Employment

On August 26, the Department of Justice reached a settlement with Kinro Manufacturing Inc. with regard to allegations that it “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against work-authorized non-citizens in the employment eligibility verification process” by requiring certain new hires to provide proof of employment eligibility beyond that required by law.

In a short but interesting opinion by Justice Souter, sitting by designation, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that, under Massachusetts law, the court may not enter an injunction enforcing a non-compete or other restrictive covenant which expired during the course of litigation, at least where the contract does not expressly provide for tolling of the covenant

An earthquake and a hurricane in one week in New York and elsewhere!? With the former, you may have had to evacuate your employees from the building; with the latter, it is becoming increasingly likely that your east coast employees may not even make into the building.

In a case all employers should find troubling, the EEOC recently held that a federal agency-employer discriminated on the basis of disability by denying an employee’s request for accommodation, despite the fact that information the employee provided when making his request and during the time in which the employer and employee engaged in the required interactive process

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently dismissed a Fair Labor Standards Act retaliation claim where the plaintiff alleged that the defendant refused to hire her because she had sued her previous employer for wage and hour violations.

The number of religious discrimination cases has risen steadily over the past decade. This trend may continue, at least in New York City, well into the future.

Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Millea v. Metro-North R.R. Co., --- F.3d ----, 2011 WL 3437513 (2d Cir. Aug. 8, 2011), found that  a “material adverse employment action” in the context of a Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) retaliation claim need not be all that “material” .

Many employers have employees sign confidentiality agreements aimed at prohibiting disclosure of confidential business information to third parties, and it has been widely assumed that such clauses were lawful.

In this day and age, all employers know that sexual harassment in the workplace is wrong.  Right?  Not so fast.  If the allegations set forth in a case filed in in Utah on August 4, 2011 prove to be true, there is at least one supervisor out there who simply does not get it.

It is no secret that employers were not pleased with U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, Staub v. Proctor handed down in March.  And why would they be? 

The Old Testament describes a “Nazirite” as a man or woman who vows to abstain from eating grapes or raisins, or drinking any beverage derived from grapes; to refrain from cutting or combing his or her hair; and to avoid corpses and graves, even those of family members.  The vow may be temporary or permanent, and the rules for each differ slightly.

A federal court in Oklahoma recently found an Abercrombie Kids store (a brand of Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc.) liable for religious discrimination because the store did not hire a Muslim applicant who wore a headscarf during a job interview.

On June 28 the OFCCP announced that it was restoring the functional AAP (FAAP) program, which it had suspended a few years ago. A copy of the OFCCP's Directive regarding FAAP's may be found here; the key points are as follows

In recent months, a number of clients have asked us to provide recommendations concerning the do's and don't's for sending emails and other electronic communications. In response to these requests, we have put together a summary of best practices for electronic communications, which can be found here.

On July 5, 2011, the EEOC filed suit against Verizon and a number of its subsidiaries, claiming that Verizon’s no-fault attendance program violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Supreme Court's historic ruling in Wal-Mart v Dukes will make it more difficult for plaintiffs to pursue actions against employers on behalf of nationwide and other broad classes of employees. Read an excellent analysis of the decision here.

As we previously reported, the EEOC held a public meeting on June 8, 2011 to examine the use of medical leaves of absence as “reasonable accommodation” for employees’ disabilities.  A total of six panelists participated in the hearing: two from the EEOC, two representing the interests of disabled workers, and two representing the interests of the business community.

On Wednesday June 8, the EEOC will hold a public meeting to examine the use of medical leaves of absence as “reasonable accommodation” for employees’ disabilities.

On May 9, 2011, the US Department of Labor launched a smartphone "app" to help employees track hours worked and break times, and to calculate regular wages and overtime. Data collected may be viewed in daily, weekly, and monthly formats, and can be sent with wage data as an attachment to an email.

67 seconds of viewing porn . . . That’s all it took to get a high school biology teacher and former teacher’s union president, Robert Zellner, fired- 67 seconds of viewing porn. Why is this news?  Because Mr. Zellner sued, claiming that he was actually terminated because of his union activities and not because he viewed porn from his school-owned computer.