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The Employer Handbook BlogClass-action lawyers could be salivating at this new “wage theft” bill in Congress.
There are members of Congress who believe that many employers commit something called “wage theft.”
WARNING: This could be one of my nerdiest FMLA posts yet.
At a bench trial in a Virginia federal court in 2021, with only a Family and Medical Leave Act interference at stake, the judge concluded, “[I]t’s obvious that there is definitely liability because there was clearly a violation of the FMLA. I mean, there’s just no question about it.”
But when the plaintiff asked the court to award her front and back pay, it denied her any relief in connection with the defendant’s failure to promote her after returning from medical leave.
Huh?
Five plant managers learned the hard way that betting on which workers will get COVID-19 doesn’t pay
About three years ago, seven plant managers lost their jobs following an investigation into allegations of betting on how many workers there would get sick from the coronavirus. Shortly before losing their jobs, a handful did not receive a bonus they felt the company improperly withheld. So they sued.
What happens when five of the most unsympathetic plaintiffs in recent memory claim state wage payment law violations? Continue reading
The employee who claimed she was drugged, raped, and blackmailed by a supervisor LOST her discrimination lawsuit. HOW?!?
From recent memory, I can’t recall a case with more egregious allegations of sexual harassment. Continue reading
Let’s revisit whether morbid obesity is a disability (and why, sometimes, it may not matter).
In today’s blog post, we’re doubling up on the employment law lessons. It’s a two for Tuesday Thursday! Continue reading
Court re-orders 8 hours of religious-liberty training for an employer’s lawyers; says they need it “direly.”
Last month, following an airline’s loss in a religious bias lawsuit brought by a former employee, a Texas federal judge issued a scathing 29-page decision in which he ordered the airline to have three of its lawyers complete 8 hours of religious-liberty training each. Read this post if you want more background on the lawsuit.
Predictably, the airline appealed the lower court’s decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. It also asked the sanctioning judge to stay his order requiring training. That last part didn’t go so well.
I know when you can start filing EEO-1 Component 1 Data. Here’s a hint: 🎃🍬🍫
Yes, soon after I start recycling old blog posts next month about the liability risks that employees and their poor costume choices present for employers, all private-sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting specific criteria can start submitting demographic workforce data, including data by job category and sex and race or ethnicity, to the EEOC. Continue reading
Another employer learns the hard way that it’s better to hire slow and fire fast
A company fired one of its employees just ten days after learning about his disability. Although the proximity between the two doesn’t confirm that the employee’s disability motivated the employer’s decision, some other vital factors led a federal appellate court to overrule a lower court’s decision in favor of the employer, thus setting the stage for a jury trial on the plaintiff’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims.
I’ll explain why. Continue reading
This is not a drill. A new, federal overtime proposal will cost employers $1.2 billion.
For the first time in four years, the U.S. Department of Labor plans to increase the minimum salary level to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime requirements. Continue reading