Employment

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.

In a decision that likely surprised no one but the plaintiffs, on May 3, 2011, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Boeing was within its right to fire two employees who complained to the media about practices they viewed as potential violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”).

Last year, New York nearly became the first state to pass a law protecting employees against workplace bullying. The New York State Senate passed the bill in May 2010 by a wide margin, but the following month, the New York Assembly Labor Committee voted to “hold” it in committee, effectively killing its chances at passage in 2010.

On September 30, 2010, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) filed a lawsuit against a non-profit social services agency, claiming that the agency had discriminated against an employee on the basis of her disability—severe obesity.

As recently reported in Employment Law 360 (subscription required), the EEOC sued US Steel alleging that certain of its alcohol testing practices violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In an Administrator’s Interpretation issued on June 22, 2010, The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has "clarified" the definition of “son or daughter” under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as it applies to an employee standing in loco parentis to a child. The result is to significantly expand the universe of caregivers entitled to FMLA leave.

See this interesting write-up of the Supreme Court's decision in the text message privacy case, City of Ontario v Quon.

See this recent Mintz Levin advisory answering some "FAQs" on health care reform's impact on employee benefits.

Health care reform impacts employers in many significant ways. While the effects of reform on insurance coverage and other requirements have been widely publicized, much less well-understood are various amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).