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

OSHA Begins New Initiative to Combat Diseases Resulting from Inhaled Silica

Kollman & Saucier

10/04/2023

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began a new initiative to conduct enhanced enforcement and compliance assistance efforts in the engineered stone fabrication and installation industries. The September 22, 2023 Memorandum supplements a February 4, 2020 National Emphasis Program addressing “Respirable Crystalline Silica.” OSHA’s recognition of engineered stone as a hazard to workers goes as far back as 2015, when OSHA and...

Vincent Jackson

09/29/2023

COVID-19, EEOC, Employment Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden, Religious Discrimination

The impact of the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling in Groff v. DeJoy, which raised the standard for employers to accommodate religious exemptions, is beginning to be felt in lower courts. Gone are the days when an employer can lawfully disregard a religious accommodation if it imposes more than a de minimis cost on the business. With Groff, employers must now demonstrate that the burden of granting a religious accommodation for an employee...

Kollman & Saucier

09/19/2023

Employment Discrimination, Legislative Developments

Update - On October 7, 2023, Governor Newsom vetoed SB-403. In his veto message, Governor Newsom stated "[b]ecause discrimination based on caste is already prohibited under ... existing [protected class] categories, this bill is unnecessary." On September 5, 2023, the California legislature passed SB-403, sending it to Governor Newsom’s desk for signature. Largely expected to be signed by Gov. Newson, California is set to become the first...

Kollman & Saucier

09/12/2023

Employment Discrimination, Race Discrimination, Retaliation

Consistent treatment of similarly situated employees is one way in which employers can defend against claims of discrimination. Inconsistent treatment, however, can support allegations of discrimination. A recent decision from Maryland federal court provides an instructive example of how inconsistent enforcement of work rules and disciplining comparable employees differently can create problems under anti-discrimination laws. Jones v. City of...

Kollman & Saucier

09/08/2023

FLSA Exemptions, Legal Developments, Wage & Hour

Federal overtime pay provisions are part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless exempt, employees covered by the FLSA must be paid at a time-and-a-half rate for time worked over 40 hours in a work week. Under current law, workers who are salaried, earn at least $35,568 annually ($684 per week), and work in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity are exempt, meaning they are not entitled to overtime pay. The...

Kollman & Saucier

09/06/2023

ADA, Disability & Leave, EEOC, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden

Federal Circuits are split over whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to accommodate commuting or transportation difficulties outside the work environment. In late July 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided a case applying the ADA to an employee who requested a schedule change because his cataracts made it difficult to commute safely at night. The Seventh Circuit concluded the ADA might...

Peter Saucier

09/01/2023

Maryland Law, Whistleblowers

A Radiation Therapist in the Oncology treatment operation at Mercy Hospital violated rules requiring that she obtain signed patient waivers at the same time that her overall performance was unsatisfactory. Supervising physicians and co-workers cataloged a number of the Therapist’s short-fallings. A key supervising physician described to investigators at Mercy incidents of “poor job performance and altercations with co-workers.” Romeka v....

Kollman & Saucier

08/30/2023

Employment Discrimination, Hiring Process, Immigration, National Origin

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s venture that designs, manufactures, and launches rockets and spacecraft, faces a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice alleging discriminatory hiring practices against refugees and asylees. The complaint alleges SpaceX, under the guise of export laws and regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), used discriminatory hiring practices in...

Kollman & Saucier

08/29/2023

Labor Law, NLRB, Union Activity

The NLRB’s democratic majority struck a big win for unions by reviving the precedent set in the 1949 NLRB decision, In re Joy Silk Mills, Inc., 85 N.L.R.B. 1263 (1949). Using Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC as their torpedo, the NLRB has inflicted a blow to employers facing unionization efforts. The employees at issue were approximately 366 ready-mix cement truck drivers and driver trainers. The drivers and trainers showed support...

Darrell VanDeusen

08/28/2023

Employment Discrimination, Sex Discrimination

Since July 2, 1965, Title VII has made it illegal for an employer “to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his [or her] compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Nowhere does the law require that the discrimination be an...

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Email Updates

OSHA Begins New Initiative to Combat Diseases Resulting from Inhaled Silica

Repercussions of Supreme Court’s Groff Decision Start Appearing In Religious Exemption Cases

California is Poised to Become the First State to Ban Caste Discrimination

Inconsistent Discipline Allegations Save Police Dispatcher’s Race Discrimination Claims

The U.S. Department of Labor Proposes New Overtime Eligibility Rule

ADA May Require Reasonable Accommodations Related To Work Commutes

WHISTLE BLOWERS ON THE VERGE OF TERMINATION BEAR A HEAVY BURDEN

Discrimination Accusations by DOJ Rocket SpaceX to Spotlight…Yet again

And So The Pendulum Swings: NLRB Revives Joy Silk From The Ashes

Fifth Circuit: Discrimination More Than “Ultimate Employment Decisions”

Email Updates