Back from Memorial Day weekend, there’s plenty of employment law news that I haven’t had time to write about. So here’s a brief recap of some recent items that may be of interest to employers:
- With Connecticut passing a new medical marijuana bill, one question that has arisen is whether the ADA protects employees using marijuana. One recent federal appeals court suggests that the answer is no. Robin Shea has more details here.
- The Wait a Second blog reminds us that proving discrimination in promotion cases is difficult introducing a “so superior” standard of proof.
- Starbucks recently won an important labor case in the Second Circuit that will have significant impact in the hospitality industry. Ford & Harrison reports on the three major holdings: “(1) companies may, under the right circumstances, restrict employees to displaying their pro-union sentiment with a “one button pin” limit; (2) Atlantic Steel’s four-factor test for analyzing employee outbursts is inapplicable when the employee’s obscenities are made in the presence of customers; and (3) when an employee is placed on notice regarding his performance deficiencies and fails to correct them, the employer is entitled to conclude that his limited skills do not insulate him from discharge.” ‘
- In case you missed it, the Connecticut legislature recently approved of a measure allowing government agencies to negotiate labor agreements on constructions projects.
- New York City recently adopted new social media guidelines for teachers. I talked about establishing such guidelines for school districts back in 2010.