Internal Investigations, Corporate Counsel, Adverse Employment Action

Coldplay Gate: What if It Happened at Your Company?

Gould + Ratner LLP on 7/24/2025

The internet lit up recently with viral footage from a “kiss cam” at a Coldplay concert in Boston, Massachusetts. The clip, now dubbed by some as “Coldplay Gate,” depicts the married CEO of Astronomer, Inc., having an...more

France Requires Employers to Investigate Harassment Claims Even Without Evidence

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 8/12/2020

French employers are now obligated to investigate any allegation of harassment, even where the employee does not produce any evidence. This is the position taken by the French Cour de Cassation in November 27, 2019, case...more

Fourth Circuit Ruling Provides Cautionary Tale for Employer’s Managing Internal Harassment Complaints and Investigations

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 1/25/2019

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Fourth Circuit recently found that reducing a current employee’s voluntary overtime opportunities – despite the absence of a reduction in overall income – could be considered a tangible or materially...more

Fifth Circuit Rejects EEOC's Position on Reasonable Belief Standard for Reactive Retaliation Claims

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 4/20/2016

In 2009’s Crawford decision, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that an employee who participates in an employer’s harassment or discrimination investigation as a third-party witness, falls within federal anti-retaliation...more

Dismissal Denied For Discussing Disability: EEOC Case Against Employer Survives

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 4/19/2016

Anti-discrimination laws command that “thou shall not retaliate…” The recent ruling in EEOC v. Day & Zimmerman NPS, Inc., Case No. 15-CV-01416 (D. Conn Apr. 12, 2016), is a case study in how employers can be taken to task for...more

A Review of Recent Whistleblower Developments

Foley & Lardner LLP on 4/13/2016

SEC Awards Bounty to Whistleblower, But Offsets Award for a Judgment Against the Whistleblower - The extent to which the SEC would reward whistleblowers, who themselves engaged in wrongdoing, has been the subject of...more

“Cat’s Paw” – Or Perhaps “Tiger’s Paw” Theory Now

Foley & Lardner LLP on 9/29/2015

For those interested in the origin, the term “cat’s paw” derives from a fable of a monkey who employs flattery to convince a cat to pull chestnuts out of a fire. Today the term commonly refers to a person used unwittingly or...more

Right to Union Representation Applies to Employer Referrals for Drug and Alcohol Tests, NLRB Rules

Littler on 9/4/2014

The National Labor Relations Board ("Board"), in its July 31, 2014 decision in Ralph's Grocery Co., 361 NLRB No. 9 (2014), ruled that so-called "Weingarten rights" – the general right of a unionized employee to request union...more

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