By Jaclyn W. Hamlin

Seyfarth Synopsis: Do ambulance drivers working twenty-four hour shifts have to be available all twenty-four hours, even when they’re eating or resting? The Ninth Circuit wants the California Supreme Court’s opinion.

A former ambulance driver in California filed a claim alleging violations of federal and state wage and hour laws. Dylan Stewart worked for San Luis Ambulance, Inc. (SLA) under a written agreement requiring him to work twenty-four hour shifts, during which time he was required to be on duty and ready to respond to emergency calls that could come in at any time, but not to actively perform work for all twenty-four hours. Stewart acknowledged that he was paid for all twenty-four hours of his shifts, “irrespective of whether he was responding to emergencies; engaging in other employment related duties; or eating, sleeping, or enjoying leisure at the ambulance station.” His employment records and activity logs reflected that he was able to take meal and rest breaks on every shift. However, Stewart claimed that he was entitled to “compensation for an additional two hours of work for each day that he worked without proper meal or rest periods,” as well as to penalties for his former employer’s alleged failure to timely or accurately pay him premium wages.

The District Court ruled against Stewart, granting summary judgment to the ambulance service. Stewart appealed, and the Ninth Circuit concluded that it was unable to rule on his case without clarification of the proper interpretation of a state wage order, in light of earlier California State Court precedent. In its order, in Stewart v. San Luis Ambulance, Inc., No. 15-56943 (9th Cir. 2017), the Ninth Circuit referred the case to the California Supreme Court for guidance on three questions under the California Labor Code:

1) Must an ambulance service relieve attendants of the obligation to be available to respond to emergency calls that come in while the attendant is on a rest period during a four hour shift?

2) May an ambulance service require attendants working 24-hour shifts to be available to respond to emergency calls that come in while the attendant is on a meal break, without a written agreement containing an on-duty meal period revocation clause?

3) Does an employee have a claim for violation of the obligation to pay a “premium wage” for meal periods, when the employer does not include the premium wage in the employee’s pay or pay statements?

The Ninth Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to weigh in on the questions in light of conflicting authority between State wage orders and State court precedent. The Ninth Circuit instructed the parties to notify it within fourteen days of the California Supreme Court’s acceptance or rejection of certification, and again within fourteen days if the Court issues an opinion, but no other timeline was given in which court-watchers might expect the California Supreme Court to act.

In other words…. Stay tuned. We will continue to watch this case with interest.

For further discussion of California-specific employment cases and issues, check out Seyfarth’s California Peculiarities Employment Law Blog.

For more information on this topic, please contact the author, your Seyfarth Attorney, or any member of Seyfarth Shaw’s Wage & Hour LitigationTeam or the Labor & Employment Team.

By Uma Chandrasekaran and Kyle Petersen

Seyfarth  Synopsis: In this February 1, 2018, hot-topic webinar, we will provide a roadmap for conducting legally compliant and effective sexual harassment investigations. There is no cost to attend this program, but registration is required.   

Over the past few months, news headlines have been dominated by sexual harassment allegations involving high profile celebrities. Sexual harassment in the workplace, however, is not limited to Hollywood and cuts across all industries. How an organization responds to allegations of workplace harassment can have significant impact, legally and culturally.

The time is right to revisit your company’s plan for responding to internal complaints. A critical component of that plan is being prepared to conduct effective and defensible investigations. This webinar will provide best practices for responding to and investigating workplace harassment complaints.

Be sure to register if you wish to attend this webinar.   It will take place at 12:00 pm CT/1:00 pm ET.  If you have any questions, please contact events@seyfarth.com.

By Matt Gagnon and Chantelle C. Egan

Seyfarth Synopsis: Google now finds itself in the unfortunate position of being accused of discrimination against women in pay and promotions and – according to a new complaint filed in California Superior Court – against conservative white men. Most troubling, Plaintiffs in that case point to Google’s diversity and inclusion efforts, which are meant to combat discrimination in the workplace, as the very basis for their allegations of sex and race discrimination.

