Another First Amendment Ruling in Employment Law The case is American Society of Journalists and Authors Inc. v. Bonta, 9th Cir., No. 20-55734 (Oct. 6, 2021), petition for rehearing en banc denied (Nov. 23, 2021). California's "ABC test" for classifying workers as employees or independent contractors, does not violate the...
Can Employees Send Confidential Information To The Media? The case is Breiterman v. U.S. Capitol Police, D.C. Cir., No. 20-5295 (Oct. 15, 2021), where the U.S. Capitol Police demoted a sergeant to private first class for disciplinary reasons and later fired her when she ‘exercised’ her First Amendment rights by...
WHEN IS IT AN UNDUE HARDSHIP FOR AN EMPLOYER TRYING TO WORK THROUGH A COVID-19 VACCINE ACCOMMODATION REQUEST? Employers face medical and sincerely held religious belief objections to COVID-19 vaccinations and anti-discrimination laws (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title...
Federal Appeals Court in New Orleans Blocks Federal Mandatory Vaccine Requirements for Large Employers The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued a stay temporarily blocking the Federal mandatory vaccination requirement for employers with 100 or more employees. The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) immediately responded saying...
TODAY - OSHA ISSUED GUIDANCE FOR VACCINE MANDATES By December 4, 2021, large employers (those with over 100 employees, including remote and part time employees - everybody) must put in place vaccine mandate requirements for employees. Today OSHA issued the Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) for large employers and Frequently Asked...
Employers Beware Productivity Quotas and Monitoring Can Cause New Claims Employers who have quotas for employees, run warehouses or distribution centers, or otherwise monitor productivity of employees: new law AB 701 applies to you.[1] Starting on January 1st, employers are prohibited from using quotas or productivity monitoring to interfere with...
Former Executive Awarded $10m Claim For Being Fired Because He Is a White Man David Duvall, a Michigan man who sued his employer, Novant Health, claimed in the employer fired him as a white man and replaced him with a Black woman and a White woman as part of the...
UPDATE: Religious Exemptions from COVID-19 Vaccinations On October 25, 2021, the EEOC released an update[1] religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination. The EEOC notes that requests for accommodation should be handled on a case-by-case basis. And in deciding how to proceed, the employer and employee should consider that: •Even...
GROCER GETS DINGED $1.1 MILLIONS FOR FAILURE TO PROVIDE COVID PAID SICK LEAVE The Labor Commissioner’s Office now twice cited Bodega Latina dba El Super grocery stores in Southern California $1,164,500 for failing to provide or delaying supplemental paid sick leave or other benefits to 240 workers at 38 locations...
IS REMOTE WORK CONSIDERED A REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION FOR AN EMPLOYEE? ANSWER: NO In the case of Brown vs. Austin, the Tenth Circuit found that an employee’s telework, weekend work, and supervisor change request were unreasonable under the Federal Rehabilitation Act and that the employee had failed to allege a prima...