Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Among the many perils of litigation, one of the biggest concerns employers express is the risk of an astronomical jury verdict. On Feb. 1, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals addressed this issue when it cut an eye-popping $366 million jury verdict against FedEx to just $249,000. The decision in Harris v. FedEx Corporate […]
It’s not uncommon for employees who allege discrimination to drop the claim later and focus solely on a retaliation claim against their employer. Courts often dismiss discrimination claims as baseless, only to find the employer retaliated against the employee who made the allegations. Although employers aren’t required to suspend previously planned acts (e.g., investigations or […]
In an unpublished opinion, a unanimous panel from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to employers in South Carolina, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) provided some great insight into possible defenses against an Equal Pay Act (EPA) claim. Because this is just an unpublished opinion, it’s not binding precedent.
People can hold grudges for a long time. But when a manager is holding a grudge against an employee, how long can that grudge continue? Well, in one case, a manager held a grudge against an employee for 11 years. The case comes to us out of Utah, where a former sheriff’s department firearms instructor […]
On August 15, 2022, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania employers) upheld the District of New Jersey’s dismissal of an employee’s age discrimination claims, finding she was unable to show her employer’s nondiscriminatory reasons for not hiring her were “so plainly wrong that it cannot […]
One of the things that happens with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a disconnect between the complex structure of the FMLA and its practical application. Plaintiffs’ attorneys will sometimes assert that they don’t understand how there could be an FMLA issue given that the structure is “so easy to understand.” That’s typically […]
Retaliation claims are among the most numerous types of employee claims processed through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and state EEO agencies. Central to the claims is whether an employee engaged in protected activity and how the employer responded to it. A recent case from the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings […]
An announcement from three federal agencies that they are aligning to protect employees who try to exercise their rights in the workplace means employers need to be especially on guard against actions that may be seen as unlawful retaliation.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the dismissal of a former employee’s sexual orientation discrimination and retaliation claims because he hadn’t exhausted administrative remedies with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before filing suit. Although he mentioned sex discrimination and retaliation in the EEOC intake questionnaire, he hadn’t checked the boxes on […]
Some workplace cases provide multiple lessons about employment discrimination. Recently, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota—rendered a decision providing guidance on discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.