The coronavirus pandemic has already had a massive impact on businesses. Many companies have announced layoffs, furloughs, or unpaid leaves of absence....more
3/27/2020
/ At-Will Employment ,
Business Closures ,
Cal-WARN ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exceptions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
Natural Disasters ,
Notice Requirements ,
WARN Act
Can a news organization avoid a discrimination claim by arguing that it was exercising its First Amendment right to choose who writes the news?
That’s the question that the California courts have been grappling with in...more
2/7/2020
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Associational Retaliation ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Cable Television Providers ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
CNN ,
Defamation ,
Disability Discrimination ,
First Amendment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
News Stories ,
Plagiarism ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Wrongful Termination
Under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), employers are required to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees with certain family or medical issues. These issues include attending to serious health conditions that make...more
10/11/2018
/ Age Discrimination ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Judgment on the Pleadings ,
Medical Leave ,
Motion for Judgment ,
Resignation ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wrongful Termination
On May 29, Roseanne Barr posted a tweet comparing former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape. ABC’s reaction was swift and decisive: it fired Barr and cancelled her show.
ABC’s decision led to pontification from...more
6/5/2018
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Private Sector ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Racist Remarks ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy ,
Title VII ,
Twitter ,
Wrongful Termination
When an employer changes its contract with an employee, the change should be communicated clearly—and preferably, in writing. Otherwise, the employer may be at risk of finding that the old terms still control.
For example,...more
3/21/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Terms ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reversal ,
Sales Commissions ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
Ghosts, ghouls, and ghastly liability; the last is certainly enough to spook any employer. For this Halloween, we take a trip down Elm Street to revisit the most startling nightmares we’ve ever covered....more
10/31/2017
/ Damages ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Halloween ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Medical Leave ,
Pretext ,
Punitive Damages ,
Teachers ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wrongful Termination
An employer isn’t immune from a discrimination claim when an employee quits instead of being fired. An employee who quits can still bring a “constructive discharge” claim, arguing that his working conditions were intolerable...more
When a company believes that an employee has breached a non-compete agreement by going to work for a competitor, one remedy it can seek is a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction is meant to preserve the status quo...more
9/8/2017
/ Breach of Contract ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Credibility ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Contract ,
Former Employee ,
Hearsay ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Remedies ,
Trade Secrets
White male discontent has been a major media talking point since the presidential election, and even long before. This talking point has made its way into the workplace, where tech firms are now being targeted for allegedly...more
8/30/2017
/ Amtrak ,
Appeals ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Employee Transfers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
McDonnell Douglas Formula ,
Pretext ,
Reorganizations ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trump Administration
Federal employment law protects against a number of different types of discrimination, including treating employees differently because of age, gender, or race. ...more
An employee without an employment contract is typically deemed to be an at-will employee. In an at-will employment relationship, the employer has the right to terminate the employee for any reason, with or without cause....more
Federal law—specifically, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on a number of protected characteristics, including sex, race, national origin, and...more
4/7/2017
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Richard Posner ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Split of Authority ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
In our last post, we detailed how Sanford Wadler, the former general counsel of Bio-Rad Laboratories, won a $14.5 million verdict against Bio-Rad.
Before Wadler could get to a jury, however, he had to surmount a...more
3/10/2017
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Bio-Rad Laboratories ,
Confidential Information ,
Crime-Fraud Exception ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Legal Ethics ,
Motion to Exclude ,
Privilege Waivers ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
State Law Claims ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wrongful Termination
In lawsuits over contracts, parties sometimes assert defenses that contracts are voidable or void. A voidable contract is one as to which the party should have a choice as to whether it is enforceable or not; for example,...more
When an employee brings a lawsuit alleging that his employer retaliated or discriminated against him, courts typically assess the claim by using a burden-shifting approach. Under this approach, after the employer offers a...more