In December, Seyfarth’s Pay Equity Group reported on a lawsuit brought against Google in the California Superior Court under the California Equal Pay Act, which alleges that Google discriminates against its women employees by systematically paying them lower compensation than their male peers for performing substantially similar work under similar working conditions.

Now, Google is facing another class action lawsuit brought by two former employees, which alleges that Google discriminates against white conservative men. On January 8, former Google engineer James Damore, who famously circulated a memo about Google’s so-called “ideological echo chamber,” and David Gudeman filed a discrimination class action complaint against Google on behalf of all employees of Google discriminated against “due to their perceived conservative political views,” “their male gender,” and/or “their Caucasian race.” The case is Damore v. Google, LLC, Case No. 18CV321529 (Cal. Sup. Ct., Santa Clara Cty.).

The complaint alleges that employees who deviated from the “majority view” at Google regarding issues such as “‘diversity’ hiring policies, ‘bias sensitivity,’ or ‘social justice,’” were singled out, mistreated, and systematically punished and terminated from Google. The complaint also alleges that this “open hostility” to conservative thought leads to discrimination in hiring, promotion, and termination decisions on the basis of race and gender because of the “extreme” lengths Google allegedly goes to in taking race and/or gender into consideration as determinative hiring factors, to the detriment of white males.

The complaint specifically singles out several of Google’s diversity initiatives, including, among other things, a “Diversity and Inclusion Summit” and a “diversity training class,” as evidence of bias against conservative white men. According to the complaint, “Google’s current method of increasing diversity resulted in what is known as reverse discrimination, because Caucasian and Asian males were not being selected for jobs and promotions due solely to their status as non-females or non-favored minorities.”

Can They Do That?

Maybe. The term “reverse discrimination” has no legal meaning under the anti-discrimination statutes. The protected classes contemplated by these statutes are broadly defined: sex, race, and religion, to name a few. Indeed, every person is a member of a protected class, as everyone has a sex and a race. Discrimination is just discrimination, and it is just as unlawful if targeted against white men as it would be against any other group. As long as an employee is negatively impacted because of his or her membership in a protected class, that counts as discrimination and could form the basis for a lawsuit.

California law also bans private employers from discriminating against workers due to their political views, affiliations, or activities. However, a common misconception is that this protection grants private sector employees in California carte blanche to exercise free speech rights at work, including expressing political views. For instance, participating in a political activity that creates a conflict of interest with an employer’s business model could legitimize a termination. Additionally, if an employee cannot complete his or her work due to on-the-clock political activities, the employee may be putting his or her job on the line.

Implications For Employers

Regardless of its viability, this new complaint against Google raises some difficult questions for employers. Many employers have found that well-constructed diversity and inclusion programs can promote worthy goals, including greater acceptance and productivity in the workplace. In addition, some employers have found that a diverse work force translates into diverse thought, which in turn can be leveraged to promote innovation. The Damore complaint, however, points the finger at those very programs as vehicles for discrimination against groups who may feel shunned or shut out by those programs.

The Damore complaint is therefore a good reminder that employers should take heed to ensure that their initiatives emphasize inclusion, not division. Ideally, membership in affinity groups should be extended to all individuals. Likewise, a best practice for initiatives to hire and promote traditionally underrepresented groups is to emphasize selecting the most qualified candidate in terms of experience, education, and other legitimate criteria, regardless of race, gender, or other protected category.

How and to what extent this case proceeds from here could have a significant impact on employers’ use of diversity and inclusion programs. We look forward to bringing you, our loyal readers, news of further developments as they happen.

For more information on this topic, please contact the author, your Seyfarth Attorney, or any member of Seyfarth Shaw’s Workplace Policies and Handbooks Team or the Labor & Employment Team.

By Robert Whitman

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Labor has scrapped its 2010 Fact Sheet on internship status and adopted the more flexible and employer-friendly test devised by Second Circuit.

In a decision that surprised no one who has followed the litigation of wage hour claims by interns, the US Department of Labor has abandoned its ill-fated six-part test for intern status in for-profit companies and replaced it with a more nuanced set of factors first articulated by the Second Circuit in 2015. The move officially eliminates agency guidance that several appellate courts had explicitly rejected as inconsistent with the FLSA.

