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

Employment Cases on the Supreme Court’s 2014-15 Docket

Darrell VanDeusen

10/06/2014

It’s the first Monday in October and, apart from the most important thing happening this week – the Baltimore Orioles are going to the ALCS – the Supreme Court starts its 2014-15 term. There are, for now, eight labor and employment law cases on the docket. Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk (No. 13-433): In the first case of the term to be argued, the Court will decide whether the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) may require employers...

Kollman & Saucier

10/03/2014

Employment Discrimination, Religious Discrimination

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Abercrombrie & Fitch's refusal to hire a Muslim job applicant who wore a religious head scarf to a job interview violated Title VII. EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., U.S., No. 14-86, 10/2/14. The case arose after a 17 year old applicant wore a hijab - a religious head scarf - to an interview for a position in Abercrombie's Tulsa, Oklahoma store. During the interview, the...

Kollman & Saucier

09/30/2014

Agency Activity, Labor Law

For the past six months, legal prognosticators (myself included) have told readers that when the NLRB issues a ruling in the Purple Communications case, we'd have a new standard for what restrictions, if any, employers may place on employee use of company email systems. On September 24, 2014, the Board issued its ruling. And the answer is ..... "check back with us later (probably after the November election)." Purple Communications provides sign...

Darrell VanDeusen

09/29/2014

Disability & Leave, FMLA, Retaliation

Lest any employer need reminding that workplace disability issues (and the ADA/FMLA interplay) are nearly always tricky, a recent decision by Judge Russell proves the point well. In Williams v. Balt. City Cmty. College, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133144 (D. Md. Sept. 23, 2014), the court denied the College’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s “regarded as” disabled and retaliation claims, while granting the motion on plaintiff’s...

Darrell VanDeusen

09/25/2014

Disability & Leave, FMLA

The Seventh Circuit has held that two air carriers that supplied regional air service for United Airlines are joint employers for purposes of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Cuff v. Trans States Holdings, Inc., 2014 U.S.App. LEXIS 18901 (7th Cir. September 19, 2014). In so doing, the court held that an employee who was on the Trans States payroll was covered by the FMLA. United contracts with firms for regional air service as “United...

Darrell VanDeusen

09/23/2014

Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination

Any lawyer who has defended an employer sued by the EEOC knows that sometimes – not always – it can be a real challenge, facing an unrelenting assault by a government agency that seems bent on destruction. Sure, you might run into a private practice plaintiff’s lawyer who is uncivil, who is unwilling to discuss reasonable settlement terms, and whose mission in life is to ratchet up attorneys’ fees and/or drive the employer into bankruptcy....

Clifford Geiger

09/19/2014

Wage & Hour

A different set of rules applies to settling wage and hours disputes under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Regular contract law does not apply, because the FLSA’s provisions are mandatory and generally are not subject to bargaining, waiver, modification by contract, or even settlement. Stated simply, an employee cannot waive his right to minimum wage or overtime. Therefore, for more than 30 years, since the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in...

Clifford Geiger

09/17/2014

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

A federal court in North Carolina has ruled that a pharmaceutical company need not provide a legally blind sales representative with a driver as a reasonable accommodation. Stephenson v. Pfizer, Inc. No. 1:13cv147 (M.D.N.C. Sept. 8, 2014) Whitney Stephenson worked for Pfizer as a pharmaceutical sales representative. Stephenson’s job required her to meet with physicians to sell Pfizer products. She typically met with eight to ten physicians a...

Kollman & Saucier

09/11/2014

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

Even under the best of circumstances, most of us view rental car counters the way we view airport security: essential to get where we are going, but not a place we want to spend more time than absolutely necessary. The circumstances of one Hawaii rental car counter as described recently in Assaturian v. Hertz Motor Corp. provide a particularly memorable, messy example of this phenomenon. John Assaturian was a long-time Hertz employee who served from...

Kollman & Saucier

09/10/2014

Employment Discrimination

Remedying a problem in the wrong way may end up creating more problems for an employer than it solves. In EEOC v. New Prime, Inc., a federal court in Missouri held in that an employer’s policy enacted in response to an earlier sexual harassment suit brought against it was facially discriminatory on the basis of sex. New Prime, Inc. (“Prime”), an interstate trucking company, requires its drivers to have or to acquire a Commercial...

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Email Updates

Employment Cases on the Supreme Court’s 2014-15 Docket

Supreme Court Will Decide Head Scarf Case

NLRB Defers Ruling on Legality of Employer Email Policies

College Employee’s ADA and Retaliation Claims Get Past Summary Judgment

Regional Air Carriers are “Joint Employers” Under FMLA

Congress Considering Bills for a More “Transparent” EEOC

Court Rules Private Settlement Of FLSA Claims May Be Possible

Blind Sales Representative Not Entitled To A Driver As An Accommodation

This Workplace Really is Going to the Dogs

Same Sex Trainer Policy for Truck Drivers Runs Afoul of Title VII

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