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

Male Employee's Sexual Comments to Male Coworker Sufficient to Send Harassment Claim to Jury

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

09/07/2018

Sexual Harassment, Virginia Employment Law

Sometimes I read cases that make me realize how boring and uneventful my worklife is compared to the workplaces we read about as employment lawyers and mediators (and that is a good thing). A recent decision from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia drove that point home yet again. In Funk v. MWX Technologies, Inc., No. 6:16-cv-53 (W.D. Va. 8/22/18), Terry Trent and Perry Funk were male co-workers. According to...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/30/2018

FMLA, Temporary Workers, Wage & Hour, Wellness Programs

After going into hibernation during the Obama Administration, opinion letters have reemerged as part of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) efforts to guide employers seeking valuable input about legal compliance and best practices. As the DOL itself explains, these letters are “official, written opinion[s] by WHD on how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by the person or entity requesting the letter.” The...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/24/2018

FMLA, Retaliation

Honeywell International learned the hard way a lesson that comes up regularly with employers: An employee who has had a long-standing problem with X. And X can be anything from tardiness, forgetting to clock out, violating dress code, missing regular internal filing deadlines, or some other consistent deficiency, that is frustrating and warrants discipline, yet for one reason or another (too busy, forgot, not enough staff and need to keep her...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/22/2018

Agency Activity, Workplace Safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to rescind the majority of its contentious electronic reporting requirements. You may recall, back in May 2016, OSHA issued a final rule requiring employers with 250 or more employees to submit electronically Forms 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses), 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and 301 (Injury and...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/15/2018

Business Law, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment

Now more than ever, employers are aware of their obligation to take prompt remedial action in response to complaints of sex harassment. But what happens when the employer’s attempt to placate a complainant through voluntary transfer results in less favorable work conditions? Well, now the complainant has a cause of action for retaliation, explained the First Circuit in Carlson v. Univ. of New England, No. 17-1792 (1st Cir. 8/10/18). In this...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/10/2018

Damages, Employment Discrimination, Sex Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Supervisor Liability

Most of the time, the stories of workplace sexual harassment we hear about consist of conduct occurring between men and women. Yet Title VII’s ban on discrimination because of sex encompasses same-sex harassment in the workplace as well. Such was the lesson learned for a Chicago, Illinois grocery store that had justified the harassment of a male butcher as mere “meat counter culture” in Smith v. Rosebud Farm, Inc., Case No. 17-2626,...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/08/2018

Agency Activity, Labor Law

As some readers may be aware, last year, the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) reversed several Obama-era precedent setting cases bearing standards generally considered favorable to employees. This included The Boeing Company, 365 NLRB No. 154 (2017) (overruling the Lutheran Heritage standard); PCC Structurals, Inc., 365 NLRB No. 160 (2017) (overruling the Specialty Healthcare standard); and Hy-Brand, 365 NLRB No. 156 (2017)...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/06/2018

Wage & Hour

On July 26, 2018, California’s Supreme Court ruled in Troester v. Starbucks Corporation that the FLSA’s de minimus rule does not apply to California wage and hour claims. The FLSA’s de minimus rule is firmly established in federal wage and hour law, and generally provides that insubstantial or insignificant periods of time beyond typical working hours that cannot be precisely recorded may be disregarded. The Ninth Circuit, in which...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/02/2018

Employment Discrimination, Race Discrimination, Religious Discrimination

Recently, a federal magistrate judge in Louisiana denied a motion to dismiss in a case in which the defendant is alleged to have refused to hire a football coach because of his “Jewish blood.” Bonadona v. Louisiana College (W.D. La. July 13, 2018). The case involves Joshua Bonadona, the son of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father. Though Bonadona was raised in the Jewish religion, he converted to Christianity while attending Louisiana College...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/26/2018

Sexual Orientation

On May 10, 2018, a three-judge panel on the Eleventh Circuit (which covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia) affirmed dismissal of an employment discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bostock v. Clayton Cnty. Bd. of Comm’rs, No. 17-13801 (11th Cir. May 10, 2018). The panel concluded that, under Eleventh Circuit precedent, Title VII does not prohibit discrimination based on an employee’s sexual orientation. Id....

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Email Updates

Male Employee's Sexual Comments to Male Coworker Sufficient to Send Harassment Claim to Jury

DOL’s Six Latest Opinion Letters Offer Useful Guidance To Employers

Yes, Really, Honeywell. You Should Not Finally Fire An Employee Who Has Been Chronically Tardy For 12 Years Only After She Files An FMLA Leave Request.

OSHA Signals The End Of The New Electronic Reporting Requirements

First Circuit Holds University's Response To Sex Harassment Is Retaliation

Not Just “Meat Counter Culture”: When Same-Sex Harassment Violates Title VII

NLRB Seeks Input on Non-Work Related Use of Company Email Systems

California Refuses To Adopt FLSA De Minimus Rule

Louisiana Judge Holds That Jewish Heritage Can Be Basis For Race Discrimination Claim

11th Circuit Judge Criticizes Colleagues’ Response To Sexual Orientation Under Title VII

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