It’s the kind of line you say when you’re thinking out loud, not realizing that your thoughts are about to become Plaintiff’s Exhibit A. TL;DR: A First Circuit panel revived a federal postal employee’s Title VII sex-discrimination claim after her supervisor, while interviewing her for a promotion, remarked that…
A recent Fourth Circuit decision shows how strong documentation can make or break a retaliation case. TL;DR: An employee claimed that her employer retaliated after she raised race concerns. The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the employer because contemporaneous records showed performance issues and leadership misalignment that began well before…
“Heads I win, tails you lose.” That’s how the Sixth Circuit described one hospital’s strategy after it tried to switch to arbitration only after losing some key early motions in court. The judges didn’t flip for it. TL;DR: A Michigan hospital tried to move a religious-discrimination case to arbitration only…
When a White Jewish university employee claimed discipline for racially charged remarks amounted to discrimination, the court disagreed. It called the case something else entirely, and in doing so, it drew an important boundary for every employer. TL;DR: A federal court just clarified a point that often gets blurred when discipline…
If you’ve ever wondered why the same few employees keep you up at night, Todd Stanton has the answer — and it might just change the way you manage your workplace. Join me for a live Zoom conversation with Todd Stanton, founder of Stanton Law and author of The 95%…
When your employees do not work a standard 9-to-5 schedule, calculating their Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitlement can get tricky. A new opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Labor clarifies how to handle it, especially when mandatory overtime and optional extra shifts are part of the mix.…
Ever wonder whether two connected businesses, like a restaurant and private club sharing a kitchen and managers, can dodge overtime by claiming they’re separate companies? The U.S. Department of Labor just answered that question loud and clear. TL;DR: When two entities share ownership, management, operations, and other common elements, and…
If you’ve been clam-oring for clarity on whether front-of-house oyster shuckers can share in the tip pool, the U.S. Department of Labor just served up a pearl of wisdom. TL;DR: The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued a new opinion letter (FLSA2025-03) confirming that front-of-house oyster shuckers who interact with…
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision is a good reminder that repeated remarks from leadership about wanting “younger” workers can become powerful evidence of discrimination. Even when an employer points to other reasons for its decisions, a jury may not buy them if the paper trail does not line up. TL;DR:…
In 2022, Congress passed a law that makes it harder for employers to require arbitration in certain workplace cases. Some employees are now trying to use that law to keep sex discrimination lawsuits in court. A recent case in Connecticut shows the limits of that strategy: not every sex discrimination…