The DOL announced the move with little fanfare. In a brief statement posted on its website on January 5, it said:

On Dec. 19, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the fourth federal appellate court to expressly reject the U.S. Department of Labor’s six-part test for determining whether interns and students are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The Department of Labor today clarified that going forward, the Department will conform to these appellate court rulings by using the same “primary beneficiary” test that these courts use to determine whether interns are employees under the FLSA. The Wage and Hour Division will update its enforcement policies to align with recent case law, eliminate unnecessary confusion among the regulated community, and provide the Division’s investigators with increased flexibility to holistically analyze internships on a case-by-case basis.

The DOL rolled out the six-part test in 2010 in a Fact Sheet issued by the Wage and Hour Division. The test provided that an unpaid intern at a for-profit company would be deemed an employee under the FLSA unless all six factors—requiring in essence that the internship mirror the type of instruction received in a classroom setting and that the employer “derive[] no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern”—were met. The upshot of the test was that if the company received any economic benefit from the intern’s services, the intern was an employee and therefore entitled to minimum wage, overtime, and other protections of the FLSA.

Spurred by the DOL’s guidance, plaintiffs filed a flurry of lawsuits, especially in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. But despite some initial success, their claims were not well received. The critical blow came in 2015 from the Second Circuit, which in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Picture Searchlight emphatically rejected the DOL’s test, stating, “[W]e do not find it persuasive, and we will not defer to it.” Instead, it said, courts should examine the internship relationship as a whole and determine the “primary beneficiary.” It crafted its own list of seven non-exhaustive factors designed to answer that question. Other courts soon followed the Second Circuit’s lead, capped off by the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in late December.

For the new leadership at the DOL, that was the final blow. In the wake of the Ninth Circuit’s decision, the agency not only scrapped the six-factor test entirely, but adopted the seven-factor Glatt test verbatim in a new Fact Sheet.

While the DOL’s action marks the official end of the short-lived six factors, the history books will note that the Glatt decision itself was the more significant event in the brief shelf-life of internship litigation. As we have noted previously in this space, the Glatt court not only adopted a more employer-friendly test than the DOL and the plaintiffs’ bar had advocated; it also expressed grave doubts about whether lawsuits by interns would be suitable for class or collective action treatment. The DOL’s new Fact Sheet reiterates those doubts, stating, “Courts have described the ‘primary beneficiary test’ as a flexible test, and no single factor is determinative. Accordingly, whether an intern or student is an employee under the FLSA necessarily depends on the unique circumstances of each case.”

That aspect of the ruling, more than its resolution of the merits, was likely the beginning of the end for internship lawsuits. In the months and years since Glatt was decided, the number of internship lawsuits has dropped precipitously.

At this point, only the college student depicted recently in The Onion  seems to be holding out hope. But as we’ve advised many times, employers should not get complacent. Unpaid interns, no matter how willing they are to work for free, are not a substitute for paid employees and should not be treated as glorified volunteer coffee-fetchers. As the new DOL factors make clear, internship experiences still must be predominantly educational in character. If not, it will be the interns (and their lawyers) giving employers a harsh lesson in wage and hour compliance.

 

By John P. Phillips

Seyfarth Synopsis: Complying with the ADA, particularly when an employee has a mental health-related disability, can be challenging. Fortunately, a recent decision out of the Seventh Circuit provides helpful guidance for employers struggling to accommodate employees with mental health issues while at the same time maintaining safe and productive workplaces. The decision makes clear that in the appropriate circumstances, employers can require an employee to undergo a mental health examination as part of a fitness-for-duty test. The decision—and the New Year—also provides a good excuse for employers to evaluate their ADA policies and procedures.

Every year, employers and HR Departments around the country struggle to comply with the requirements of the ADA. At the same time, ADA-related issues continue to become more complicated, and the individualized nature of disability claims mean that even the most accommodating employers can find themselves making tough decisions—and then having to defend those decisions.

