I’ve drafted plenty of employee separation agreements. Many of them include non-disparagement provisions. Some of them include a mutual non-disparagement provision. But that mutuality is somewhat illusory. For example, in this recent case, the employer and its former employee agreed that the employee would not disparage the employer (among others),…
A little over five years ago, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued an employer for disability discrimination. It claimed that the company, which temporarily granted a request to allow an employee with night blindness to work an earlier shift to avoid an evening commute, should have agreed to extend…
I enjoy blogging about employment law. But occasionally, perhaps after a long day, I wish some of these blog posts would write themselves. Last night, I got my wish. As an email subscriber to the press releases from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, I’ve noticed an unusual amount of…
Finally, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has voted to issue new guidance on workplace harassment. Here is a copy of its proposed “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.” It’s been a long time coming. This Law360 report notes that this new guidance is the first voted document the EEOC…
I’m speaking figuratively, of course. Taxpayer dollars do not support judges bruising and battering litigants who appear in court. However, the defendant is probably still smarting from this recent Fifth Circuit decision, in which the court overturned a lower court ruling dismissing the plaintiff’s claims that the defendant failed to…
Many of you accumulate vacation days at work throughout the year. So did the plaintiff in this recent federal court decision. She alleged that when her employer denied her requests to use her unused, accrued vacation in 2018 and 2019, it discriminated against her based on her sex, seemingly because…
An employee who claims retaliation in federal court must demonstrate they suffered treatment was “materially adverse,” i.e., something that could reasonably have dissuaded a reasonable worker from participating in a protected activity, like complaining about discrimination. Last night, I read a decision from a federal judge in New York weighing…
…the plaintiff missed the mark. Badly. On the plus side, I get a blog post out of it. Direct vs. Circumstantial Evidence When employees lose their jobs and claim discrimination, there are two types of evidence they can use to prove their case: direct and circumstantial. Direct evidence of discrimination…
Of all the hills on which an employer should plant its flag to defend, this is not the one. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities, except when such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. The undue hardship burden is…
Want to see it? Check out the Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) for Fiscal Years 2024 –2028 that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released yesterday. It contains the EEOC’s subject matter priorities for the next several years. But, if your attention span for these things isn’t tip-top, I can…