In April 2015, the EEOC also settled one of the first cases in which it attempted to litigate that transgender discrimination is protected under Title VII. The EEOC filed an amicus brief in a previous case claiming that sex discrimination includes discrimination against those who do not conform to gender stereotypes and, therefore, would include […]
Employment LawScene Blog
On April 30, 2015, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin issued its long-awaited decision in Runzheimer International Ltd. v. Friedlen, in which it came to the conclusion that the promise of continued at-will employment is valid consideration for a restrictive covenant. In Runzheimer, the employee had worked for his employer for fifteen years when the employer required all […]
On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Mach Mining LLC v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, addressing the issue of the level of judicial review allowed regarding the EEOC’s duty to conciliate charges of discrimination prior to litigation. We have discussed this decision in this blog from its early stages (here, here, […]
On February 10, 2015, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “Everything Is Awesome! Why You Can’t Tell Employees They’re Doing a Bad Job” extolling the virtues of praising employees’ strengths and scaling back on criticism. Although this may be good for employees’ confidence levels, it is bad for companies when they have to defend a […]
On March 18, 2015, the NLRB General Counsel issued a report concerning recent cases that raise significant legal and policy issues regarding employee handbook rules. Recently, the NLRB has been focusing on non-union employer’s handbooks and whether they violate Section 7 of the NLRA, which permits employees to discuss wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of […]
On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, a divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Young v. UPS. The Supreme Court was asked to decide whether the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (“PDA”), which amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, allows an employer to have a policy that accommodates some, but not all, workers with […]
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has officially signed Right-to-Work legislation, which, as discussed in last Friday’s blog, will allow workers covered by union representation to not pay union dues if they do not wish to. Although the union will still have the right to collectively bargain on behalf of all private-sector employees in a bargaining unit, employees […]
Today, Friday, March 6, 2015, the Wisconsin State Assembly after a marathon session passed right-to-work legislation by a vote of 62 to 35. The State Senate had previously approved the right-to-work legislation by a vote of 17 to 15 the previous week. The votes were cast according to party lines. The fast-tracked bill will be […]
On February 25, 2015, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Final Rule revising the definition of “spouse” under the FMLA. Currently, a “spouse” is defined as “a husband or wife as defined or recognized under State law for purposes of marriage in the State where the employee resides, including common law marriage in States […]
Under the Family Medical Leave Act, employers are not permitted to take an employee’s FMLA-protected absences into consideration when making employment decisions such as discipline and termination. However, if performance deficiencies are discovered while an employee is on FMLA leave and would have resulted in termination or discipline had the employee not been on leave, […]
Employment Lawscene Team
