A recent federal appellate court decision is an important reminder to confirm early—not later—whether the employee suing your business signed an arbitration agreement. The plaintiff had signed an agreement with an arbitration provision that covered his subsequent claims for disability discrimination, which he filed in federal court. But the employer…
Spoiler alert: it often doesn’t end well for the plaintiff or their lawyer. For example, let’s discuss this Second Circuit decision in which a plaintiff had sued her employer and two of its employees, asserting claims of sexual harassment during and retaliatory discharge from her employment. For a time, it…
A multi-year dispute over unpaid wages went from bad to a whole lot worse for a Midwest business owner when he decided to appeal a trial court ruling that he owed over $300k in wages, damages, and attorney’s fees by representing himself and hiring an “online consultant” who used artificial…
As an employment law mediator, my resume includes many years of private practice and service to some federal courts. But I cut my chops at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and have remained a volunteer mediator with the EEOC for over a decade. If anyone asked me what I…
Freepik, Vital Gorbachev, Smashicons edited by Bruce The Deus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons If your company makes its employees sign arbitration agreements, then this post is for you. The rest of you can get an early start on happy hour find something else to read while sipping your…
Ibrahim.ID, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons It depends. (Sorry). But, for added context, I love this quote from a recent Maryland federal court opinion: [There are] complexities in relying on a party’s social media postings as an unvarnished chronicle of their lives or a contemporaneous journal of their true…
Image Credit: Photfunia.com Last Friday, I had a great time with special guest Abigail Morrow on The Employee Handbook Zoom Office Hour. (If you missed it, check out the replay here on The Employer Handbook YouTube Channel.) So let’s run it back this Friday at Noon ET on Zoom. This…
Image Credit: Zoom and YouTube “I’m not a cat.” Bruh… I’m not a cat either. And I’ll prove it when The Employer Handbook Zoom Office Hour returns this Friday at Noon ET, when I’ll be joined by another non-cat, Abigail Morrow. Abigail is Assistant General Counsel at Staffmark Group, a…
Image by Shafin Al Asad Protic from Pixabay Let’s discuss. No vaccine? Stay home, says one law firm. On Friday, Aebra Coe at Law360 reported here (subscription required) that a Seattle-based law firm with over 500 attorneys and 2019 revenues of more than $400,000,000 “has adopted a vaccine policy for…
Wikirishiaacharya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By most reasonable accounts, this year has been one hot mess. Fortunately, I’m blessed to work at an amazing law firm, FisherBroyles. Last week, the prestigious Financial Times announced that we had been short-listed for its “Innovative Lawyers – North America” awards, in…