On top of this, there has been a steady rise in employees taking prescription drugs or receiving some form of psychiatric or other mental health treatment. In many cases, these employees have no problem performing their jobs, and no issues arise. However, when these employees begin to struggle in their jobs or, even worse, when they engage in problematic and sometimes aggressive behavior toward co-workers, employers must balance ADA compliance with maintaining safe and professional workplaces. This will continue to be difficult, but a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit provides some helpful guidance.

Background on the Case

In Painter v. Illinois Department of Transportation, the Seventh Circuit recently considered when an employer can required an employee to undergo a mental health examination. In that case, Painter, the plaintiff, was a problematic employee, who snapped and screamed at co-workers, gave them blank stares, constantly mumbled to herself, repeatedly banged drawers in her office, was confrontational and argumentative, and began keeping a detailed log of interactions with co-workers during working time, often drafting more than one entry per hour. Painter even sent a concerning email to her union representative, in which she referenced “something” being “dead” and which prompted her union representative to contact the police.

Faced with numerous employee concerns and continued difficulties with Painter, her employer, the Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”), asked that she undergo a fitness-for-duty exam. Initially, IDOT referred Painter to an occupational-medicine specialist, who in turn referred her to a psychiatrist because he noted that Painter could be bipolar. Eventually, after several doctor visits, administrative leave, and continued co-worker and supervisor complaints, IDOT asked Painter to undergo two fitness-for-duty exams with a psychiatrist. At first the psychiatrist cleared Painter to return to work, but when the complaints and concerning behavior continued (and after Painter sent the threatening email to her union representative), the psychiatrist found that Painter was unfit for duty because of her “paranoid thinking and the highly disruptive behavior which results from her paranoia.” Painter then brought suit, alleging that IDOT’s requirement that she see a psychiatrist violated the ADA.

The Seventh Circuit’s Reasoning

Under the ADA, employers are prohibited from requiring their workers to undergo medical exams, unless the exams are “job-related and consistent with business necessity.” Courts across the country have held that the job-related and business necessity test is a difficult burden for employers to meet. Luckily, the Seventh Circuit took a pragmatic view of IDOT’s decision to require psychiatric exams. The Court stated that when the employer “has a reasonable belief based on objective evidence that a medical condition will impair an employee’s ability to perform essential job functions or that the employee will pose a threat due to a medical condition,” the employer may require a medical exam. The Court also noted that preventing employers from endangering their co-workers is a business necessity, and the Court found that “[e]mployers need not retain workers who, because of a disability, might harm someone; such a rule would force an employer to risk a negligence suit to avoid violating the ADA.”

Applying this legal framework to the facts of the case, the Seventh Circuit ruled that, as a matter of law, the psychiatrist examinations were job-related and consistent with business necessity because IDOT reasonably believed that Painter might be a danger to herself and co-workers. Thus, IDOT did not violate the ADA.

Takeaways and Best Practices

The Seventh Circuit’s decision is welcome news for employers, and it injects much needed common sense into the ADA case law. In particular, employers and HR Departments can consider asking employees to see a psychiatrist for a fitness-for-duty exam in the right circumstances. However, employers must still be careful that any medical examination they require an employee to undergo is directly related to a reasonable belief that the employee cannot perform the essential functions of his or her job.

In addition, there are a number of other proactive steps employers can consider to help ensure that disability-related issues are handled appropriately, such as (1) providing ADA and disability training to supervisors and managers, (2) referring all disability claims to HR, (3) implementing a written procedure for dealing with disability claims, (4) going through the interactive process in all instances, (5) ensuring all job descriptions are up-to-date and accurate, (6) documenting everything, and (7) working with a competent physician or medical professional, as appropriate.

ADA and disability-related issues will only continue to proliferate in today’s workplace. Fortunately, at least one court has recognized the practical necessities employers face when complying with the ADA. By knowing the requirements of the ADA and taking proactive steps to ensure compliance, employers can put themselves in the best possible position to handle all disability-related issues appropriately and minimize any legal risk.

