Now almost two and a half years into the pandemic, employers may think they have hit their stride on what to do to make sure their employees are COVID-19-free and safe. As with everything in life, you need to be up to date on the latest guidance. On July 12, the EEOC tweaked their COVID-19 Guidance
With the warmer months rolling in and travel rates skyrocketing, it’s likely that many of your employees are taking days away from the office. It may be time to give some attention to your paid time off (PTO) policies and to your state law on PTO. State law in this area is evolving, and it
Accommodating an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs can be tricky. In EEOC v. Kroger, a court in Arkansas gives some guidance on how to handle these claims.
The case law surrounding religious failure-to-accommodate claims is pretty well-settled. First, the employee must show that a workplace rule conflicts with his or her sincerely held religious
If a letter from the EEOC is in your virtual mailbox but you never open it, have you received it? Most of us are familiar with the requirement that a claimant who files an EEOC charge has 90 days to file a lawsuit after receiving what is usually required a “right-to-sue” letter from the agency.
California is complicated for employers — and a recent case, Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, is just one more example.
The Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) authorized California employees to sue employers for violations of California’s labor code. An individual can bring an action on behalf of himself or herself and
Let’s say you are tired of your current position and want to try something new with the same employer. You apply for a job transfer, and you are turned down. Then you find out that other people were able to make the move more easily. If those other people are of a different race or sex or other
In our modern world of a booming CBD industry and an increasing number of states that have legalized marijuana, can you terminate an employee for a positive drug test for marijuana? What if the test shows marijuana metabolites but you find out later it was a positive for CBD oil (a legal substance)? Does federal
There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about the joint employer test for liability under employment statutes. Whether it be Uber drivers in California or the back and forth over the Trump administration’s change of DOL rules, it can be hard to follow. This week, the Second Circuit Court of
Both the House and Senate have approved a bill that allows victims of workplace sexual assault and sexual harassment to take their claims to court instead of being forced to arbitration. In a rare show of bipartisanship, Congress passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. As of right
We are all familiar with the phrase “No good deed goes unpunished.” That apparently is the theme of an Eighth Circuit opinion reviewing an employee’s suit alleging that she was improperly denied an accommodation under the ADA. In Leah M. Powley v. Rail Crew Express, the plaintiff had requested accommodations for a disability eight