Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court is notable for several reasons. Not only is Justice Jackson the first African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court, but she is the only member of the Court to have served as a Federal Public
Recently, Belgium announced a labor reform allowing for a four-day work week. The reforms also provided workers the ability to power off work devices and ignore work-related messages without fear of retaliation. The aim of the reforms was to increase productivity and strengthen both people
Not cool. On its face that violates the Equal Pay Act. The Equal Pay Act is a federal law that states employees of one sex must be paid the same as employees of the opposite sex for the same job. Here it is in legalese:
No
One of the most efficient ways in the discrimination context to show that an employer’s stated reason for termination is false is showing that it has changed its reason for termination. The applicable case law calls these shifting reasons, and it is a powerful tool in
The current pandemic brought several changes to our work lives and brought about an important, but obvious, realization: we do not all need offices. Over the past year, countless businesses realized their workforce could perform just as efficiently, if not more so, from home. This
First and foremost, climate change is real. Temperatures are more extreme and extreme weather events are more common. As a result, workers who work outside are at a greater risk of illness, injury, and even death from heat exposure than ever before. Still, the Occupational
I hear it all of the time during consultations. A potential client will tell me about the discrimination they have experienced at work. They will describe how they were the only member of a protected class (age, race, sex, disability, religion, national origin, color) who applied for a promotion and that in fact, they were the only one qualified for the position, but they didn’t get it. “You know,” they will continue, “I can’t think of anyone in my protected class who has been promoted to such a position.” I will then ask this person why they think they were not promoted. The person will then invariably say, “I think it was because of my protected class, but I can’t prove it.”
Continue Reading Circumstantial Evidence is just as Good as Direct Evidence
One issue that comes up repeatedly is whether an individual is an independent contractor or an employee. The reason this comes up quite often in an employment law context is because most employment laws only apply to employees. For example, the retaliation provision of Title VII, which prohibits retaliation for reporting unlawful discrimination, expressly applies only to employees.** The difference also matters for benefits, overtime pay, minimum wage, and tax consequences. Very broadly speaking, independent contracts are usually cheaper for employers than employees. Because of that, employers often misclassify employees as independent contractors. This blog post looks at what that means.
The Family and Medical Leave Act provides eligible employees with unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons. When employees request or take leave, these workers have protections from FMLA interference and retaliation. This means that employers may not interfere with a worker’s rights to take FMLA leave and may not take adverse employment actions (e.g., write ups, demotions, terminations) against employees for exercising their rights under the FMLA.
For employees to have protections under the FMLA, their employer must have a minimum of 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of the work location. Additionally, the employee must have worked for the employer for at least a year and must have worked at least 1,250 hours during that year. If all these conditions are not met, the employee may not be protected by the FMLA.
Nearly 19.7 million Americans have something in common. Of those millions, those in the workforce keep their pain a secret – the idea of their employers finding out fills them with fear.
Sadly, that fear is not misplaced.
For millions, the battle with alcoholism and drug addiction is a daily fight. And because of the stigmas attached to these disabilities, people suffer in silence.
But what happens when the silence is broken, and the secret is out?
When an employee realizes they need help, they don’t know what steps to take. But they should act early. This is especially true if the employee realizes their work attendance or performance is suffering, or pressures on the job are having a negative effect on them.
Continue Reading When the Silence is Broken, and the Secret is Out (Part 1)
