While I was attending the ABA Board of Governors meeting last week, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services that received outsized coverage given it’s relative minor impact to employers in the Constitution State.
So what did the Court hold? In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court struck
I pose a simple question — When should you fire an employee?
Your answers, at first, may be simple: When they steal. When they lie. When they physically fight with another employee.
Then, you might start to add a few more: When they are absent from work. When they don’t do their job. Or don’t
Wage and hour class actions are nothing new in Connecticut. Over the last few years, some employers, particularly in the restaurant field, have been blindsided by the sheer number of them. Some — to be sure — have merit to them.
But we’ve also seen class action lawsuits that attempt to push the envelope.
Take
Suppose a national origin discrimination case goes to a jury trial (I know we’re not having jury trials during this pandemic, but humor me).
The jury comes back with a verdict finding for the Plaintiff-employee. But it awards the Plaintiff just one dollar. Is this a victory?
Before you answer, you should know this happens
By now, you may have read about yesterday’s decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that Title VII bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Connecticut is in that federal circuit (along with New York and Vermont). You can download the decision in Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., here. (You’ve been warned though
Employment law lawyers are asked to review a lot of employment decisions.
If we’re lucky, we’re brought in early in the process when the decision isn’t yet final and where our input can be useful.
Other times though, we’re asked to opine on decisions after the fact.
And truth is, it’s really pretty easy to
In yesterday’s post, I talked about some of the reasons why an employee’s lawsuit against his or her employer was destined for failure.
But employers, I’m afraid you’re not off the hook that easily. This post is for any employer that just got sued or threatened with suit.
Maybe that lawsuit isn’t so frivolous after all.
Wait a second! You said yesterday that ‘Odds are, you probably weren’t discriminated against’!”
Ah, but isn’t that rub? Odds. Statistics. Yes, some (many?) lawsuits brought by employees are losing propositions. But some are not.
Here are some things I tell clients or prospective clients when I see a lawsuit filed or threatened as to why they should take the lawsuit seriously.
1. That frivolous lawsuit is still going to cost you thousands (if not tens of thousands) to defend. But I thought you said this post was about non-frivolous lawsuits? True. But for my first point, that’s beside the point entirely. Whether a lawsuit is frivolous or not, the system of justice through our courts and administrative agencies moves slowly and with some cautiousness. Even the frivolous ones need to be defended. Court filings need to be, well, filed. And court conferences need to be attended. So your first point always is to recognize that all employment law cases have a cost associated with them.
And as such, all cases have what we call a “nuisance” value as well. That is — you are going to spend X amount of dollars defending the lawsuit. It may be cheaper to just pay a certain amount to avoid the cost of defense. Now, there are business reasons why you won’t want to do so in all or even many cases, but the employer who fails to recognize the nuisance value of the case is destined to be disappointed in the long run.
It’s a bit of hyperbole to say that any person can sue anyone at any time for any reason. But not that much. Lawsuits are a part of doing business. Frivolous or not, you will still have spend money to defend your decision. Be prepared for this eventuality when making your employment decisions and deciding whether or not to offer severance in exchange for a release.
2. “At Will” Employment Is a Misnomer. In Connecticut, the default employment relationship between an employer and employee is “at-will”. As many offer letters suggest, that means either the employer or employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason or no reason at all. And so, I sometimes hear employers exclaiming “Connecticut is at-will! We should be able to just fire them for any reason! How can they still sue?”Continue Reading Maybe That Lawsuit Brought By Your Employee Isn’t So Frivolous
Today is Yom Kippur – the holiest day in the Jewish year. It’s a time for reflection and a day for atonement as well.
So today I thought it would make sense to share with you something I’ve shared with clients over the years: It is the difference between what the law requires or allows,
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision (with a heated split on the reasoning), ruled that the recess appointments to the NLRB made by President Obama during a three-day recess were invalid.
You can download the decision here.
Much of the early instant analysis has focused on the recess appointment power itself. But
We’re just a few weeks away from my firm’s Public Sector legal update. (If you haven’t signed up yet, do so now because it’s getting close to capacity!)
So it seems appropriate to bring up a sore point for some: Arbitration Decisions That Leave You Scratching Your Head.
Today, I’ve asked my colleagues Saranne Murray