The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for a qualified individual with a disability unless doing so will impose an undue hardship on its business. A plaintiff who claims that their employer failed to accommodate them must initially establish that they could perform the position’s essential…
A plaintiff claiming age discrimination at work must ultimately prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that age was the ‘but-for’ cause of whatever adverse employment action the plaintiff claims to have suffered. However, a recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision reminds us that merely pleading allegations of age…
In employment discrimination cases where a defendant-employer articulates a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employment action, the plaintiff has the burden then shifts to the plaintiff-employee to establish that the employer’s reason was a pretext for discrimination, i.e., the defendant’s reason for, say, terminating the plaintiff’s employment is false. Without…
Yesterday, a federal appellate court issued a precedential opinion clarifying when employers must pay employees and provide certain benefits while they take short-term military leave under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (“USERRA”). USERRA is a federal law that protects servicemembers’ and veterans’ civilian employment rights.…
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently issued two press releases: one announcing a disability discrimination lawsuit and another about a recent settlement of age and disability discrimination claims. Both involve supervisors who allegedly thought they knew more than medical professionals. They were wrong. In the pending lawsuit, the EEOC…
A single incident, like a supervisor calling a black employee the “n” word, may be enough to create a hostile work environment. But what if the victim doesn’t witness it? For example, in a recent federal court decision, the plaintiff, a black man, testified in his deposition that his supervisor…
The New Jersey Supreme Court has weighed in not once but twice this month on important employment law issues. So, if you operate a business in the Garden State, I’ll bring you up to speed on that, plus some new pending legislation. (For the rest of you, have a nice…
Earlier this month, a federal appellate court addressed a few situations involving retaliation claims in the workplace in which parties (and sometimes courts) may misapply the law, namely, Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964. So, let’s clear this up. A retaliation claim has three elements: a protected activity,…
If your business provides a self-funded health insurance plan to its employees, that health plan covers “medically necessary” services, and you’re not keen on defending sex discrimination claims, then keep reading. Yesterday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that an employer cannot exclude coverage for…
An employer recently learned the hard way that a proper response to an employee’s complaint of harassment involves more than simply investigating it. I’ll explain. Last night, I read a recent decision from a Pennsylvania federal judge. The plaintiff, an Asian American, testified at his deposition that his supervisor often…