In this week’s Connecticut Law Tribune, employment lawyer Gary Phelan revisits an old post that I did way back in March 2008 about mandatory retirement policies at law firms. Back then, I noted the strange disconnect that sometimes exists between law firms and clients. Why? Because historically, law firm partners have been treated as owners… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: age discrimination
Motions to Dismiss in Discrimination Cases Have a Pulse
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationFor many years, motions to dismiss in discrimination cases were becoming a rarity, mainly because courts were loath to grant them. But the U.S. Supreme Court in the last few years has given the motions new life and recent District Court decisions are now showing the effects. Latest case in point: Barker v. UBS AG (download… Continue Reading
Birthday Parties Not Enough to Support Inference of Discrimination; Shifting Reasons for Termination Get Case to Jury Though
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) ComplianceLast month, I highlighted a federal case in Connecticut where the court threw out an age discrimination claim because the evidence presented by the employee was not strong enough to survive a summary judgment claim. A new federal court case however has allowed an age discrimination claim to proceed even while noting that while the… Continue Reading
Don’t Cry for Me Connecticut: Court Says Mere Factual Disagreements Not Necessarily Probative of Age Discrimination
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationIn employment discrimination cases, some of the day-to-day details of a person’s employment are sometimes disputed. Did an employee "continually" cry at work or only "occasionally" cry? And does it matter? A recent Connecticut district court decision clarified that such trivial disputes about an employee’s background — without more — are not enough to be… Continue Reading
Bill Allowing Complainants to Get A Quick Release from CHRO Gets a Makeover (And Moves On)
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Legislative DevelopmentsEarlier this month, I posted on a bill pending before the Connecticut General Assembly that would have changed the statute of limitations for filing employment discrimination claims and allowed a Complainant to ask for a release of jurisdiction of the CHRO as soon as possible. This week, the Labor & Public Employee Committee approved of… Continue Reading
EEOC Releases Proposed Rule Affecting “Reasonable Factor Other Than Age” Defense Under ADEA
Posted in CHRO & EEOCOver the last week or so, various blogs have discussed a proposed rule released by the EEOC which discusses and defines what is meant by the "reasonable factor other than age" (RFOA) defense under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Not familiar with it? The Employer Law Report sums it up nicely here: In Smith… Continue Reading
Progressive Discipline Policies: What They Are And Understanding Risks and Benefits to Them
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment"Progressive Discipline" is a policy or practice that, over the years, has fallen out of favor with some employers. What is it? It’s a practice — found also in some collective bargaining agreements — that typically provides a multi-step disciplinary process for many employment policy violations: a verbal warning, a written warning, a suspension, and… Continue Reading
EEOC Updates FAQ and Technical Guidance on Separation and Severance Agreements
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) ComplianceIn a hearing earlier today, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discussed the "devastating impact" that age discrimination has on workplaces and employees. For employers, however, the most notable item from the hearing was the release of new technical guidance regarding separation agreements and the waivers of age discrimination claims contained in such agreements. You can… Continue Reading
Fox 61 Reporter Discrimination Case: FAQ, Analysis and What’s Next – Part I
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationThe filing of a discrimination complaint at the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has certainly garnered a wide variety of responses from the local and national media. Indeed, yesterday, I was one of several invited guests to appear on WNPR’s "Where We Live". (You can download the podcast here.) But what’s been lacking… Continue Reading
Fox 61 Reporter Files Age and Gender Discrimination Claim with CHRO; Is History Repeating Itself?
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationOver ten years ago, former WFSB (Channel 3) news anchor Janet Peckinpaugh shook up the media market in Hartford with claims of gender and age discrimination against her former news station. She claimed that she had been let go because she had gotten too old. At the time, the case had all the elements of… Continue Reading
Employers Get Big Win at Supreme Court and Why Employers Should Ignore It
Posted in Discrimination & HarassmentLeave it to the Supreme Court to come out with a decision on discrimination while I’m attending the ABA Presidential Summit on Diversity (which I’ll be live-tweeting and blogging from starting on Friday). So, while I’ve been tied up for most of the day, the news sites and employment law blogs have been a buzz… Continue Reading
Telling the Truth & Being Consistent: Appeals Court Keeps Age Discrimination Case Alive Based on Pretext
Posted in Discrimination & HarassmentTell the truth. Be consistent. Those are common refrains among lawyers to clients. Why? Because inconsistencies are a crucial way for opposing parties to establish their case. In employment cases, an employee may not have "direct" evidence of discrimination, but courts allow an employee to piece together evidence based on circumstances, including evidence that pokes… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Decides Age Discrimination Case Defining What is a “Charge”! (Yawn.)
