The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) provides some of the most sweeping obligations under federal labor laws. Employers with employees or applicants who leave for services in the active...more
Under Title VII, employers are liable to an employee for incidents of co-worker harassment when they knew or should have known that the conduct was occurring, yet failed to take reasonable measures to end it. Last week, the...more
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects the rights of employees to engage in “concerted activity,” regardless of whether they are members of a union. Concerted activity means two or more employees working...more
6/25/2021
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Section 7 ,
Unions ,
Wrongful Termination
Last week, a federal district court judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of Houston hospital workers who object to their employer’s requirement that all employees receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The...more
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to consider reassignment to an existing vacant position as a last ditch form of reasonable accommodation for an employee unable to return to their previous...more
In its Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment violates Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition. In that case, the court said that plaintiffs can demonstrate same-sex harassment...more
5/28/2021
/ Appeals ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Harassment ,
PricewaterhouseCoopers ,
Remand ,
Same-Sex Harassment ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Title VII
If disabled employees are no longer able to perform the essential functions of their job even with reasonable accommodation, under the Americans with Disabilities Act the employer must consider transferring the workers to an...more
5/7/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Dismissals ,
Employee Transfers ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Essential Functions ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reversal
Some employers concerned about the risks and expenses that accompany employment litigation instead require their workers to agree to mandatory arbitration of employment claims. Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals...more
Many employers that attempt to manage workers’ compensation claims and expenses offer temporary light duty work to employees whose injuries prevent them from performing their regular job functions. The Department of Labor has...more
4/12/2021
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Jury Trial ,
Light-Duty Positions ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
Employers concerned about losing valuable employees may take the initiative to provide salary increases intended to deter them from seeking alternative employment. A new decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals...more
Under Title VII, an employer may be liable for sexual harassment by one co-worker of another if it knew or should have known of the conduct and took no action. According to a recent decision from the Eighth Circuit Court of...more
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act allows plaintiffs to pursue equal pay claims based on prior actions that continue to have a negative effect on their salaries. Last month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a grant...more
2/8/2021
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Lilly Ledbetter ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Wage and Hour
The statute of limitations for bringing claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act is two years from the last alleged illegal act. However, this period is increased to three years in the event of a willful FMLA violation...more
A number of employers have encountered resistance to mask wearing mandates put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In some cases, employees assert that they have a medical condition that prevents them from being...more
Hospitality industry employers continue to battle with employees over the proper calculation and distribution of tips under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with protected disabilities. Another part of the ADA requires employers to refrain from discriminating against disabled...more
11/6/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reversal
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if an employee with a disability requests accommodation, the employer must work with that person to determine if there are reasonable measures that can be taken that allow the...more
Retaliation claims now constitute the most frequently cited basis for charges filed before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lawsuits based on retaliation can be especially dangerous for employers because they do...more
North Carolina’s Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA) provides employees with legal claims against employers that retaliate against them for engaging in protected actions under state workers’ compensation, wage...more
We occasionally receive questions from employers about employees who have threatened or even attempted suicide. While these issues first involve making sure that the employee is safe and receiving appropriate care, questions...more
Federal civil rights laws prevent retaliation against employees who oppose discriminatory conduct in the workplace. What happens, however, when the employee’s oppositional conduct interferes with the performance of her job...more
If an employer fails to comply with federal overtime or minimum wage requirements imposed under the Fair Labor Standards Act, it can be held liable not only for unpaid wages, but also for liquidated damages equal to that...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act restricts employers’ ability to require employee medical evaluations to situations where such exams are job related and consistent with business necessity. This month, the Fourth Circuit...more
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allows awards of both compensatory and punitive damages capped at a total amount depending on the size of the employer. In a new decision from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals...more
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