Stay current on the latest Firm news and developments in employment law
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) alleviates some of the "work/life" problems that arise every day across the country. The FMLA is a federal law that requires employers to provide employees leave for qualified medical and family reasons, without risk to the employees job. The law...
An Ohio company has been fined $50,000 by the EEOC after firing an employee who tested positive for a prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. The agency accused the company of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Chassity Brady was a quality control lab technician in the...
The federal anti-discrimination laws represent the public policy of the United States to eliminate discrimination from the workplace. Both the EEOC and private parties enforce these laws, with the lion share of enforcement actions taken by private parties who assert claims. Employers know that if...
"Right-to-work" laws weaken unions by making them provide services to union and nonunion members alike, without making all beneficiaries pay their fair share. By severely weakening unions, which are vital to strengthening the middle class and improving the economy, "right-to-work" laws have broad...
A dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant that he found attractive simply because he and his wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage, the all-male Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday. The court ruled 7-0 that bosses can fire employees they see as an "irresistible attraction,"...
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that will clarify who is a "supervisor" when it comes to Title VII sexual harassment litigation. Under current law, an employer is vicariously liable under Title VII for severe or pervasive workplace harassment by the supervisor. If the harasser is...
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) has released a fact sheet advising how employment practices that discriminate against applicants or employees who have experienced domestic or dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking may violate Title VII. While the EEOC acknowledges that...
According to the latest numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last week, based on the weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, women now earn 82 percent as much as men - up from 64 percent in 1980. In recent discussions of the wage gap, a...
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recently defended the 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission at The Federal Society's annual dinner held last Thursday night, jabbing at critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's majority opinion. Alito said arguments can be made for...
Judicial appointees are human beings, and it is no secret that some of them believe employment cases are the red-headed stepchild of civil litigation. We and others have discerned a judicial distaste for employment cases, probably due to a variety of factors, likely including the following: many...
Today, a minority of United States Senators, all of them Republican, killed legislation meant to fight gender discrimination in the workplace. The Paycheck Fairness Act, supported by 9 out of every 10 Americans, and by the overwhelming majority of Republican voters, would have held corporations...
Though employment discrimination is most commonly understood as a field defined entirely by federal law, in fact it is not. States and localities play a pivotal role in the fight against workplace discrimination. Their laws often afford stronger protections and more substantial remedies than...
Pregnancy discrimination involves treating a woman (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) forbids discrimination based on pregnancy when it comes to any aspect of...
Earlier this Fall, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (S. 3565), a bill that would require employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees and job applicants as well as those with limitations related to childbirth. Long overdue, and modeled...
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office has found that once unemployed, it takes older job seekers significantly longer to find new work. Since the recession started, the median length of unemployment has more than tripled for older workers, increasing at a greater rate than...