Clipper’s Owner Controversy Highlights Importance of Investigation

UPDATED When professional basketball team owner Donald Sterling was caught on tape making racist remarks about African Americans, the NBA commissioner followed the correct procedure.  He conducted a timely investigation and implemented a punishment he thought appropriate to the violation —a lifetime ban from the game and $2.5 million dollar fine.  While you may or… More

Updated COBRA Notices

The Department of Labor (DOL) just updated its COBRA general notice and COBRA election notice to include information about coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA or ObamaCare) Health Insurance Marketplace. The model general notice and model election notice are available on the DOL website at www.dol.gov/ebsa/cobra.html.

The NLRB Slaps Down Negativity Ban

Ever wish you could tell employees to stop being so negative all the time?  A Michigan employer learned the hard way that this type of ban can get you in hot water with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board).  The Board found unlawful a policy that employees could not “make negative comments… More

Collusion on No-Poaching May Not Be OK

We often encourage companies to have employees sign non-compete and non-solicitation agreements to protect the employer from unfair competition by former employees. Executives at Google, Apple, Adobe, and Intel took this one step further, however, and proactively agreed amongst themselves not to poach employees from each other’s companies.  End result– salaries were purportedly artificially suppressed… More

Proper Documentation Overcomes Speculative Retaliation Claim

A deaf employee was fired because of offensive behavior.  The employee sued claiming the termination was retaliation for his complaints about the quality of his Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation. Pearlman v. Pritzker (4th Cir. 2014).   The employer was able to successfully defend itself (At summary judgment!! Meaning it avoided the expense of a… More

Obama Signs Equal Pay Executive Order for Federal Contractors

President Obama recently made two strategic moves designed to help close the pay gap between male and female federal contractors. First, he signed an executive order banning federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss their compensation. This ban is similiar to the protection offered to employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).  Second,… More

Temporary Disability May Still Qualify for Protection Under the ADA

Long gone are the days of automatically challenging whether an employee truly is “disabled.”  As further proof of this maxim, in Summers v. Altarum Institute Corp. the Fourth Circuit (covering Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina) recently found in favor of an employee who’s employment was terminated when her temporary injury prevented her from… More

Clear Communication May Limit FMLA and ADA Liability

When does open heart surgery not qualify for FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) protection?  As demonstrated by the recent case Ahmed v. The Salvation Army, perhaps when the employee repeatedly fails to submit proper paperwork.  The employee in this case told her Maryland-based employer she would need leave for… More

A Little Preventative Medicine Pays Huge Dividends on Avoiding Discrimination Harassment Lawsuits

As we often counsel clients — courts and juries realize that employees are human beings and humans sometimes do dumb things.  That’s why the discrimination and harassment laws “credit” employers who make real efforts to communicate (and update!) their Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policies and who provide training to their employees on these topics.  In other words,… More