Montgomery County Passes Paid Sick Leave Law

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/26/2015
Beginning October 1, 2016, employers in Montgomery County, Maryland are required to provide paid sick and safe leave to their employees. Earlier this week, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed paid sick leave legislation, which will enable workers to stay home with pay when they are under the weather or need to care for a family member. The law requires employers to provide each employee with earned sick/safe leave for work performed in...
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Federal Court Permits Perceived Religion Claim To Proceed

Reasoning that discrimination based on an employer’s perception of an employee’s religion is no different than discrimination because of an employee’s actual religion, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan recently permitted an employee’s perceived religion discrimination claims to proceed to trial. Kallabat v. Michigan Bell Tel. Co., No. 2:2012-cv-15470 (E.D. Mich. June 18, 2015). Basil Kallabat began working...
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Of Mice, Moves, and the Welfare State

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/22/2015
Tomorrow we will move out of the house we have lived in for 20 years. Its the place we raised our children, and, for the most part, the only home they have ever known.  Times like this make one reflect, and an experience moving out a chair yesterday made me contemplate the impact of  government benefits on motivation.  Here's how. We have a two year old cat who, when she was little, obsessed with her catnip-filled stuffed mouse. She would chase...
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Fourth Circuit Denies School Principal's FMLA Retaliation Claim

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/18/2015
On June 15, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision dismissing FMLA  interference and retaliation claims brought by an assistant school principal in Maryland.  Adams v. Anne Arundel County Public Schools, No. 14-1608 (4th Cir. 6/15/15). In affirming a grant of summary judgment to the school system, the Fourth Circuit relied upon the fact that the principal was granted three medical leaves of...
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Ageist Comments Not Enough to Defeat Summary Judgment

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/15/2015
A supervisor's use of the words "old school" and "historically" were not enough to get a  50 year old employee's claim of discriminatory termination to a jury.  In  a June 12, 2015 ruling, the  United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment to the employer, Gallup Inc.  Wagner v. Gallup Inc., No. 14-2746 (8th Cir. 6/12/15). The terminated employee, Rodd Wagner, worked for Gallup as  a subject matter...
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NLRB Has Jurisdiction Over Little River Band

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
06/11/2015
For those of us of a certain age, the “Little River Band” conjures memories of a ‘70’s light rock band and the song “Reminiscing.” And yes, they are still touring (they will be in Annapolis, Maryland in November). But that is not this case. We’re talking here about a Sixth Circuit decision, 2-1, that held the NLRA applies to a Michigan casino run by a Native American tribe on Indian land that employs mostly people who are not tribal...
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Hey NLRB: WTF? That Means “Why The Foolishness?” What Did You Think it Meant?

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
06/08/2015
You may recall a April 7, 2015 blogpost where I discussed the NLRB’s decision that an employee who called his boss a “motherfucker” and wrote on Facebook to “f--k his mother and his entire f--king family!!!!” had engaged in protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) since that “colorful” language was related as a part of a union campaign. Pier Sixty, LLC, 362 NLRB No. 59 (March 31, 2015). Just when you thought it...
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NLRB ISSUES COMPLAINT AGAINST HOSPITAL FOR SCHEDULING ITS OWN EMPLOYEES

Peter Saucier
Peter Saucier
06/05/2015
One thing about which unions and employers ordinarily agree is that it is the right and obligation of management to manage. Employers want to manage and unions want to retain the right to claim that the employer did not manage when it should have done so. That makes a recent decision by the NLRB to issue a complaint against a hospital interesting. Armstrong County Memorial Hospital, No. 6-CA-144586, complaint issued 5/27/15. In 2014, licensed...
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SUPREME COURT HOLDS WEARING OF RELIGIOUS SCARVES IS REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

Abercrombie & Fitch maintains a dress code for employees known as its Look Policy. Headwear is not allowed under the policy because it is “too informal for Abercrombie’s desired image.” Samantha Elauf, a practicing Muslim who wears a headscarf, interviewed for an available position for which she was found to be qualified. Still, Elauf was not hired because the District Manager, who was told by another manager that she thought Elauf’s...
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Title VII Retaliation Claims Hinging On Circumstantial Evidence Remain Governed By McDonnell Douglas

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/29/2015
Two years ago, in University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, the Supreme Court heightened the causation standard for employees claiming retaliation based on direct evidence (such as explicitly discriminatory statements made by supervisors) under Title VII.  Plaintiffs must prove "but for" causation. What about the situation in which an employee relies solely on circumstantial evidence? Does Nassar’s “but-for” standard apply to...
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