During the holiday break, I did what many lawyers do (but will publicly deny): I watched a few ”bad” reality tv shows. No, I didn’t watch “Here Comes Honey Boo-boo” (even I have my limits). But on the Food Network was a marathon of episodes of a show called “Mystery Diners”. The show is based around so-called “Mystery… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: retaliation
A New Whistleblower Retaliation Statute Grows Up: Dodd-Frank is the new Sarbanes-Oxley.
Posted in Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Litigation, Wage & HourReading the headline, I’m sure a few of you rolled your eyes. Dodd-Frank? Sarbanes-Oxley? Those statutes are seen as dull and tedious. But a new federal court decision in Connecticut should start to change that, and it has implications for employers nationwide. The case is Kramer v. Trans-Lux, which you can download here. It addressed an employer’s motion… Continue Reading
Pull Up Your SOX: The New Whistleblowing Claim Grows Up
Posted in Laws and Regulations, LitigationI’ll be the first to admit that the words “Sarbanes-Oxley Act” are likely to induce a big collective yawn from many of you out there. Even the acronym “SOX” doesn’t liven things up. (Then there are people, like Doug Cornelius at the Compliance Building blog who eat this stuff up.) But here’s what you need… Continue Reading
Appellate Court Releases Trio of Important Employment Law Cases
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Litigation, UncategorizedThe Connecticut Appellate Court released three significant employment law decisions on Monday — one of the busiest days in recent memory for the court. For employers, the cases are a mixed bag but do provide some useful practice pointers. City Sheriff Was Not an “Employee” Entitled to Statutory Protection In Young v. Bridgeport, the Court ruled that… Continue Reading
Big Day for Employers at Connecticut Supreme Court
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Featured, LitigationIt’s been several years since employers had some decisions to cheer about at the Connecticut Supreme Court. But yesterday, the court released two important decisions that will likely rank as among the most significant the court has issued in the employment context in the last decade. I represented the employer in one of those cases, which you… Continue Reading
When People Get Angry: Power Outages & Khan
Posted in Highlight, Human Resources (HR) ComplianceThere’s the great scene in the movie “Network” that features the line – “I’m Mad as Hell and I’m Not Going to Take it Anymore!”. After 12 days without power, that’s a message that is resonating with me quite loudly. But this is an employment law blog and there’s a message there for employers too…. Continue Reading
What Does it Take to Survive a Motion to Dismiss? Facts, Not Conclusions
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationBack in February, I noted that a motion to dismiss in federal court – while still difficult to achieve — still had a pulse. That’s important for employers because it provides a mechanism for getting rid of frivolous claims early on with lower costs than federal lawsuits typically cost. A new district court case gives… Continue Reading
More Publicity for Sick Leave Bill’s “Sleeper” Provision
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Legislative DevelopmentsPower is still out to big parts of the state, but here in Hartford, power is on and life continues. And so must the blog… Back in June, when the Connecticut General Assembly approved of the paid sick leave bill, I was quick to note that the retaliation provisions in the bill seemed to apply… Continue Reading
Paid Sick Leave Bill’s Anti-Retaliation Provisions Broader Than Just “Service Workers”
Posted in Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Legislative Developments, Manager & HR Pro’s Resource Center, Wage & HourRemember how I indicated that most of the paid sick leave bill covers only “service workers”? That’s true, but there is a big exception that hasn’t been mentioned much elsewhere. Indeed, employers who have 50 or more employees should beware: The new Paid Sick Leave bill’s anti-retaliation provisions may cover all employees, not just the… Continue Reading
Oral Complaints under FLSA are Shielded from Retaliation, Supreme Court Rules; Impact in Connecticut?
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationFor anyone who has been following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions interpreting wage & hour, discrimination and retaliation claims, yesterday’s decision in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics (download here), can hardly come as a surprise. Indeed, in a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court concluded that to "file" a complaint, an employee need only provide an… Continue Reading
Back Again? After Remanding Case Once, Second Circuit This Time Finds for Employer on First Amendment Claims
Posted in LitigationIn broad terms, the First Amendment prohibits public employers from retaliating against employees who engage in "protected speech". (Connecticut has a statute, Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 31-51q that purports to apply the First Amendment to private employers too.) But proving these cases remains difficult for employees. And even victories may later end up as defeats… Continue Reading
First Amendment Retaliation Claims by Town Facilities Manager Tossed by District Court
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationA former Branford Facilities Manager’s claims that his employment was terminated due to protected speech and his political affiliation were effectively dismissed on Friday, February 25th when a federal court granted the employer’s motion for summary judgment. The 40-page opinion provides good roadmap for employers (and their attorneys) to understanding such claims and what is… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Recap: Creating a “Zone of Interest” Under Title VII Retaliation Law
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationThe United States Supreme Court today, in an 8-0 decision (Justice Kagan recused herself), ruled that Title VII retaliation provisions include protection to those people who have suffered an adverse employment action and are in the same "zone of interest" as another employee who filed a charge. What does that mean? Good question. First,… Continue Reading
It’s Snow Joke: EEOC Statistics Show Increasing Numbers of Retaliation Cases Filed, But Then What?
