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

Appellate Court Rules Employee Can Sue City of Alexandria as Joint Employer Under FMLA

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

06/09/2017

Employment Discrimination, FMLA, Virginia Employment Law

It is no secret that businesses today are increasingly outsourcing human resources functions in an effort to cut costs. But absent careful planning, the outsourcing employer may still bear legal liability for workplace discrimination issues. Here’s what the Fourth Circuit had to say about the subject in a case decided this week. Quintana v. City of Alexandria, et al., No. 16-1630 (4th Cir. 6/6/17). The case arose from the City of...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

06/06/2017

Employment Discrimination

Maryland employers will welcome a decision last week by a local federal court holding a plaintiff’s checking the box on an EEO charge is not enough to pursue the claim in court. (Wallace v. Bd. of Educ. of Calvert Ct’y, No. PX 16-3242, 5/31/17). In this case, Plaintiff Wallace was a substitute bus driver for Calvert County Public Schools. Her complaint alleged that she was forced to take time off for stress and anxiety due to ongoing...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

06/02/2017

Legislative Developments, Paid Leave, State Law

We reported two months ago here that Maryland's General Assembly had passed veto-proof sick leave legislation, the Healthy Working Families Act, which would have guaranteed sick leave to most employees working in Maryland. Governor Hogan, however, vetoed that bill calling the bill "deeply flawed" and "job-killing." That done, Governor Hogan made clear he favors a viable compromise with the General Assembly before January 2018, when the legislation...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/31/2017

Sexual Orientation

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to let its full panel determine whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of an individual's sexual orientation. Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., No. 15-3775 (2d Cir. May 25, 2017) (en banc review granted). As we wrote about last month, the full Seventh Circuit concluded in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana (7th Cir. 2017), in an 8-3...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/29/2017

Employee Benefits, Employer Liability

On May 22, 2017, the Department of Labor issued updated guidance for the fiduciary rule. You will remember that the fiduciary rule imposes certain obligations on investment advisors, and deems them fiduciaries towards their customers. The rule goes into effect on June 9, 2017, with a transition period until January 1, 2018. At that time, further requirements take effect. For those advisors who have not yet familiarized themselves with the new...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/24/2017

Labor Law

A recent decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board demonstrates that sometimes an employee can go too far, and that termination is a proper remedy for improper conduct. BHC Northwest Psychiatric Hospital, LLC; cases nos. 04-CA-164465, 04-CA-174166, May 15, 2017. BHC operates an in-patient facility that provides mental health services. The charging party was part of a bargaining unit of staff and charge nurses. Mental health...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/19/2017

Business Law

Shane Jones was a mechanic for Needham Trucking, LLC (Needham) for approximately seven months in 2014. Jones alleged that Needham fired him because he refused to have sex with his direct supervisor, who was also a shareholder of the Company. Jones v. Needham, No. 16-6156 (10th Cir. May 12, 2017). In filings with the EEOC, Jones claimed sex discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment. Jones also stated that another mechanic -- who did...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/16/2017

Labor Law

President Trump recently announced the two individuals he will nominate to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The announcement, covered in a prior blog entry, is the next step in changing the trajectory of the NLRB from its heavy employee tilt toward a more employer-friendly outlook. Until the two new members are confirmed and the NLRB begins issuing decisions altering the labor law landscape created by President Obama’s NLRB, employers...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/11/2017

Agency Activity, Labor Law

According to sources with access to the White House, President Trump plans to nominate two Republican attorneys to the NLRB by June, and to have them confirmed by the Senate before its August recess. The nominees, Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel, would fill the two vacant slots on the Board and give agency a Republican majority. Emanuel is a management-side employment lawyer with Littler Mendelson in Los Angeles. According to the...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

05/05/2017

Legislative Developments, Wage & Hour

Comp-time is a common practice in the public sector and has been regularly used by public sector employees since the FLSA was amended in 1985. It is available in the private sector too, but the requirements in place for an employer to do it right make it nearly impossible to use. Which is why private sector employers who want to follow the law don’t often try to use it. An effort is taking place in Congress to amend the FLSA. The Working...

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Email Updates

Appellate Court Rules Employee Can Sue City of Alexandria as Joint Employer Under FMLA

Maryland Federal Court Rules Exhaustion of Disability Claim Requires More than Checking a Box

Maryland Sick Leave Bill Has Died, For Now

Full Second Circuit Joins The "Does Title VII Prohibit Sexual Orientation Bias" Party.

Updated Guidance For The Fiduciary Rule

NLRB Upholds Discharge of Disruptive Union Activist

Mechanic’s Harassment Claim Revived By Tenth Circuit

ALJ Feasts On Employee Handbook, Finds Policies Unlawful Under NLRA

Trump Expected to Nominate Two Management Attorneys to NLRB

Private Sector Comp Time Bill Passes the House

Email Updates