For our lead in this week, the Employment Discrimination Report has another look at how sexual harassment in the workplace can be a problem even when it is not committed by supervisors or co-workers. Basically, an employer is under an obligation to remedy a potential harassment situation if made aware…
On October 3, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that because a female intern was not an employee, she could not bring a claim for harassment under the New York City Human Rights Law against Phoenix Satellite Television, Inc. This is nothing new, as…
In one of last week’s biggest cases, the New York Court of Appeals unanimously voted that under the NYC Human Rights Law indefinite leave for a disabled employee is not a per se unreasonable accommodation and that the employer instead must prove hardship. This holding, although foreseeable based on the…
With no big news this week (other than the never-ending shutdown), here are some interesting articles and links. With FY 2013 ending last month, the Employment Discrimination Report has a statistical look at how the EEOC managed its enforcement efforts during the past 12 months. True to predictions and the…
With the federal government shutdown the big news today, I thought it appropriate to include some information about how the shutdown will impact enforcement and litigation of employment law issues at the federal level. While many entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, will not be affected, a number…
About a month ago, the 4th Circuit affirmed a decision from the District Court of Maryland in a wage and hour collective action brought against Rite Aid. In the case, a number of pharmacists brought suit alleging that the pharmacy’s policy of allowing for unpaid personal leave only in full-day…
The 4th Circuit recently held that the discovery of poor performance reviews was sufficient basis to fire an employee, even though that employee had had recent positive reviews, and even though the negative reviews were discovered while the employee was on FMLA leave. In the case, the employee worked for…
This blog has previously covered the EEOC’s attempt to enforce a Title VII disparate impact theory against an employer utilizing a strict criminal background check. The EEOC had commenced suits against BMW and Family Dollar, and here, lost a case against Freedman Companies. The district court in the Freedman case…
When an employee returns from FMLA leave, he or she is required to be returned to the “same or equivalent position.” What precisely does that mean? Under the FMLA regulations, an equivalent position is one that: “is virtually identical to the employee’s former position in terms of pay, benefits and…
The 8th Circuit recently affirmed that undocumented workers are entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In Lucas v. Jerusalem Café, the court ruled in favor of six restaurant workers who claimed their employer willfully violated the FLSA. The workers, Guatemalan nationals without U.S. work authorization, were…