The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held that Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in Zarda v. Altitude Express, No. 15-3775 (2d Cir. 2018). With this decision, the Second Circuit joins the Seventh Circuit as the second court to recognize sexual orientation as a ...
Companies may choose to offer severance to an employee at the end of employment. But severance pay is no free throw! Typically, any severance payment should be conditioned on the employee’s execution of a waiver and release of claims.
In the past, a company could have deducted both the settlement and attorney’s fees related to such settlement ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
Based on a recent court ruling, what you say in unemployment proceedings can now lead to a lawsuit. In Hickey v. General Electric Company, 2017-SC-000135-CL, the Kentucky Supreme Court held in a unanimous opinion that employers may be sued for making false statements during unemployment proceedings. This ruling means that ...
During the Women’s 500-Meter Speed Skating Semifinals, British Olympian Elise Christie crashed out of competition after clipping another skater during the race. While Christie escaped the fall with no broken bones, she sustained injuries that call into question her physical readiness to compete in other events at the PyeongChang 2018 ...
You know the one—They never quite meet the standards for the job. They’re always complaining about something. Then they claim to suffer a mysterious injury at work—the circumstances just don’t add up and now they’re telling you they’ll be off for weeks. You weren’t happy with their performance before and now you want to get rid of ...
With the New Year, many employers wisely made it their 2018 resolution to avoid making #MeToo headlines. As with all resolutions, merely wishing them to happen (or in this case not happen) is not enough. It takes action. As we discussed in a recent article, one big step for this resolution is manager and employee training. Prevention is the best tool ...
By Julie Laemmle
The Fourth Circuit recently issued a decision in EEOC v. Maryland Insurance Administration, No. 16-2408 (4th Cir. Jan. 5, 2018), joining the Third, Sixth and Tenth Circuits in finding that the statutory language of Section 206(d) of the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) requires an employer to provide evidence that the employer’s ...
The nation’s #MeToo movement has spurred enormous positive change, including employers revisiting their anti-harassment policies and reporting procedures. And with the help of today’s technology, employers can now adopt a phone app that allows employees to report workplace harassment from the convenience and privacy of their phone ...
A little-known provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act should be of great interest to employers. In response to the #MeToo movement and the recent surge of sexual misconduct allegations, Congress included a provision in the Act that precludes employers from deducting (1) settlements or payments relating to sexual harassment ...
As many employers have begun thinking about their summer hiring needs, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has announced that going forward, it will apply the “primary beneficiary” test to determine whether interns working for “for-profit” employers are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act ...