Whistleblower cases do not begin with evidence and proof. They begin with allegations. If those allegations are plausible, employers get forced into discovery. Under CEPA, that bar is very low. TL;DR: At the motion-to-dismiss stage, a claim under the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) does not require proof…
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…
If retaliation claims could be proven just by pointing to an employer’s handbook, summary judgment would be extinct. This court made clear that policies don’t replace proof. TL;DR: An employee argued that retaliation could be inferred because the employer’s harassment policy required managers to report complaints “up the ladder,” so…
Most employment cases fall apart because the evidence is thin or the comparators don’t line up. This one fell apart because of what the employee herself admitted – under oath. TL;DR: A Sixth Circuit panel affirmed summary judgment for an urgent care clinic after a front-desk employee was terminated…
The EEOC just pulled the plug on its most comprehensive harassment guidance. Some federal guardrails are gone, but the law is not – and neither are employers’ obligations. TL;DR: The EEOC has rescinded its 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The statutes prohibiting harassment did not change, but…
Deciding too early that accommodation is impossible can shape everything that follows. This case shows why courts often let juries sort it out. In a recent ADA decision from the Northern District of Illinois, an employer decided an injured employee could not return as a bus operator under her medical…
A single recruiting phone call. No application. No interview. And yet, enough evidence for a federal judge to let an ADA hiring case move forward. TL;DR: A federal court in North Carolina refused to throw out an ADA hiring case brought by the EEOC after a recruiter allegedly shut down…
When an employee’s health takes a turn, the instinct is to be flexible. The legal risk is assuming flexibility means you cannot enforce expectations. TL;DR: The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for a county employer that ended a probationary employee’s employment after documenting performance problems, even though the employee…
Governor Murphy just expanded the New Jersey Family Leave Act. It reads cleanly in the statute. It reads a little differently once you try to apply it to real people and real leave requests. These amendments are not cosmetic. They expand coverage, accelerate employee eligibility, and formally connect NJFLA to…
Wage-and-hour disputes often come down to one deceptively simple question: when does paid work actually begin? A recent Eleventh Circuit decision draws some clear – and employer-friendly – lines around travel time, tool time, and waiting time under the Fair Labor Standards Act. TL;DR: The Eleventh Circuit held that…