The job requirements were… a lot: craft-beer exams, choreography, flair tricks, social media posts, and a “weight proportional to height” standard. Oh, and a mechanical bull. Eighteen longtime bartenders said the whole thing skewed younger. The court said their lawsuit had a more basic problem. TL;DR: A New Jersey appellate…
Many employers rely on hiring assessments to gauge fit. But what if those tools are viewed as unlawful lie detector tests? A recent Massachusetts ruling should give you pause before you rely on a “workstyle” assessment. TL;DR: A Massachusetts federal court denied a motion to dismiss and allowed a putative…
Two arguments show up in almost every termination lawsuit: that the employer’s reason changed, and that it didn’t follow its own policy. The Eleventh Circuit recently explained why neither argument, without more, is enough to get a case to a jury. TL;DR: In a recent Eleventh Circuit decision, the…
Not every workplace conflict that creates turbulence makes it to a jury. This one didn’t. The employer’s investigation held up under the honest-belief doctrine. TL;DR: The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an airline after a flight attendant received a Final Corrective Action Notice for allegedly violating its Workplace…
A recent Southern District of New York decision is being described as “AI destroys privilege.” That’s not what the court held. But employers using consumer AI tools in connection with employment decisions should pay attention. TL;DR: In United States v. Heppner, the court held that documents a criminal defendant generated…
Constructive discharge is a high bar. But an ultimatum, delivered the wrong way and on the wrong timeline, can be enough to clear it. That was the lesson from a recent federal court decision involving a pregnant employee who was told she could either keep working under at-will conditions or…
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: it’s the Monday after the Super Bowl, an employee with approved intermittent FMLA leave asks for a personal day, gets denied, switches to FMLA, and later finds himself terminated for “abuse.” That is not a hypothetical. It is essentially what happened in a…
Hiring can feel like a checklist: background check, drug test, start date. But when an applicant raises a disability-related issue, those boxes stop being routine, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) starts asking questions. TL;DR: An applicant disclosed prescription medications that could affect a required drug test and…
Sometimes a routine overtime dispute turns into an FMLA problem because no one stops to ask the right questions. A new Eleventh Circuit decision shows how easily that can happen. TL;DR: An employee told supervisors that his pregnant spouse’s condition was high risk, that she could not drive, and that…
Artificial intelligence is changing everything from hiring to customer service, and now Congress wants to know exactly how many American jobs it’s creating… and killing. TL;DR: A bipartisan Senate bill called the AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act would require large employers and federal agencies to report quarterly on job…