The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that the “ministerial exception” that bars some employment discrimination claims against religious institutions, also bars such claims by elementary school teachers at private Catholic schools. The case further clarifies an exception that came to prominence back in 2012 and expands the reach of the exception. I noted then
My unabashed love of the New York Yankees has been well chronicled here on the blog. (Here and here for just a sample.)
So imagine my surprise when I did a deeper dive last night into the Supreme Court’s landmark decision yesterday. There on page ten, Justice Gorsuch digs deep into baseball loyalties for
In the most consequential U.S. Supreme Court case in many years, the Court ruled this morning that Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
You can download the 6-3 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, here.
Connecticut has long prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sexual
One of the items I talk about in a sexual harassment prevention training is that people’s perception of what sexual harassment is, may differ from how a court defines it.
Suppose I told you that the owner of a small company that you worked at and reported to made inappropriate comments in discussing the size
Last week, I had the opportunity to listen in on an informative CLE program sponsored by the Practicing Law Institute on video mediation. I’ve already participated in several of these mediations and have started incorporating them into the mediations that I do for other attorneys.
The term “video mediation” is still a work in progress.
News flash: There’s life beyond the COVID-19 pandemic!
In fact, yesterday, the Connecticut Supreme Court released an entirely non-COVID-19 related decision on the topic of “constructive discharge”.
I’ve talked about constructive discharge in prior posts, but the new case clarifies nearly two decades of jurisprudence in the area. Despite the lowering of the bar for
Last week, I covered some of the basics to think about as the coronavirus continues to spread. Jon Hyman has a post today about whether the ADA might apply to the situation.
But in Connecticut, there’s another case that employers ought to be thinking about now. It dates back to the first Gulf War in
As someone who grew up in Connecticut and watched Channel 3 news religiously (at least before the internet), Denise D’Ascenzo, the local news anchor who passed away suddenly on Saturday, was one of a kind. She was professional, authoritative, knowledgeable, and humble.
I loved watching her both on the news and during the yearly
It’s been far too long since our last installment from March 2019, but my ongoing dialogue with Nina Pirrotti, a prominent plaintiff’s-side employment law attorney, is back. In this post, we talked about the highlights from 2019 with a sneak peek at 2020. My thanks to Nina for her contributions. You can find her firm’s blog posts here as well.
Dan: Nina! Good to talk with you again here. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving; mine was full of turkey, stuffing and even skiing. But we have so much to talk about. It seems that 2019 has been a busy year in employment law which is kind of surprising because the economy keeps rolling on. I thought we’d look back on 2019 and look ahead to 2020.
From my perspective, it’s tough trying to recap 2019 in just one or two paragraphs. The most obviously trendline to me sees to be that the #metoo movement shows no signs of abating or of a backlash. And for people like both you and me who care about social justice, this is a great thing. Real change to root out sexual harassment has been long overdue. We’re now going to see training mandated at basically all workplaces and other changes. But will it be enough or will it stall out in 2020?
Paid FMLA is obviously another big topic but we’re really not going to see those changes until at least 2021. What else stands out to you from this past year?
Nina: A warm hello to one of my favorite sparring partners. It is so great to rekindle our feisty exchanges!
Well, Dan, as you may have guessed from the two articles I wrote for the Connecticut Law Tribune in October 2018 and mid-March 2019, the critical issues raised by the #MeToo movement continue to loom large for me this year.
While we have on rare (and much publicized) occasions, seen the pendulum swing too far in the other direction, (See e.g. “’Survivor’ Contestants Apologize After #Me Too” Backlash”), the movement has largely been a force for healthy, overdue change.
Continue Reading The Dialogue: A Busy Year in Employment Law in 2019 with a Look Ahead to 2020
- Did you hear about the guy who went into a rage when he got the shorter end of the wishbone?
He just snapped!
In prior posts, I’ve described how Valentine’s Day and Halloween have been fowl holidays for employers. Many a harassment or discrimination complaint has been based on those holidays.
But what about Thanksgiving?