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationAttorneys can go months — if not years — without Supreme Court guidance on employment law issues. But today, the Supreme Court issued its second employment-law related decision in as many days. However, for the second day in a row, the Supreme Court issued a decision that, at the end of the day, isn’t really about… Continue Reading
“Me, too!” U.S. Supreme Court Punts on Evidence of “Other” Discrimination
Posted in Discrimination & HarassmentAfter a long day of taking depositions on Tuesday, there’s nothing like coming back to my computer with dozens of e-mail messages and hundreds of posts to read on the RSS feeds. And, when I saw that the U.S. Supreme Court decided an employment law case, my brain got excited for a brief moment (and… Continue Reading
Lawyers to Seek “Hundreds of Millions” of Dollars from CIGNA In Response to Decision
Posted in Class Actions, Laws and Regulations, LitigationLawyers representing the class of retirees from CIGNA will argue that their clients are entitled to "hundreds of millions" of dollars in retirement benefits as a result of misrepresentations made by CIGNA, according to a report in yesterday’s Hartford Courant. The Courant — which finally reported on the decision 5 days after it came out… Continue Reading
More on Amara v. CIGNA – The followup
Posted in Class Actions, Laws and Regulations, LitigationMy post from last Friday’s ERISA decision in Amara v. CIGNA Corp. has drawn quite a bit of interest. Since my post over the holiday weekend (from vacation) was intended merely as a brief summary until this week, it has drawn sufficient attention that a few points bear further elaboration, including disclosure of my knowledge… Continue Reading
Court: Retirement Plan Changes Ok, but Retirees Need Proper Notice and Disclosures
Posted in Class Actions, Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, LitigationDifficult, time-consuming, and expensive litigation with uncertain results – such as this case represents – is assuredly not a sensible way to manage the Nation’s retirement system for either employers or employees. Sadly, at least for now, litigation appears to be the only option available to them. In a 122 page opus on ERISA law… Continue Reading
Appealing Arbitration Awards – A Followup to the Bloomfield Police Case
Posted in LitigationIf there is something that can cause an attorney nightmares, it is the possibility of missed deadlines. Recently, there was an attorney in California who missed a court deadline – BY ONE MINUTE — costing his client over $1 million in legal fees. This morning, that nightmare is a reality for the Town of Bloomfield,… Continue Reading
While You Were Eating…Posts You May Have Missed on Labor & Employment Issues
Posted in Human Resources (HR) ComplianceThe days before Thanksgiving are busy. Here are a few posts I flagged over the last week or so that you might have missed. Evil HR Lady has a provocative post about whether lawyers make good human resource professionals in a post entitled: Evil Lawyers, Evil HR People, It’s All the Same. As I commented… Continue Reading
CHRO Awards Police Officer over $100k in Age Discrimination Case; Follows “Cat’s Paw” Theory
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationOnly a handful of CHRO Human Rights Referee Decisions are issued each year — a number that has seemed to slow to a trickle recently. But this month, the CHRO issued a lengthy decision in an age discrimination case. In that case, CHRO Referee concluded that the Town of Bloomfield, Connecticut discriminated against a police officer because of his age when… Continue Reading
Court: “Stray” Remarks Do Not Exist in ADEA Cases, only “Probative” Remarks
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Litigation"You can’t teach a old dog new tricks." In discrimination cases, analysis of whether a remark like this is probative has typically moved into whether the comment was a "stray" remark. Indeed, Justice O’Connor’s concurrence in the Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins case in 1989, in fact, talked about whether "stray remarks" could satisfy a plaintiff’s… Continue Reading
About Daniel Schwartz
Trusted advisor. Experienced employment law attorney. Bar leader. Award-winning author. Noted Speaker. "Legal Rebel". All can be said to be apt descriptions of Daniel Schwartz, a member of Pullman & Comley. More +
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