Litigators often counsel witnesses to answer, “I don’t recall,” rather than guess or speculate the response to a question at a deposition. But, sometimes, that approach can backfire. The female plaintiff in this recent Third Circuit opinion I read last night worked as a manager in the defendant’s finance department.…
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals because of a disability. A qualified individual can perform the job’s essential functions with or without a reasonable accommodation. Often, an individual with a disability will approach a supervisor or HR, identify their limitations, and ask for help.…
I love to litigate employment disputes. And restrictive covenant cases are at or near the top of my list. They are fast-paced, usually well-lawyered on both sides, and lucrative. The primary goal of the dispute is to obtain a preliminary injunction — quickly — to stop someone from working. That…
Last week, while many of you were in your offices with the doors closed, pretending to work before the holiday break, the Senate and House passed an omnibus spending package incorporating two separate pieces of legislation to protect pregnant workers and new moms. Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Introduced in May,…
Under a federal law called the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, businesses with 100 or more employees must provide affected workers with 60 days’ notice before a big layoff. It’s a bit more nuanced than that. But, for this blog post, the details aren’t so important. What does…
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it had released New Resources for Workers Impacted by Cancer. Cancer Moonshot week of action was the impetus for the new resources. The Cancer Moonshot initiative aims to reduce cancer’s death rate by accelerating treatment discovery. Labor Secretary, Marty Walsh,…
Sometimes, when deciding whether to blog about a recent federal court decision, I skip the “Factual Background” section and go right to the “Discussion.” That’s where I usually find the most concise, “meat-and-bones” explanation of what the case is about. I did that last night when I read this Minnesota…
I like to tell people who will listen to me, which frequently isn’t even my kids, that I can go into most workplaces and sleuth out at least one wage-and-hour violation. The Fair Labor Standards Act, the complex federal wage-and-hour law, contains many hidden traps that ensnare even the most…
On Friday’s edition of The Employer Handbook Zoom Office Happy Hour — catch the replay here if you missed it — we talked about 2022 changes in the law that could impact 2023 updates to your employee handbook. One talked briefly about how the pendulum at the National Labor Relations…
I don’t know about you, but the COVID-19 pandemic has warped my sense of timing. Still, it seems like a lot happened in 2022 that warrants some discussion about how employers should revise their employee handbooks for 2023. Covering 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico seems ambitious;…