The Employment Brief | Employment Law | Kollman & Saucier, P.A.

Supreme Court Hears ACA Contraceptive Mandate Cases

Darrell VanDeusen

03/26/2014

Affordable Care Act, Supreme Court Decisions

On March 25, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on the validity of the women’s preventive services mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in two companion cases, Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 2013 U.S. LEXIS 8418, granting cert. from 723 F.3d 1114 (10th Cir. 2013), and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, 2013 U.S. LEXIS 8419 granting cert. from 724 F.3d 377 (3d Cir. 2013). Also known as the “contraception mandate,”...

Darrell VanDeusen

03/26/2014

Agency Activity, Labor Law

Forget March Madness baby. Here’s where things get interesting. The Chicago Region of the NLRB has announced its decision that Northwestern University football players are “employees” under the National Labor Relations Act, and that they can vote to unionize. Northwestern University, 13-R-121359 (March 26, 2014). The University has indicated its intent to appeal the decision to the full NLRB in Washington. By way of background, a...

Darrell VanDeusen

03/25/2014

FMLA

Employers often cringe when they think about taking a case to a jury. Even if the facts are good for the company, juries are notoriously unpredictable and sometimes follow sympathies rather than legal reasoning. That, of course, is one reason why appellate review exists. A recent decision from the Eleventh Circuit provides a case study of the issue in the context of a company executive’s claim of a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) violation...

Kollman & Saucier

03/22/2014

Employment Discrimination, Religious Discrimination

Vickie Fisher was employed as the Co-Director of Gate of Heaven Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery owned and operated by Archdiocese of Cincinnati. In fall 2010, a cemetery employee complained to the Archdiocese that Fisher and her compatriot were part of a scheme to sell damaged grave markers for scrap metal and distribute the cash proceeds to Gate of Heaven employees. It was also alleged Fisher was using profanity in her dealings with employees. ...

Kollman & Saucier

03/18/2014

Age Discrimination, Agency Activity

In 1999, Allstate Insurance Company fired all of its employee agents and offered them four alternatives: (1) convert to an independent contractor status and continue working as an exclusive agent; (2) convert to independent contractor status and sell the book of business they had developed; (3) receive an enhanced severance equal to one year’s pay; or (4) receive a basic severance of up to thirteen weeks of pay. The first three options were...

Kollman & Saucier

03/14/2014

Agency Activity, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden, Religious Discrimination

The EEOC recently published new technical assistance explaining its view of how federal employment discrimination law, specifically Title VII, applies to religious dress and grooming standards. Employers may encounter many types of religious dress and grooming practices according to the EEOC, including: (a) wearing religious clothing or articles (e.g., a Muslim hijab, a Sikh turban, or a Christian cross); (b) observing a prohibition on wearing...

Kollman & Saucier

03/14/2014

Employment Discrimination, Religious Discrimination

Business trips are a fact of life for many employees. Reserving hotel rooms for these trips is commonplace: either the employee or a company representative contacts the hotel, and the hotel then arranges a room for that guest based on its current availability. In spite of this, a disgruntled individual recently tried to sue his former company based on little more than the room he was assigned during one such trip in Rahman v. Crystal Equation,...

Kollman & Saucier

03/11/2014

Employment Discrimination

As the controversial recent bills that were proposed but ultimately not enacted in Arizona and several other states indicate, there is a passionate debate ongoing between civil rights advocates and the religious freedom movement. Another example of this conflict is the “ministerial exception,” which rests at the intersection between federal employment discrimination laws, on one hand, and the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment on the...

Kollman & Saucier

03/07/2014

Labor Law

In a February 28, 2014 decision, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) found that a South Carolina restaurant did not violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) when it implemented a rule prohibiting employees from “displaying a negative attitude” when interacting with coworkers and customers. Copper River of Boiling Springs, LLC, 360 N.L.R.B. No. 60 (2014). The Board’s Republican members, Philip A. Miscimarra and Harry...

Kollman & Saucier

03/06/2014

Supreme Court Decisions, Wage & Hour

In January, the Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the Seventh Circuit, which held that steel workers were merely changing clothes when they were “doffing and donning” protective gear and, therefore, that time was not compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Sandifer v. U.S. Steel Corp., 2014 U.S. LEXIS 799 (Jan. 27, 2014). Sandifer was discussed in a recent post here at the Employment Brief. Little more than a month...

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Supreme Court Hears ACA Contraceptive Mandate Cases

Goooo Team.... er, Union?

FMLA Jury Verdict Overturned by Appellate Court

Gate of Heaven Closes Out Discrimination Claim By Raising Ministerial Exemption

Court Rules That Allstate Left Its Agents in Good Hands

EEOC Issues New Guidance On Religious Dress And Grooming Standards

Court Rejects Hotel Room Discrimination Claim Without Reservations

Catholic Diocese Loses Its First Battle In Ministerial Exception Case

NLRB Rules Its Legal To Outlaw "Negative Attitudes" in the Workplace

Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Whether Employees Must be Paid for Time Spent in Security Screenings

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