Maryland Federal Court Rules Exhaustion of Disability Claim Requires More than Checking a Box

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/06/2017
Maryland employers will welcome a decision last week by a local federal court holding a plaintiff’s checking the box on an EEO charge is not enough to pursue the claim in court.  (Wallace v. Bd. of Educ. of Calvert Ct’y, No. PX 16-3242, 5/31/17). In this case, Plaintiff Wallace was a substitute bus driver for Calvert County Public Schools.  Her complaint alleged that she was forced to take time off for stress and anxiety due to ongoing...
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Maryland Sick Leave Bill Has Died, For Now

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/02/2017
We reported two months ago here that Maryland's General Assembly had passed veto-proof sick leave legislation, the Healthy Working Families Act, which would have guaranteed sick leave to most employees working in Maryland. Governor Hogan, however, vetoed that bill calling the bill "deeply flawed" and "job-killing."  That done, Governor Hogan made clear he favors a viable compromise with the General Assembly before January 2018, when the legislation...
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Full Second Circuit Joins The "Does Title VII Prohibit Sexual Orientation Bias" Party.

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/31/2017
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to let its full panel determine whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of an individual's sexual orientation.  Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., No. 15-3775 (2d Cir. May 25, 2017) (en banc review granted). As we wrote about last month, the full Seventh Circuit concluded in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana (7th Cir. 2017), in an 8-3...
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Updated Guidance For The Fiduciary Rule

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/29/2017
On May 22, 2017, the Department of Labor issued updated guidance for the fiduciary rule.  You will remember that the fiduciary rule imposes certain obligations on investment advisors, and deems them fiduciaries towards their customers. The rule goes into effect on June 9, 2017, with a transition period until January 1, 2018.  At that time, further requirements take effect.  For those advisors who have not yet familiarized themselves with the new...
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NLRB Upholds Discharge of Disruptive Union Activist

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/24/2017
A recent decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board demonstrates that sometimes an employee can go too far, and that termination is a proper remedy for improper conduct.  BHC Northwest Psychiatric Hospital, LLC; cases nos. 04-CA-164465, 04-CA-174166, May 15, 2017. BHC operates an in-patient facility that provides mental health services.  The charging party was part of a bargaining unit of staff and charge nurses.  Mental health...
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Mechanic’s Harassment Claim Revived By Tenth Circuit

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/19/2017
Shane Jones was a mechanic for Needham Trucking, LLC (Needham) for approximately seven months in 2014.  Jones alleged that Needham fired him because he refused to have sex with his direct supervisor, who was also a shareholder of the Company.  Jones v. Needham, No. 16-6156 (10th Cir. May 12, 2017). In filings with the EEOC, Jones claimed sex discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment.  Jones also stated that another mechanic -- who did...
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ALJ Feasts On Employee Handbook, Finds Policies Unlawful Under NLRA

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/16/2017
President Trump recently announced the two individuals he will nominate to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  The announcement, covered in a prior blog entry, is the next step in changing the trajectory of the NLRB from its heavy employee tilt toward a more employer-friendly outlook.  Until the two new members are confirmed and the NLRB begins issuing decisions altering the labor law landscape created by President Obama’s NLRB, employers...
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Trump Expected to Nominate Two Management Attorneys to NLRB

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/11/2017
According to sources with access to the White House, President Trump  plans to nominate two Republican attorneys to the NLRB by June, and to have them confirmed by the Senate before its August recess.  The nominees,  Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel, would  fill the two vacant slots on the  Board and give agency a Republican majority. Emanuel is a management-side employment lawyer with Littler Mendelson in Los Angeles.  According to the...
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Private Sector Comp Time Bill Passes the House

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
05/05/2017
Comp-time is a common practice in the public sector and has been regularly used by public sector employees since the FLSA was amended in 1985.   It is available in the private sector too, but the requirements in place for an employer to do it right make it nearly impossible to use.  Which is why private sector employers who want to follow the law don’t often try to use it. An effort is taking place in Congress to amend the FLSA.  The Working...
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Skip the Hackers, I’ll Take the Money Myself

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
05/04/2017
Ever wonder where union dues go?  Our last blog post involved a CWA chapter that got hacked for nearly a half million dollars.   But there was no need to fall for a Nigerian prince scam in Pittsburgh.   Apparently you can still getting money the old fashioned way - just take it. Boilermakers Local 154 claims that its former business manager embezzled nearly $1.5 million in member dues.  The union represents over 2,000 welders, pipefitters and...
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