News & Analysis as of

Employer Liability Issues Constructive Discharge Employment Litigation

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Confirms a Clearly Drafted Temporary Layoff Clause Can Protect Employers From Constructive Dismissal Claims

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In Taylor v. Salytics Inc., 2025 ONSC 3461, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice considered whether a temporary layoff provision in an employment contract constituted a termination provision, and was therefore subject to the...more

Fisher Phillips

Maine’s Highest Court Narrows Scope of Continuing Violation Doctrine in Discrimination Claims

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The Maine Supreme Judicial Court just handed employers a win by narrowing the application of the “continuing violation” doctrine in discrimination claims under the state’s primary anti-bias law. This doctrine permits...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

If You’re Experiencing a Massive Jury Verdict, Hang Up and Dial 911!

A California jury did it again! Last Thursday, a Los Angeles jury awarded $27.5 million to a former chief nursing officer of a hospital for the alleged post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological problems she...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

The reasonable person test—When constructive dismissal becomes employee’s failure to minimize damage

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On February 1, 2024, the Superior Court of Quebec decided that a senior executive with 35 years of service who had been constructively dismissed was not entitled to severance pay because he had declined the new position the...more

Littler

Alberta, Canada Court Holds Placing Employee on Unpaid Leave for Failure to Comply with Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy is...

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In Van Hee v Glenmore Inn Holdings Ltd., 2023 ABCJ 244 (Glenmore), the Alberta Court of Justice found that an employer’s mandatory vaccination policy was a reasonable, justified and lawful response to the extraordinary...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

Federal Court Rules That Plaintiff’s Claims of Sex Discrimination Against a School District Were Sufficiently Pled

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Colavecchia v. South Side Area Sch. Dist., No. 2:22-CV-01804-CCW, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70461 (W.D. Pa. April 21, 2023). The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania denied South Side Area School...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court of Appeal Addresses How Employers Can Preserve Right to Unilaterally Lay Off Employees Without Being Found...

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In Pham v. Qualified Metal Fabricators Ltd., 2023 ONCA 255, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) found that unless an employee’s employment contract provides otherwise via an express or implied term, an employer’s unilateral lay...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Minnesota Supreme Court Clarifies State Law Standards for ‘Severe or Pervasive’ Harassment and Constructive Discharge

On February 8, 2023, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued its first significant decision interpreting the state’s employment discrimination law, the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), in three years. In a ruling that will...more

Stinson LLP

Minnesota Supreme Court Does Away with Crucial Notification Requirement for Constructive Discharge

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Until recently, an employee generally could not establish a constructive discharge claim (that they had been forced to resign due to intolerable conditions) without first demonstrating that they informed their employer about...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Says Racial Slur From Owner's Six-Year-Old Son is Evidence of Offensive Working Environment

​​​​​​​Over the past decade, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) has substantially lowered the bar for demonstrating racial harassment in cases where a racial...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Decides Employees Laid Off During COVID-19 May Not Claim Constructive Dismissal at Common Law

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Just six weeks after holding in Coutinho v. Ocular Health Centre Ltd. that Ontario Regulation 228/20 (IDEL Regulation) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) did not remove an employee’s common law right to claim...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Decides Employee Laid Off During COVID-19 May Claim Constructive Dismissal at Common Law

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Last May, the government of Ontario filed Ontario Regulation 228/20 (IDEL Regulation) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA).  The Regulation provides that an employee in a non-unionized workplace who, any time during...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada: Court of Appeal Upholds $1.27 Million Damage Award for Constructive Dismissal

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In McGuinty v. 1845035 Ontario Inc. (McGuinty Funeral Home), 2020 ONCA 816 (McGuinty), the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the Ontario Superior Court’s decision to award an employee one of the highest damage awards ever...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

$13M UCLA Case Exposes Calif. Employment Litigation Flaws

In Pinter-Brown v. Regents of the University of California, the California Court of Appeal’s Second Appellate District recently reversed a blockbuster $13 million judgment that was entered against UCLA in favor of one of its...more

Littler

Puerto Rico Supreme Court Holds Plaintiffs Bear the Burden of Clearly Asserting in Their Complaints the Elements of Constructive...

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Constructive discharge is a form of wrongful termination under the Puerto Rico Unjust Dismissal statute, Act No. 80 of May 30, 1976 (“Act 80”). Unlike in traditional wrongful termination cases, plaintiffs alleging...more

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...

EEOC and Pei Wei Fresh Kitchen Settle Sexual Harassment Lawsuit for $300,000

Restaurant Tolerated a Sexually Hostile Work Environment, Federal Agency Charged - LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Pei Wei Asian Diner, LLC, doing business as Pei Wei Fresh Kitchen in Little Rock, will pay $300,000 to former...more

Genova Burns LLC

“What Goes Around, Comes Around” – A Potential Defense to Hostile Work Environment Claims Under the NJ LAD

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On November 7, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Paige v. Atrion Communication Resources, Inc., et al., considered a hostile work environment/sexual harassment claim under the New Jersey Law...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Don’t Keep Your Employees in Suspense

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UK employers should proceed with caution when suspending employees, and always consider carefully whether taking such action is appropriate in the circumstances, as highlighted by the recent case in the Employment Appeal...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Finds Two Race Discrimination Claims Failed to Allege Sufficiently Hostile Work Conditions

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

Hogan Lovells

Employment News: holiday pay, EWCs, EHRC

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Noteworthy – no holiday pro-rating for "part year" music teacher - In The Harpur Trust v Brazel the Court of Appeal confirmed that a music teacher was entitled to be paid for 5.6 weeks' annual holiday, even though she only...more

Genova Burns LLC

Employee’s Failure to Cooperate Deemed Fatal to Disability Pregnancy Claims

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The Appellate Division has stopped a former medical resident’s discrimination and constructive discharge claims from proceeding because the resident did not do everything in her power to remain employed. On August 2, 2019, in...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

Court Establishes 5 Factors to Determine When A School District Offer to Resign Is Actually A Constructive Discharge

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Judge v. Shikellamy Sch. Dist., 905 F.3d 122 (3d Cir. 2018).  When a public school district offers an employee a chance to resign in lieu of termination, courts will review five factors to determine whether the resignation...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

I Hate My Boss: Sixth Circuit Shuts Down ADA Request for Less Stressful Boss

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reminded employers that, even under the more liberal standard for establishing a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), an employee who...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Did Holly Judge Really Resign? After Close Review, Third Circuit Rejects Her Constructive Discharge Claims

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Seyfarth Synopsis: In Judge v. Shikellamy Sch. Dist., No. 17-2189, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 27229 (3d Cir. Sep. 24, 2018), the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals adopted a new approach to constructive discharge cases where an employee...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

ADA Does Not Require Employer to Provide Extended Breaks for Exercise

Employees and their medical providers continue to come up with creative requests for accommodation of medical conditions under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last month in an unpublished decision, the Sixth Circuit...more

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