Last month, in Porter v. Houma Terrebonne Housing Authority Board of Commissioners (“HTHA”), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a former employee’s claim of unlawful retaliation based on complaints of sexual harassment should proceed to trial.
Such a ruling is not necessarily unusual, but what makes this one unique is the court held that an employer’s refusal to let an employee rescind her resignation can be an “adverse employment action”—one of the three prima facie elements of a claim for unlawful retaliation under Title VII of the Civil ...
The current version of the Form I-9 is set to expire on 3/31/16. In advance of the expiration, USCIS has issued proposed changes to the Form I-9 for public comment. The new version would allow employers to complete the form on their computer with some imbedded prompts assisting them in the completion of the form. This is an attempt to reduce technical errors commonly made on the Form I-9. Employers would still be able to complete the form by hand if they choose to do so.
Some of the proposed changes included are:
- Electronic checks on certain fields to ensure accuracy
- Drop down lists for ...
On December 3, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) affirmed dismissal of a failure to accommodate claim brought by an employee bumped from a job assignment that accommodated his disability after his employer opened that assignment to seniority-based bidding pursuant to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
After a series of injuries and several extended leaves of absence, the employee was released to return to work with permanent restrictions that prevented him from performing many of the physically demanding ...
On December 1, 2015, in conjunction with World AIDS Day, the EEOC issued two new guidance documents addressing the legal rights available to employees with HIV/AIDS under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).
While these documents specifically reference HIV and AIDS, the reality is that this new guidance has tremendous value to human resources professionals and other management decision-makers who may be faced with accommodation requests based on virtually any medical condition. Moreover, although the guidance is not specifically directed to employers, again the ...
Medical marijuana (MMJ) is now permitted in 23 states and Washington D.C. Out of those 23 states four of them permit recreational use. Though it remains illegal on the Federal level, the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced the release of over 6,000 inmates convicted of nonviolent drug charges. This begs the question – are you prepared for medical cannabis in the workplace?
Nondiscrimination Policies
Most states with MMJ prohibit discrimination on the basis of a worker or applicant being a registered patient. However, employers should also carefully consider that a ...
In June 2014, the Supreme Court issued a decision impacting “fair share” provisions in public sector collective bargaining agreements. By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled in Harris v. Quinn that home health care workers in Illinois could not be compelled to financially support a union they did not want to join. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito noted that the “primary purpose of permitting unions to collect fees is to ‘prevent nonmembers from free-riding on the unions’ efforts, sharing the employment benefits obtained by the union’s collective ...
A couple of months ago, we discussed the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) startling decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015), in which it determined that a non-union company shared joint employer liability, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), with a labor contractor at one of its recycling plants. The Board held that two or more entities are joint employers if each one possesses sufficient control over employee’s essential terms and conditions of employment. Employers were in an uproar over the decision ...
A recent 7th Circuit case, Hooper v. Proctor Health Care, Inc., Case No. 14-2344 (7th Cir. 2015), serves as a reminder that a plaintiff cannot state a failure to accommodate claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) if the plaintiff’s physical or mental limitations do not affect the plaintiff’s ability to perform essential job functions.
In Hooper, an employee diagnosed with bi-polar disorder prior to being hired by Proctor, requested time off after an incident that took place outside of work. He disclosed his diagnosis to the Director of Human ...
Can I regulate and/or discipline an employee for using alcohol outside of work?
While you might think the answer is pretty straightforward – it is NOT. Attorneys often respond by saying, “it depends.”
If an employee’s use of alcohol (or any other legal product) outside of work is negatively impacting their performance or resulting in them coming to work impaired, then you can issue discipline in line with your policies and procedures for that conduct.
What if it is not impacting their performance and they are not coming to work drunk?
Again the answer is the dreaded – “it ...
The Seventh Circuit recently took another shot at the increasingly rebuked McDonnell Douglas framework for determining employment discrimination claims. Seasoned employment attorneys can recite the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting analysis in their sleep; in fact, it’s likely been the topic of some sleep-talking rants for some. Under the analysis, established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, if a plaintiff lacks “direct” or “smoking gun” evidence of discrimination, which they usually do, their claim may still survive if they show that (1) they are a ...
Welcome to the Labor and Employment Law Update where attorneys from Amundsen Davis blog about management side labor and employment issues.
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