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

Drug-Free Workplaces In The Era Of Medical And/or Legal Marijuana Use

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/04/2014

Employment Discrimination, Legislative Developments, Medical/Legal Marijuana

An employee with terminal illness or severe pain obtains medical marijuana from a licensed dispensary. His or her employer, however, maintains a drug-free workplace policy that provides for employee drug testing. What can an employer do under these circumstances? This post is designed to provide a basic snapshot of the current state of the law, and the prominent issues that employers face. As detailed below, employers are generally blanketed...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

08/04/2014

Employment Discrimination, Hiring Process, Legislative Developments

Following in the footsteps of Baltimore and a number of other states and localities, the District of Columbia City Council recently approved a “ban the box” bill that prohibits employers from asking about a job applicant’s criminal history until after making a conditional job offer. In a D.C.-specific wrinkle, the bill, known as the Fair Criminal Record Screening Act of 2014 (“the Act”), must first be approved both by Mayor Vincent Gray...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/28/2014

Agency Activity, Labor Law

On July 24, 2014, a National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") Administrative Law Judge ruled that Mercedes-Benz violated the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") by prohibiting distribution of literature in "team centers" inside its Vance, Alabama plant. Mercedes-Benz U.S. Int'l, Inc., No. 10-CA-112406. The ALJ held that because the "team centers" were used for both work purposes and as employee break and meal rooms, the car maker could not...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/27/2014

Age Discrimination

On July 23, 2014, a federal court in Connecticut upheld a jury's award of $3.7 million to a 61 year old executive fired after 41 years with IBM. Castellucio v. Int'l Bus. Machs. Corp. (D. Conn. No 3:09-cv-01145 July 23, 2014). The Court held that the jury properly awarded $2.5 million for age discrimination, and an additional $1.2 million for attorneys' fees and costs. The case arose when Joanne Collins-Smee became Castellucio's supervisor,...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/24/2014

Employment Discrimination

Any employment lawyer knows that, when assessing claims of “disparate treatment,” it’s less about what exactly happened and more about how the plaintiff was treated when compared to similarly situated employees. The Seventh Circuit recently looked at just that issue in reinstating the harassment and sex discrimination claims of a former Indiana prison employee who was fired for having sex at work. Orton-Bell v. Indiana, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/23/2014

Employment Discrimination

On July 21, 2014, President Obama issued an Executive Order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity by federal contractors. The Executive Order amends two existing executive orders: E.O. 11246, which applies to federal contractors, by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected from employment discrimination; and E.O. 11478, which applies to government agencies, to explicitly prohibit...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/22/2014

FMLA

The Eighth Circuit has held that a public employee could not proceed with her claim under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) because she was on the personal staff of an elected official. Hemminghaus v. Missouri, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 12376 (8th Cir. July 1, 2014). This decision follows a recent unpublished Sixth Circuit decision in Horen v. Cook, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 20737 (6th Cir. Oct. 10. 2013) and a 2005 decision from the Fifth Circuit in...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/16/2014

Pregnancy Discrimination

For the first time since 1983, and partly addressing issues pending before the U.S. Supreme Court (see Alex Berg’s July 9 blog titled, “Supreme Court Will Decide What Accommodations Employers Must Make For Pregnant Employees”), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) on Monday issued new enforcement guidelines on pregnancy discrimination under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (“PDA”) that also cover possible workplace...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/15/2014

Business Law

In Maryland, and in approximately twenty states, the answer is “yes.” In an unusual (though modern) move, the Anne Arundel Medical Center (the “Hospital”) recently announced that starting in July 2015 it plans on no longer hiring smokers. Like a growing number of health systems, universities and other businesses, the Hospital will require a urine test for nicotine use for all job applicants. The policy will not affect existing employees,...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

07/11/2014

Agency Activity, Supreme Court Decisions

As discussed recently, the Supreme Court’s decision in NLRB v. Noel Canning is expected to have significant ramifications for the NLRB (the “Board”) and the parties who previously appeared before the Board in 2012 and the first half of 2013, when the unconstitutional recess appointments of Members Block, Flynn and Griffin continued to leave the NLRB without a quorum. Richard Griffin, one of the three recess appointees who was since confirmed...

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Drug-Free Workplaces In The Era Of Medical And/or Legal Marijuana Use

D.C. Is The Latest Jurisdiction To "Ban The Box"

Mercedes Denied the Luxury of Overly Broad No Solicitation Rule

Court Upholds $3.7 Million Age Discrimination Verdict Against IBM

Court Revives Harassment Claim of Employee Who Had Office “Romance”

President Issues Executive Order on LGBT Protections

The FMLA and the “Personal Staff” Exemption

EEOC Issues Enforcement Guidance on Pregancy Discrimination

You Mean They Can Legally Not Hire Me Because I Smoke?

NLRB General Counsel Offers Input on Practical Effects of Noel Canning

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