Labor & Employment Law Update

On Tuesday March 22, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against one of the world’s largest food processors, affirming a $5.8 million judgment.  This ruling just made it a little bit easier for wage and hour plaintiffs to win class actions.  In a 6-2 decision the Court held that plaintiff employees can use averages and other statistical analyses to establish class liability.

In 2007, workers at one of the meat-processing facilities sued the company for uncompensated wages alleging that they were entitled to overtime pay and damages because they were not paid for time spent donning and ...

A recent Second Circuit case, Graziadio v. Culinary Institute of America, Case No. 15-888-cv (Mar. 17, 2016), offers a sobering lesson for human resources personnel and supervisors who handle the administration of leave requests under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Court held that an HR Director may be liable as an employer, as a “person who acts, directly or indirectly, in the interest of an employer” toward an employee. Finding that the FMLA definition of employer is similar to the definition under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Court agreed with other ...

Readers of this blog know there is an intense debate in the courts over the application of Fifield v. Premier Dealer Servs., Inc., 993 N.E.2d 938, 943 (Ill.App 1st Dist. 2013). Fifield announced that restrictive covenants supported solely by an at-will employment relationship were invalid for lack of adequate consideration if the employee did not remain employed for two years after signing the contract. This applies even if the employee voluntarily terminated. The Illinois Supreme Court did not accept review of Fifield, so it is controlling law in Illinois. However, it has ...

Sure, you’ve heard that non-union employees are protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), too. But do you realize just how quickly the protections of the Act can come into play?  If your front line managers are not properly trained, an employee’s attitude could quite literally turn a situation into a federal case.

A federal appeals court recently affirmed the decision of the NLRB against an employer in a case where a non-union employee engaged in conduct that most employers would consider as straight up insubordination, Staffing Network Holdings, LLC v. NLRB, 2016 BL ...

A recent case out of the Northern District of Texas demonstrates just how important it is to listen to the Department of Labor (DOL) when they come knocking on your door.  (Solano v. Ali Baba Mediterranean Grille, Inc., 2016 BL 62687, N.D.Tex. No. 3:15-cv-00555, 3/2/16). Here, the DOL investigated allegations against the restaurant for failing to track time records, failing to properly pay a chef for the time he spent traveling between restaurants and improperly paying overtime on a bi-weekly basis instead of weekly. The DOL informed the restaurant of its improper pay practices, but ...

On March 1, 2016, the EEOC announced that it had filed its first two sex discrimination lawsuits based on sexual orientation. One of these cases, filed in the federal district court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is based on allegations that a gay male employee was subject to anti-gay epithets and other offensive comments about his sexuality and sex life that eventually drove the employee to resign. The other case, filed in the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, is based on allegations that a lesbian employee’s supervisor made comments regarding the employee’s ...

Effective January 1, 2016 all 53 EEOC field offices across the country have implemented the Commission’s new “Digital Charge System,” an online portal through which employers will receive and transmit information to the EEOC. From now on, all major communications between the EEOC and employers, including the Commission’s service of newly filed EEOC charges, will be transmitted through the online portal. In most cases, the EEOC will no longer mail paper copies of EEOC charges and related documentation to employers. Instead, the EEOC will send an email to the employer ...

Readers of this blog know that we counsel our employer clients to immediately investigate the facts as soon as an employee who is subject to a restrictive covenant engages in conduct that might violate it. This is because the right to obtain an emergency injunction blocking any prohibited conduct can depend on the promptness of the employer’s efforts at enforcement.

This point was underscored by a recent unpublished decision of the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District (Cook County). Although this is an Illinois case, the lesson applies to employers in any state.

A bit of strategic planning could have saved an employer from a federal jury’s $5.5 million verdict for a mechanic who claimed his accommodations were discontinued after eight (8) years. A heavy equipment mechanical repairman  was subject to medical restrictions for lifting, climbing, and postural limitations. Despite these restrictions, he performed the essential functions of the job with accommodations. This all changed on December 28, 2011 when he returned to work from an unrelated gallbladder surgery; his new supervisor noted his arthritis-related work restrictions ...

 Unless you’ve been avoiding the national news the last several months, you already know the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has been in the cross hairs of the Department of Justice for alleged civil rights violations. Just this past Friday, February 5, 2016, the Department made a new civil rights claim against the CPD based on employment discrimination. The court complaint filed on Friday in the Northern District of Illinois, entitled alleges discrimination based on national origin. It claims the CPD discriminated against applicants not born in the United States through its ...