In recent years, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) has substantially lowered the legal bar for plaintiffs to demonstrate a hostile work environment based on...more
In recent years, federal courts have increasingly split over whether obesity in and of itself is a qualifying medical condition under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC and some courts have concluded that obesity...more
In order to claim discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employees must demonstrate that they could perform the essential functions of the job but were denied a reasonable accommodation. Some employers...more
3/11/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Essential Functions ,
Interactive Process ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reversal
As previously reported in EmployNews, a number of states and municipalities have tried to address gender-based pay gaps by adopting legislation that prohibits employers from asking about pay history or setting starting...more
3/9/2020
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
En Banc Review ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Job Applicants ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Remand ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour
Some of the most frequent questions we receive from employers involve managing the performance of employees with medical issues. While employers understand their nondiscrimination obligations under the Americans with...more
3/6/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Best Management Practices ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discipline ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Poor Job Performance ,
Summary Judgment
In recent years, a number of federal courts have drawn differing conclusions with regard to whether obesity is a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While some courts have reached this conclusion,...more
2/12/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Obesity ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
State and Local Government ,
Summary Judgment ,
WA Supreme Court
Under North Carolina statute, employees who leave work for a reason other than good cause attributable to the employer are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits. Last month, the North Carolina Court of Appeals...more
From time to time, we encounter requests from employees for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act that appear unrelated to the employee’s underlying medical condition. For example, an employee with a back...more
In its 2012 Hosanna-Tabor decision, the U.S. Supreme Court first recognized the existence of a “ministerial exception” to the requirements of federal civil rights laws such as Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities...more
In 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against a trucking company, alleging a pattern and practice of sexual harassment affecting a class of 270 female employees. The district court dismissed the...more
The Equal Pay Act allows employees to bring claims of pay discrimination based on gender by alleging that they were paid less than employees of a different gender who perform the same or similar work. This comparator...more
Qualified employees may take job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act based on their Serious Health Condition (SHC). A new decision from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals makes clear that the employee...more
11/26/2019
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Job Offers ,
Jury Trial ,
Medical Leave ,
Mental Health ,
Reaffirmation ,
Rescission ,
Resignation ,
Teachers
In order to state a claim of employment discrimination under federal civil rights laws, employees must demonstrate that they have been subjected to an adverse action. In most cases, the employee has been fired, demoted, or...more
In recent years, North Carolina courts have become increasingly resistant to enforcing noncompetition and non-solicitation restrictions they view as insufficiently narrowed to the specific competitive threat presented by the...more
11/18/2019
/ Appeals ,
Blue Pencil Contract Modification ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Injunctions ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
Last Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued proposed regulations that would clarify employers’ use of incentive pay under the fluctuating workweek (FWW) pay method. FWW is an alternative pay plan...more
11/11/2019
/ Appeals ,
Bonuses ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fluctuating Workweek ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Wage and Hour
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination in employment against persons who are disabled, as well as those regarded as disabled. Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals joined other federal courts...more
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides specific time limitations for filing EEOC charges and subsequent lawsuits. What happens, however, if the employer and employee agree to shorten the period of time under which...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act not only provides protections for disabled persons but also those “regarded as” having a disability, even if they are healthy. On September 12, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (which...more
Employees or applicants with disabling medical conditions must place the employer on notice of such condition in order to claim protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, as reminded in a new decision from...more
Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 96-14.6, individuals are disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if they are discharged due to misconduct associated with the work. On September 3, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued...more
In recent years, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina and South Carolina) has lowered the bar for plaintiffs to take racial harassment claims to a jury trial when the alleged conduct involved use...more
In recent years, a number of federal appellant courts, including the Fourth Circuit, have issued opinions finding that a single use of a racial slur can be enough to constitute a hostile and offensive working environment...more
9/6/2019
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hostile Environment ,
Poor Job Performance ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reaffirmation ,
Safety Violations ,
Slurs ,
Summary Judgment ,
Supervisors ,
Title VII
Perhaps the most frequently violated provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act is that law’s requirement that non-discretionary bonuses be included in non-exempt employees’ regular rate of pay used for purposes of calculating...more
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employers cannot penalize employees for use of FMLA leave. Earlier this month, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that an employer’s resetting of a perfect attendance program...more
8/21/2019
/ Appeals ,
Attendance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Medical Leave ,
Paid Leave ,
Reversal ,
Wage and Hour
When we talk with clients about post-employment “noncompete” agreements, this term actually encompasses a number of different restrictions. In addition to provisions that restrict the employee from working for a competitor...more