 

By Samantha L. Brooks

Seyfarth Synopsis: Mandatory vaccines and flu shots present challenges to employers attempting to accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs of employees.  In this case, a hospital worker claimed that he was terminated for failing to get a flu shot due to his religious beliefs.  In affirming the District Court’s decision granting the employer’s motion to dismiss, the Third Circuit held that the worker’s anti-vaccination beliefs were not religious and that, as a result, he was not entitled to the protections of Title VII.  Fallon v. Mercy Catholic Med. Ctr. of S. Pa., No. 16-3573 (3rd Cir. Dec. 14, 2017).

The plaintiff, Paul Fallon, was a Psychiatric Crisis Intake Worker.  In 2012, Fallon’s employer, defendant Mercy Catholic Medical Center of Southeastern Pennsylvania, began requiring employees to obtain a yearly flu vaccine, or submit an exemption form to obtain a medical or religious exemption.  Any employee granted an exemption was required to wear a mask as an accommodation.

Although Fallon did not belong to any organized religious organization, he held strong personal and medical beliefs opposing the flu vaccine.  As alleged in his complaint, Fallon believed that he “should not harm” his own body and that the flu vaccine “may do more harm than good.”  In 2012 and 2013, Fallon sought and obtained exemptions based on his personal beliefs, which he explained in a lengthy essay attached to his requests for exemption.  In 2014, Fallon again requested an exemption and again attached the essay to his request; however, his request was denied, and his employer explained that its standards for granting exemptions had changed.  His employer requested a letter from a clergy member to support his request.  Fallon could not provide one.  He was suspended and ultimately terminated for failure to comply with the flu vaccine requirements.

Fallon filed a complaint in federal District Court in Pennsylvania wherein he alleged disparate-treatment religious discrimination and failure to accommodate his religion in violation of Title VII.  The District Court granted the employer’s motion to dismiss because Fallon’s beliefs, while sincere and strongly held, were not religious in nature and, therefore, were not protected by Title VII.  The dismissal was with prejudice because the District Court concluded that an amendment to Fallon’s complaint would be futile.  Fallon appealed.

In its opinion affirming the judgment of the District Court, the Third Circuit analyzed whether Fallon’s beliefs were, in fact, religious.  Specifically, pursuant to Supreme Court and Third Circuit precedent, the Court analyzed:

  • Whether Fallon’s beliefs were, in the context of Fallon’s life, religious;
  • Whether Fallon’s beliefs occupied a place in Fallon’s life parallel to that filled by God in a traditionally religious person;
  • Whether Fallon’s beliefs addressed “fundamental and ultimate questions having to do with deep and imponderable matters”;
  • Whether Fallon’s beliefs were a “belief-system”; and
  • Whether there were any formal and external signs of Fallon’s beliefs.

After identifying and analyzing these factors, the Court held that Fallon’s beliefs were not religious because they did not “address fundamental and ultimate questions having to do with deep and imponderable matters.”  Rather, Fallon “simply worr[ied] about the health effects of the flu vaccine, disbelieve[d] the scientifically accepted view that it is harmless to most people, and wish[ed] to avoid this vaccine.”  In sum, the Court held that Fallon’s belief–although sincerely held–was medical, rather than religious, and did not occupy a place in Fallon’s life similar to that of a more traditional religion or faith.

Since Fallon’s objection to the flu vaccine was not religious, it was not protected by Title VII.  Importantly, the Court noted that anti-vaccination beliefs can be part of a broader religious faith and that, in those circumstances, they are protected.  In fact, in a footnote, the Court pointed out that Christian Scientists regularly qualify for exemptions from mandatory vaccination requirements.

Employer Takeaways Regarding Religious Accommodation Generally

For employers, and especially healthcare employers, this case reiterates the well-established standards for what constitutes a sincerely held religious belief–rather than a secular personal or medical belief — to warrant an accommodation.

