Back in 2012, I posted about a lawsuit filed by a cab driver who claimed he suffers from cynophobia (a fear of dogs), who was fired after he refused to pick up a blind customer with a service dog. The cabbie claimed that his termination violated the Americans with Disabilities Act because he has a
![locplane[1]](https://www.ctemploymentlawblog.com/files/2015/02/locplane1.jpg)
My colleague Chris Engler returns today with a recap of a new case in Connecticut that is of particular interest to employers who provide (or don’t provide) employment references.
We have all heard the admonition that “less is more.”
In an opinion that will be released next week, the Connecticut Appellate Court reminds us just how true that admonition is. In fact, the court’s decision gave one employer more than 400,000 reasons to heed the adage in the future.
The case, Nelson v. Tradewind Aviation, LLC, arose from a defamation lawsuit. According to the court’s opinion, the plaintiff had worked as a pilot for Tradewind Aviation for a summer back in 2007. At the end of the season, the company needed to downsize for the winter. The plaintiff and others were laid off. His termination paperwork indicated that he had been laid off due to lack of work.
A few months later, the plaintiff was offered a job by another aviation company. In accordance with federal regulations, this company had the plaintiff request his employment records and other forms from Tradewind Aviation. Unlike the termination paperwork provided to him when he was laid off, on the new forms Tradewind Aviation’s representatives wrote that the plaintiff was involuntarily terminated and had had performance issues.
Tradewind Aviation then sent a letter to the prospective employer elaborating on these performance issues. The next day, it faxed over a copy of a drug test report (which concluded that plaintiff had not taken any drugs) along with a note that allegedly tied the supposed performance issues to drug use.
When the prospective employee rescinded its job offer to the plaintiff, he filed suit against Tradewind Aviation. He claimed that his former employer had engaged in defamation with malice. A few years later, a jury wholeheartedly agreed, to the tune of over $407,000 in damages.
Not surprisingly, the employer quickly appealed the verdict.Continue Reading Less May Be More When It Comes To Job References
Back in May 2012, I wrote this about a book that was making its way around various book clubs that was dubbed by The New York Times as “Mommy Porn”.
[H]aving someone read [Fifty Shades of Grey] alone during a lunch break, by itself, is probably not enough to establish a sexual harassment claim. The
The EEOC released its yearly statistics and it’s interesting to put together a story line from the numbers. Here are three quick observations from my review of the stats:
1) Big Drop in New Cases: Perhaps not surprisingly given the improving economy, the number of new claims filed with the EEOC dropped by nearly 5000
Well, it’s official. Connecticut is under a Blizzard Warning as of Sunday afternoon.
This is, of course, nothing new for employers in the state. We’ve had more than our fair share of big “monster” storms. If you’ve been following this blog for some time, you’ll have read more than your share of blog posts
Somewhat quietly (at least to me), the Connecticut Department of Labor has issued updated guidance regarding compliance with the state’s Paid Sick Leave law.
But employers who have been following the developments in this area — namely the changes to the law by the legislature — won’t be surprised much by the minor changes that
Yesterday on Twitter, a Connecticut legislator posted this:
“There oughta be a law…!” Hey Connecticut, legislators have 5 days to submit ideas for bills. What new laws should the #CTLeg consider?
— Matt Lesser (@MattLesser) January 12, 2015
State Representative Matt Lesser, be careful what you ask for. But since you asked, here’s a
For several years, one of the most popular posts on my blog was the one where I listed the mileage reimbursement rate for businesses. It’s been relatively stable, but this year brings about another small change.
In any event, the new rate became effective January 1, 2015. Remember, this is the optional standard mileage rates.
A few years back, I had the opportunity to meet Allison West at a conference out in California. She runs Employment Practices Specialists and does workplace investigations. (She’s also a terrific speaker and I’d highly recommend you go to a session where she is speaking.)
She recently let me know about an Association of Workplace
On New Year’s Day, I had the opportunity to launch model rockets with my son on a gorgeous (but very cold) day.
As it turns out, it was also a windy day. We discovered this through launching two rockets super high — only to see them carried away deep into the woods a mile away.