FICA Taxation of Severance Pay Remains Unsettled
In CSX Corp, Inc., v. U.S., the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that supplemental unemployment benefits (SUB) are subject to FICA taxes. In U.S. v. Quality Stores Inc., the 6th Circuit Court of...
View Article4th Circuit Finds FLSA Doesn't Shield Job Applicants from Retaliation
In Dellinger v. Science Applications International Corporation, 649 F.3d 226 (4th Cir. 2011), the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals had to decide if the Fair Labor Standards Act's anti-retaliation provision...
View ArticleAge Discrimination Remains Target for EEOC in Recent Cases
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission remains focused on eliminating age discrimination. In 2012, the agency was very active, and in many instances victorious, in bringing age discrimination...
View ArticleThird Social Media Report from NLRB Provides Guidelines for Lawful Social...
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a third report on social media in May 2012 in which it reviewed various social media policies and found numerous infringements of Section 7 of the...
View ArticleSexual Harassment Lawsuits Brought by EEOC Result in Costly Settlements
A review of recent EEOC settlements shows that often employers will seek to settle egregious allegations of sexual harassment and sex discrimination rather than face the uncertain outcome that can come...
View ArticleSupreme Court of Virginia: Individual Employees Can be Sued for Wrongful...
In VanBuren v. Grubb, the Supreme Court of Virginia considered whether individual employees in a position of power may be held personally responsible for their conduct if it violates Virginia public...
View ArticlePursuit of Same-Sex Harassment Cases Yields Mixed Results
As the EEOC pursues cases of same-sex sexual harassment or discrimination, some victims have been victorious while others could not show that the discrimination or harassment was directly linked to...
View ArticleAn Arbitration Clause May Survive the Expiration of a Collective Bargaining...
In Litton Financial Printing Division v. NLRB, 501 U.S. 190 (1991), the Supreme Court addressed whether a dispute over the layoff of employees which occurred well after the expiration of the collective...
View ArticleEEOC Cases Highlight Importance of Preventing Retaliation in the Workplace
Recent EEOC settlements and victories show that unless employers are proactive and take all necessary steps to avoid retaliation in the workplace, they will be forced to spend tremendous amounts of...
View ArticleEmployers Should Get a Handle on Twitter and Linked in Accounts by Addressing...
With the use of social networking sites and social media on the rise as a marketing tool to promote businesses and build clients and relationships, recent cases illustrate that it is important to...
View ArticleOffer of Judgment Moots Single Plaintiff's Claims in FLSA Collective Action...
In Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, the US Supreme Court ruled that Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective actions cannot continue if the plaintiff's claim is resolved before additional...
View ArticleFalse Claims Act Whistleblower Must Be Original Source of Information
In Rockwell International Corp. v. United States, 549 U.S. 457 (2007), the US Supreme Court addressed whether a former employee whistleblower of a government contractor was an original source of...
View ArticleEmployees Must Follow Up With Employers Regarding Vague FMLA Leave Requests
In Righi v. SMC Corporation of America, the court addressed whether an employer interfered with an employee's Family and Medical Leave Act rights after the employee was terminated for missing work for...
View ArticleSupreme Court Narrows Definition of Supervisor Under Title VII
In Vance v. Ball State University, 2013 U.S. Lexis 4703, the Supreme Court considered how much authority an employee needs to exert to be considered a supervisor for purposes of vicarious liability...
View ArticleSupreme Court Makes It Harder to Sue Employers for Retaliation
In University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v Nassar, 2013 U.S. Lexis 4704 (June 24, 2013), the Supreme Court considered the standard of proof needed for an employee to win a retaliation lawsuit...
View ArticleDisclosures to Person Who Lacks Authority to Correct Wrongdoing Protected...
In Bonds v. Leavitt, 629 F.3d 369 (4th Cir. 2011), the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals addressed whether an employee who "blew the whistle" to a person who lacked authority to correct the wrongdoing was...
View ArticleSOX Whistleblower Provision Protects Public Employer Contractor,...
In Lawson v. FMR, 2014 U.S. LEXIS 1783, the Supreme Court addressed whether the whistleblower provision in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) shields employees of public company contractors and...
View ArticleDon't Spill the Beans: Employer's Representative's Statement May Be...
In Makowski v. Smith Amundsen, LLC, No. 10-3330 (7th Cir. 2011), the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decided whether an employer's representative's statement could be used to prove discrimination in a...
View ArticleEmployer Violates NLRA by Unilaterally Changing Conditions of Employment...
In NLRB v. Katz, 369 U.S. 736 (1962), the Supreme Court addressed whether an employer had violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) duty to bargain collectively by instituting changes regarding...
View ArticleBargaining Impasse Declared after Employer Engages in Good-Faith Attempts to...
In TruServ Corp. v. NLRB, 254 F.3d 1105, (D.C. Cir. 2001), the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit addressed whether 1) a genuine bargaining impasse had been reached...
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