Once an employer determines that an employee has a “sincerely held” religious belief, Title VII requires the employer to reasonably accommodate the employee’s religious belief, unless the employer can demonstrate that it is unable to reasonably accommodate “without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.”  Importantly, if the employer denies the requested religious accommodation, the employer has the burden to prove the hardship.

The Fallon case also serves to remind employers that what is “religious” is a situational, case-by-case inquiry, especially when considering that one person may engage in a practice for religious reasons, but another person may engage in the very same practice for purely secular, non-religious reasons.

It is good practice for employers, in the interactive process, to ask the employee about the nature of the beliefs, in a sensitive, non-prying manner that respects the employee’s beliefs and privacy.  In doing so, the employer may help elicit what is religious versus what is personal preference.  Before doing so, employers should seek advice of counsel with expertise in this area because the distinction between religious and non-religious beliefs is tricky and highly fact-specific.

It is, however, not a best practice for an employer to request a letter from a clergy member to support an employee’s claim of a religious belief.  It is well-established that an employee’s belief need not be part of an organized, established religion, and it need not be approved by a clergy member.  The Court in Fallon, in a footnote, reiterated that “[a] letter from a clergy member is not the only way to demonstrate that one holds a religious belief.”  The Court further stated that Fallon’s employer mistakenly believed that it could not discriminate on the basis of religion if it terminated an employee who could not produce a letter from a clergy member.  (Nevertheless, the Court held that because Fallon’s beliefs were not religious, terminating him for acting on his beliefs did not constitute religious discrimination.)

The Legal Landscape Regarding Mandatory Vaccines and Religious Accommodation

Employers should be mindful that mandatory flu vaccine policies, particularly for healthcare employers, is a hotly contested issue that can be very jurisdictionally dependent.  Healthcare employers are in the unique position of balancing two equally important priorities: employee requests for religious accommodations, and patient health and safety.

Since 2016, the EEOC has brought several lawsuits against hospitals and healthcare providers in connection with mandatory flu vaccine programs.

In the recent case of EEOC v. Baystate Medical Center, Inc., No. 16-30086 (D. Ma.), the EEOC claimed the employer violated Title VII when it suspended and later terminated an employee after she refused to get the flu vaccine.  The EEOC claimed the employer violated Title VII when the only accommodation it allegedly offered to the employee who sought a religious exemption to the flu vaccine–wearing a face mask at all times while at work–did not allow the employee to effectively perform her job.  Although Baystate Medical Center, Inc. is still pending, both that case and Fallon reiterate the duty of healthcare employers to consider accommodations under Title VII based on the specific facts and circumstances of the situation.

Particularly in light of the EEOC’s recent activity on this issue, an employer must explore what reasonable accommodations can be offered to an employee (preferably with advice of counsel with expertise in this area) and, if the employer is going to deny the request for accommodation, it must document the justifications for the denial.

Employers, their human resources departments and counsel must also be aware of developments in federal, state, and local discrimination laws, which can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

For more information on this topic, please contact the author, your Seyfarth Attorney, or any member of Seyfarth Shaw’s Workplace Policies and Handbooks Team or the Labor & Employment Team.

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Thomas E. Ahlering

Seyfarth Synopsis:  As the number of class action lawsuits alleging violations of the Illinois Information Biometric Privacy Act (“BIPA”) has exploded in the last six months, defendants have been eagerly awaiting guidance from an Illinois appellate court regarding what a Plaintiff must allege in order to have a viable right of action under the statute. In Rosenbach v. Six Flags, 2017 IL App (2d) 170317 (Ill. App. Ct., Dec. 21, 2017), the Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District issued the first such ruling in this area, holding that a Plaintiff must allege an actual injury to be “aggrieved” under the Act in order to seek statutory damages and injunctive relief. 

The decision represents a significant victory for employers because defendants in both federal and state courts – facing potentially catastrophic damages under the statute for implementation of biometric technology for various purposes, including timekeeping practices – have made similar arguments that plaintiffs alleging mere technical violations of the statute are not “persons aggrieved,” thereby entitling plaintiffs to statutory damages and injunctive relief.  The decision in Rosenbach provides clarity as to the viability of certain potential employer defenses in BIPA class actions, particularly at the motion to dismiss stage.  Most notably, the decision will almost certainly serve to shift the tide in favor of employers facing BIPA class actions.

