

Medical/Legal Marijuana

Last year, I blogged about Maryland’s medical marijuana law and its potential implications on drug-free workplaces and drug testing policies. Although Maryland courts (still) have not addressed the questions in the employment law context, courts in other jurisdictions with medical marijuana statutes have issued rulings that could provide insight on some of the issues. Recently, a federal district court in New Jersey did just this in...

Kollman & Saucier

10/17/2018

Wrongful Discharge

Most employers are well-versed in statutory laws which prohibit termination of an employee for reasons such as a discrimination or retaliation. But its lesser known that some states like Maryland have a catch-all cause of action for situations where an employee claims her termination violates public policy, but no statute provides a remedy. Under those circumstances, an employee can sue for wrongful discharge, which is what occurred recently in...

Kollman & Saucier

10/12/2018

Disability & Leave, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden

A Mercedes Benz dealership in Seattle violated the Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) and Washington state disability law when it denied its finance director the chance to return to work after his surgery for vocal chord cancer. The federal jury awarded the employee nearly $5 million. Troy Coachman worked for Seattle Auto Management, Inc. as a finance director. His lawsuit alleges he was a top producer, generating...

Kollman & Saucier

10/11/2018

Agency Activity, Labor Law

On September 14, 2018, the NLRB's Office of General Counsel (OGC) issued a handful of advice memos, several of which are summarized here: The misclassification of employees as independent contractors violates the NLRA because misclassification has and will operate as a restraint on, and interference with, the individuals' exercise of their Section 7 rights. Telemundo Television Studios, LLC (June 13, 2017). Just like employees, independent...

Kollman & Saucier

10/03/2018

Legislative Developments, State Law

On October 1, 2018, several new employment laws take effect in Maryland. A previous blog post addressed new general contractor liability for its subcontractors’ failure to pay the subcontractors’ own employees. Under the new law, subcontractors’ employees can sue not only the subcontractor for wage claims, but also the general contractor, who likely has no knowledge of or control over the subcontractors’ pay practices. The general...

Kollman & Saucier

10/01/2018

Age Discrimination

To prevail on a claim of discriminatory termination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), an employee must show that he was meeting job expectations. Moreover, even if an employee can establish a prima facie case, an employer can prevail by showing that the personnel decision was made for a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason. In an age discrimination discharge case, the plaintiff must prove that, but-for his age, he would not...

< 1 … 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 … 129 >

Email Updates

NLRB Union Protests Board Chair and GC

Age and Wage Issues Among Many Resolved On Election Day

D.C. Creates New Training And Reporting Obligations For Employers With Tipped Employees

Parties Seek Supreme Court Guidance on Transgender Identity Discrimination

Marijuana Law Does Not Compel Employer To Waive Its Drug-Testing Policy

Maryland Employee Terminated For Failure To Follow Company Policy Can Proceed On Wrongful Discharge Claim

Jury Decides That Mercedes Benz Did Not Deliver The Best To A Former Employee With Cancer

NLRB's Office of General Counsel Issues More Advice Memoranda

New Maryland Employment Laws That Took Effect October 1

Former Pepsi Employee’s ADEA Claim Fizzles Out

Email Updates