Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category
NLRB Requires Employer to Turn Over Witness Statement
Under Anheuser Busch (237 NLRB 982, (1978)), employers were not required to turn over witness statements to the Union where such statements were obtained during the course of an employer’s disciplinary investigation because such statements were confidential. Recently, however, the NLRB found that a witness statement was not entitled to such protections, nor did it constitute [...]
EEOC Announces Strategic Enforcement Plan
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently approved a Strategic Enforcement Plan. This Plan establishes national enforcement priorities and promotes more strategic use of agency resources, all with the goal of remedying unlawful discrimination. The EEOC identified, through the Plan, six national priorities, which include: 1) eliminating barriers in recruiting and hiring; 2) protecting vulnerable workers [...]
U.S. Supreme Court: State Court Should Not Have Ruled on Validity of Noncompete Clause; Issue Was for Arbitrator
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Oklahoma Supreme Court erroneously struck down a noncompete agreement, declaring it invalid under state law. The problem with the state court’s decision, however, was that there was an arbitration agreement in the employer’s employment agreements; thus, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the state court should have allowed [...]
Virginia: Employees Can Sue Individual Supervisors for Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy
A nurse who worked at an orthopedic spine center claimed that she was subjected to sexual harassment by her supervisor, a doctor who was the owner of the center. When she refused to leave her husband to be with the doctor, he allegedly fired her. She filed suit, claiming gender discrimination as well as wrongful [...]
Nurse Denied FLSA Claim for Failure to Follow Employer’s Policies
An emergency department nurse did not have regularly scheduled meal breaks given the nature of her position, but was permitted to take them as work demands allowed. The hospital’s employee handbook provided that employees were to receive unpaid meal periods, the time for which would be automatically deducted from their paycheck. Employees were instructed to [...]
Employer’s “Honest Suspicion” of Misuse of FMLA Leave Defeats FMLA Interference and Retaliation Claims
It’s not uncommon for employers to suspect employees of misusing paid or protected leaves of absence. It is, however, quite uncommon that such misuse can actually be proven and ultimately serve as a defense for an employer in a subsequent lawsuit. Yet that’s precisely what happened in Scruggs v. Carrier Corporation. In this case, the [...]
Pregnancy Discrimination Not Prohibited by Florida Civil Rights Act
A Florida Court of Appeal recently determined that pregnancy discrimination is not prohibited by the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA). In Delva v. The Continental Group, Inc. the employee brought suit against her former employer claiming pregnancy discrimination in violation of the FCRA. The employee claimed that after notifying her supervisor of her pregnancy, she was treated [...]
NLRB Unsuccessfully Challenges Court’s Invalidation of “Ambush Election Rule”
As many employers may recall, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America (“Chamber”) filed suit against the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) earlier this year in an effort to invalidate the “ambush election rule.” Essentially, the Chamber sought to invalidate the rule which it claimed would make responding to union campaigns more difficult [...]
NLRB: Retailer Violated NLRA By Forcing Non-Union Workers to Distribute Flyers Apologizing for Bothersome Union Organizing Efforts
The National Labor Relations Board ruled earlier this week that an employer violated federal law when it required non-union employees to distribute fliers apologizing for union protests in front of its store. The case, Tesco PLC d/b/a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Inc., 358 NLRB 65 (June 25, 2012), arose out of a union organizing [...]
Breaking News: U.S. Supreme Court Finds Pharmaceutical Sales Reps Exempt as Outside Salespersons Under FLSA
This morning the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Christopher et al. v. SmithKline Beecham, finding that SmithKline properly classified its pharmaceutical sales representatives as “outside salespersons” and thus exempt under the wage and hour requirements set forth in the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Department of Labor (“DOL”) filed amicus briefs urging that the [...]