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Human Resources (HR) ComplianceNews flash: Record snows in Connecticut! Second news flash: Record numbers of people are out of work and filing complaints of discrimination at the EEOC nationwide! Here’s the thing with both news flashes: They’re not entirely unexpected. Sure, they’re in higher amounts than we’re accustomed to seeing, but both can be explained. (I’ll leave it… Continue Reading
Paid Administrative Leave is Not an “Adverse Employment Action”
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationNot everything that happens in the workplace can give rise to a viable discrimination or retaliation claim. Various courts have emphasized that there must be an "adverse employment action". Otherwise, a claim will go nowhere. But what exactly IS an adverse employment action? A new federal court case in Connecticut — in borrowing from judicial dictum… Continue Reading
Court Allows First Amendment Retaliation Claim to Proceed To Trial
Posted in LitigationLast year, I talked about a First Amendment retaliation case and noted the difficulties in defending against such claims. A new case out of the federal court in Connecticut last week highlights the those difficulties even further. In Brown v. Waterbury Board of Ed. (download here), the Plaintiff, a custodian for the Waterbury Board of… Continue Reading
Second Circuit: No Individual Liability Under ADA Retaliation Provisions
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationIt has long been the rule in the Second Circuit, that individual supervisors do not have liability under Title VII claims, based on the case of Tomka v. Seiler Corp. But can supervisors be sued individually under the ADA for retaliation? The Second Circuit last week held that individual supervisors may not be held liable under the… Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Unpaid Interns, Employee E-mail Privacy, LinkedIn Recommendations, Advice from the “Enemy”, Retaliation, The “Restroom Issue”
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Litigation, Wage & HourWith my work on the Law & Technology Symposium for the Connecticut Bar Foundation last week, there are several employment law topics that I haven’t had time to discuss in full. While I’ve shared some of these links via my Twitter feed (which you can find at twitter.com/danielschwartz), I thought I would recap some of… Continue Reading
Appellate Court Dismisses Claims Against State On Sovereign Immunity and Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies Grounds
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationIn a decision that will be officially released on Tuesday, November 24th, the Connecticut Appellate Court has ruled that wrongful termination and breach of implied contract claims cannot be brought against the State of Connecticut due to the protections of sovereign immunity. The case Ware v. State of Connecticut (download here), will be of greater… Continue Reading
CHRO Annual Report Shows Surprising Drop in Complaints Filed
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentWith the local economy suffering the effects of the economic recession, the prevailing wisdom of experts has been that the number of discrimination claims filed would continue to skyrocket. However, as I’ve pointed out before, we just haven’t seen that trend in Connecticut play out. New data just released by the Connecticut Commission on Human… Continue Reading
Court Dismisses Employment Claim After Concluding Employee Committed Perjury During Trial
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationIt’s the stuff of television shows. In the middle of trial, a plaintiff (who is claiming his employment was terminated, among other reasons, in retaliation of his exercise of FMLA rights) drops a bombshell: [In the prior October], I learned that I had — have stage III prostate cancer with a metastatic brain lesion." While… Continue Reading
Say What? Employee Claims Court Does Not Have Jurisdiction to Hear Retaliation Claim He Brought In First Place
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationJust when you think you’ve seen it all, another case comes around to prove that theory incorrect. The latest example is Ayantola v. Board of Trustees of Technical Colleges (download here), a Connecticut Appellate Court decision officially released today. In the case, an employee who claimed he was not promoted in retaliation for earlier discrimination… Continue Reading
Office Space: Reassignment of Office Enough to Establish Claim of Retaliation But Not Discrimination
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationA decision last week by the Second Circuit might seem fairly trivial. After all, the Court stamped a "summary order" in the case of Cunningham v. NY State Dept. of Labor (download here) on June 10, 2009 thereby making sure the case doesn’t have precedential effect. But employers shouldn’t ignore this decision; it illustrates the differences… Continue Reading
In Retaliation Cases, Timing is Everything, Except When the Second Circuit Says Otherwise
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationSuppose an employee files a complaint against your company and it’s quickly dealt with. Now suppose, ten months later, that you, the employer, fire that employee – ostensibly for financial reasons. Is the timing between the original complaint and the termination enough to support a claim for retaliation? Previous federal court cases in Connecticut have… 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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