Some of you are clutching your pearls and mouthing, “God, I hope so.” Glass half full, I may be about to save you a call to your company’s employment lawyer. Glass half empty, you may be pretty screwed if the statute of limitations hasn’t already run on the potential Americans…
Does the spike in remote work arrangements over the past few years mean the end of wacky sexual harassment cases? Yeah, right! Although, in fairness, the unique facts of this case long pre-date the pandemic. This one involves a female plaintiff, a professor at a university, who claimed that the…
One of my biggest fears — an employment lawyer neuroticism — is that I will draft a settlement agreement in which I misplace the decimal point or accidentally add a zero, thus turning a $15,000.00 settlement into a $15,000,000 settlement. That’s why I spell out the number (fifteen thousand) and…
Days since I’ve blogged about COVID-19 = 78 0. I promise(ish), this one will be interesting. And for those of you with businesses that had a mass layoff or plant closing because of COVID-19, it will be horrifying. You see, I just got finished reading a Fifth Circuit decision in…
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission caught a whiff, sued the employer in December, and just announced a $361,000 settlement for seven current and former female employees. So, here’s what supposedly happened, according to the EEOC’s press release. According to the EEOC’s suit, [the company’s founder, owner and president ……
Back in March 2019, the State of New Jersey passed a law that makes any non-disclosure provisions in an employment contract or settlement agreement that have the purpose or effect of concealing the details relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation, or harassment unenforceable against a current or former employee…
Over the weekend, I caught up on a few older cases I had intended to blog about earlier. The one today on which I’ll focus has some “disturbing facts.” At least that’s how one of the Fifth Circuit judges deciding the case viewed them: [The plaintiff] is a firefighter. But…
That’s effectively the argument the plaintiff, an openly gay man, made in this case. The plaintiff worked as a server at a restaurant. Within a few months, his supervisor spoke to him about taking on a leadership position. (Heavens, no!) But here’s where the plaintiff got rubbed the wrong way.…
On Monday, I blogged here about an employee using CBD for her migraines who accused her employer of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. It fired her after she tested positive for marijuana on a drug test at work. One of my takeaways from the post was that particular state…
What I’ve got for you today is another hostile work environment decision. But, unlike yesterday’s general civility code violation, well short of the pervasive or severe behavior that could interfere with an employee’s working conditions, today’s is a doozy. We’re talking about four instances of racial harassment: an offensive note,…