The General Assembly over the weekend passed a comprehensive bill that permits individuals to use marijuana for palliative purposes. The bill is expected to be signed by the Governor this month.
Besides just permitting individuals to use marijuana, it has several important provisions that
The bench lost another notable judge this past week. Judge Peter Dorsey — who was the former chief judge of the District of Connecticut and who continued to serve despite taking “senior” status — died Friday at the age of 80.
I last appeared before Judge Dorsey very late last year. He had a wonderful
Back in February, I noted that a motion to dismiss in federal court — while still difficult to achieve — still had a pulse. That’s important for employers because it provides a mechanism for getting rid of frivolous claims early on with lower costs than federal lawsuits typically cost.
A new district court case gives
Today, my colleague Jonathan Orleans makes a return engagement to the blog, updating us on a decision released by the District Court of Connecticut yesterday that has relevance to various ADA cases in the state. The Defendant was successfully represented by another colleague of mine here at the firm, Marcy Stovall.
A decision issued yesterday by a federal district court in Connecticut provides some useful guidance on the distinction, for purposes of the Americans With Disabilities Act, between impairments that merely affect major life activities and those that substantially limit such activities.
The decision by Judge Janet Arterton also clarifies that in determining whether the plaintiff is substantially limited in important life activities, the plaintiff is compared to “most people,” not to any subgroup of the general population.
In Rumbin v. Association of American Medical Colleges (download here), the plaintiff sought various accommodations, including extra time, to take the Medical College Admission Test (the “MCAT”), claiming to be disabled because he was severely limited in the major life activity of seeing.
He submitted to the Association, which administers the MCAT, reports from his treating ophthalmologist and a behavioral optometrist who said that he had various vision-related impairments, including glaucoma, ocular misalignment, convergence insufficiency, binocular dysfunction, and oculomotor dysfunction.
The Association nonetheless denied his request for accommodation after having his application reviewed by its own expert, the Executive Director of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, who found the reports of plaintiff’s doctors unconvincing on a variety of grounds.
(Interestingly, the Association presented evidence at trial that the MCAT is intentionally designed to be arduous and time-pressured, and that it is reluctant to grant requests for extra time because studies show that scores on tests where extra time is given are not equivalent to scores on tests using the standard timing.)
The Defendant was also represented by Robert Burgoyne of Fulbright & Jaworski in Washington, DC.Continue Reading Impairments That Merely Affect Major Life Activities Not Covered by ADA, Says Federal Court
Over the last few years, I’ve been running a popular post about Columbus Day and the origins of the work holiday in Connecticut. Indeed, it has its foundation as a federal holiday and is listed in the United States Code (5 U.S.C. Sec. 6103).
Columbus Day is officially on October 12th (celebrating Columbus arrival on October 12, 1492), but it is celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October as a result of the federal law. So, if you work for a federal or state employer in human resources, or otherwise, you are likely going to have next Monday off.
But it is also one of those holidays that private employers increasingly have decided do not merit a vacation day. A survey from a few years ago showed that just seven percent of employers in California, for example, give the day off to their employees.
A common question that arises, however, is why? Why do employees for private companies not have to close on a day that has been designated by the federal government as a national holiday?
The answer is actually quite simple: Because Congress didn’t cover private employers in the law. And state law doesn’t mandate any requirements on private employers either. And so, while employees may complaint (perhaps rightly) about the difficulty of some child-care arrangements for some closed schools or otherwise, employer continue to have discretion about the days that it designates as holidays.
Some employers have created their own work-arounds, allowing employees to take 1-3 "floating holidays" for days like this (or other types of holidays, like Yom Kippur or Three Kings Day). That’s a sensible practice. But regardless, these types of policies should be discussed with employees so everyone knows what day is a holiday and what day isn’t.Continue Reading Columbus Day is Coming. And Most Employers are Open.
The United States Department of Labor late today issued a new interpretation of what a "son or daughter" is under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to make it clear that an "employee who assumes the role of caring for a child receives parental rights to family leave regardless of the legal or
Today is officially Columbus Day. In prior years, I have written a post on the day and why most people are working today. Given the relevance of the post again this year, I reprint it below (with some slight updates).
Columbus Day is officially on October 12th (celebrating Columbus arrival on October 12, 1492), but
Sunday is officially Columbus Day. But across the country and in Connecticut, the second Monday in October is the day we celebrate the holiday.
Last year, I wrote a post on the day and why most people are working on that date. Given the relevance of the post again this year, I reprint it b
Buried deep, deep, deep in Monday’s Federal Register was a quiet announcement that the U.S. Department of Labor was proposing some new wage/hour regulations interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (download here). In the "summary" section, the DOL states that the new regulations are needed because the regulations, in some cases, are
You may hear about an increase in the federal minimum wage today from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. If you do, you can ignore the news in Connecticut because it will not have any effect on workers here.
If a state law puts the minimum wage rate higher than the federal minimum wage, state law