Connecticut Employment Law Blog Insight on Labor & Employment Developments for Connecticut Businesses

Tag Archives: wrongful discharge

What Do Bahrain & Japan Have in Common with Connecticut? Reviewing the Wrongful Discharge Claim

Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Litigation

"The United States is recommending U.S. citizens defer all non-essential travel to Bahrain." Have you seen this headline? It’s from 20 years ago. But strangely, that same headline made a reappearance this week. Don’t remember the last time it happened? Well, you should because a major Connecticut Supreme Court case arose out of it.  And that… Continue Reading

Appellate Court: Trial Court Was Wrong To Deny Summary Judgment Without Oral Argument on Res Judicata Issue

Posted in Litigation

There is an unspoken truth about the Superior Courts in Connecticut: Summary judgment for employers in employment-related claims is typically a long shot. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. A case to be released by the Connecticut Appellate Court next week shows the difficulty but also shows that at least with regard to… Continue Reading

What Ever Happened To…The Lawsuit by the Hartford Courant’s Consumer “Watchdog”

Posted in Litigation

Time once again to bring back an occasional feature that takes a look at stories that have now fallen from the local newspapers’ headlines.  After all, have you ever noticed that it is somehow "big news" that a lawsuit is filed but you rarely hear about a lawsuit’s dismissal? This installment updates the lawsuit that… Continue Reading

Your EPLI Policy May Not Cover What You Think It Covers; Prior Claim for Unemployment Benefits Justifies Exclusion of Wrongful Discharge Claim

Posted in Litigation

Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) is, at times, viewed by some employers as a way to control costs.  (For a primer on EPLI, check out my prior posts here and here.) Why? Because employers believe that these policies will cover all of their wrongful discharge claims and the insurer will not read its policy narrowly to… Continue Reading

Court Dismisses Employment Claim After Concluding Employee Committed Perjury During Trial

Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Litigation

It’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

Corrective Action Memorandum Not a Contract, Says District Court

Posted in Litigation, Wage & Hour

UPDATED 2/10/09 Sometimes, by coincidence, two unrelated decision get released in close proximity to one another that they bring some greater clarity to the law. Yesterday, I discussed a Connecticut Superior Court case that found that certain discussions did not create an employment contract and that the employee was properly classified as "at-will". Earlier this… Continue Reading

Conn. Appellate Court: Employer Was Justified in Firing Employee Who Refused a Return to Work Medical Examination

Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Litigation

The Connecticut Appellate Court today ruled that an employer did not wrongfully discharge an employee who refused to participate in a return to work medical examination.  The Court held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) allows for medical examinations in certain situations and that the employer was justified in asking for one in this case.  In Joyner v. Simkins… Continue Reading

ESPN Settles Lawsuit with Former Baseball Analyst Harold Reynolds

Posted in Litigation

A contentious litigation between Bristol, Connecticut based-ESPN and its former baseball analyst, Harold Reynolds, was settled on Tuesday, according to a report by the Associated Press. The lawsuit, filed in Hartford Superior Court in the fall of 2006, stemmed from Reynolds termination in the summer of 2006. Reynolds sued claiming "he was wrongly fired after… Continue Reading

Wrongful Discharge Claim For Reporting Bar Manager Rejected by Jury

Posted in Litigation

A recent article by the Connecticut Law Tribune reported on the trial of two bar workers who claimed that they were terminated in retaliation for reporting a supervisor’s alleged sexual harassment of a waitress.  According to court records In the trial of  Daniel Van Kruiningen and Kimberly Chatterton v. Plan B, LLC d/b/a Mohegan After… Continue Reading