Courts see plenty of promotion disputes that boil down to one familiar complaint: I should have gotten the job.The Fourth Circuit just explained why that argument usually is not enough. TL;DR: In a published decision, the Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an employer facing a Title VII failure-to-promote claim.…
At a moment when federal agencies are actively dismantling disparate impact enforcement as a policy matter, New Jersey just went in the opposite direction – loudly, deliberately, and in writing. Last month, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights finalized new rules that spell out how disparate impact claims…
After employment claims ran their course, a stockholder tried a new angle: dressing up workplace harassment as a fiduciary-duty lawsuit. The court wasn’t persuaded. TL;DR: A court dismissed with prejudice a stockholder derivative lawsuit that tried to reframe a director’s and former officer’s workplace harassment as a breach of the…
Safety policies should protect workplaces, not produce eight-figure ADA exposure. This case shows how a rigid medical rule, applied without individualized assessment, can turn a routine injury into a litigation disaster. TL;DR: A jury found that an employer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Oregon disability law by enforcing…
This case is a reminder that the ADA interactive process is about engagement, not just documentation. When an employer waits too long, courts start asking why. That question sat at the center of this dispute and ultimately kept the case alive. TL;DR: An employer could not defeat an ADA reassignment…
Sometimes retaliation isn’t loud. There’s no demotion, no firing, no pay cut. It shows up quietly instead – more work than everyone else gets, repeated just often enough to send a message. That kind of retaliation can be harder to spot, but as a recent decision out of the…
In an ADA retaliation case, a positive marijuana test looked like a clean exit. It wasn’t. What tripped up the employer wasn’t the test result itself, but how the termination decision unfolded around it – including uneven discipline, disputed facts, and timing tied to disability-related absences. TL;DR: A federal court…
Failure-to-accommodate claims usually turn on what an employer didn’t do. Here, the more interesting question was whether there was any ADA duty to begin with. TL;DR: A request for an accommodation does not, by itself, establish that an employee is disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Employers…
Employers often assume that launching an investigation is a safe harbor. The Tenth Circuit just delivered a reminder that when decisionmakers rely on a flawed investigation, the process can matter as much as the decision itself. TL;DR: The Tenth Circuit revived two Title VII retaliation claims after a physician…
Retaliation requires awareness. Without it, there’s no causal link—no matter how suspicious the timing may feel. A recent Third Circuit decision underscores a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil reality employers should understand. TL;DR: The Third Circuit affirmed summary judgment on retaliation claims, holding that discipline imposed after internal complaints failed where decision-makers…