***

The Illinois Appellate Court’s Decision

In Rosenbach, Plaintiff, as the mother of her minor son, brought a class action on behalf of herself and all others similarly-situated, alleging that Defendants Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (“Six Flags”) and Great America LLC (“Great America”) violated the BIPA when her son purchased a season pass for Great America theme park and defendants fingerprinted him using a biometric scanner without obtaining written consent or disclosing their plan for the collection, storage, use, or destruction of his biometric identifiers or information.  Rosenbach,  2017 IL App (2d) 170317, *1.  Defendants moved to dismiss on the grounds that Plaintiff was not a “person aggrieved by a violation” of the BIPA as required by the statute in order for a Plaintiff to have a right of action because Plaintiff alleged mere technical violations of the statute.  Id. (quoting 740 ILCS 14/20).

The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, but later certified two questions for appellate review relating to whether a person aggrieved by a violation of the BIPA must allege some actual harm, including: (1) whether an individual is an aggrieved person under section 20 of BIPA and may seek statutory damages authorized under the BIPA when the only injury he or she alleges is a violation that a defendant collected his or her biometric identifiers and/or biometric information without providing him or her the disclosures and obtaining written consent; and (2) whether an individual is an aggrieved person under section 20 of the BIPA and may seek injunctive relief authorized under the BIPA when the only injury he or she alleges is a violation that a defendant collected his or her biometric identifiers and/or biometric information without providing him or her the disclosures and obtaining written consent.  Id. *3.

The Illinois Appellate Court answered both questions in the negative and held that a Plaintiff must allege an actual injury to be “aggrieved” under the Act.  In so holding, the Illinois Appellate Court analyzed the plain language of the statute and consulted various definitions of “aggrieved,” including Black’s Law Dictionary, to find that “there must be actual injury, adverse effect, or harm in order for [a] person to be ‘aggrieved.’”  Id.

It further noted:

Likewise, if the Illinois legislature intended to allow for a private cause of action for every technical violation of the Act, it could have omitted the word “aggrieved” and stated that every violation was actionable. A determination that a technical violation of the statute is actionable would render the word “aggrieved” superfluous. Therefore, a plaintiff who alleges only a technical violation of the statute without alleging some injury or adverse effect is not an aggrieved person under section 20 of the Act.

Id. *4.

In sum, the primary holding of the case is that “[i]f a person alleges only a technical violation of the Act without alleging any injury or adverse effect, then he or she is not aggrieved and may not recover under any of the provisions in section 20.”  Id. *5.

Analysis And Implications For Employers

The Illinois Appellate Court’s decision constitutes a significant victory for employers facing BIPA class actions.

Most notably, the Illinois Appellate Court held that a Plaintiff cannot proceed on a claim for either statutory damages or injunctive relief for mere technical violations of the statute.  This holding is key for employers because class actions brought under the BIPA frequently consist of cookie cutter complaints which merely allege technical violations of the BIPA (i.e., failure to obtain written consent, failure to maintain a “publically available” biometric privacy plan, and failure to provide notice of biometric retention and destruction policies) and not an actual injury (i.e., identity theft).

While the decision represents a significant decision at this juncture in favor of employers, we anticipate that the Plaintiffs’ class action bar will continue to attempt craft creative arguments to circumvent this ruling and find a way to argue that an individual is an “aggrieved person” for purposes of the BIPA.

Accordingly, employers should remain vigilant and ensure that they are in compliance with the BIPA’s requirements to ensure that a mere “technical” violation of the statute does not result in something which could constitute an actual injury entitling an individual to pursue statutory damages and injunctive relief.

By Philippe Weiss and Erin Dougherty Foley

Seyfarth Synopsis: In the last in a three-part series addressing sexual harassment in the workplace, we asked Philippe Weiss, Esq., Managing Director of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, to share insights from the front lines, that can help organizations credibly and effectively ensure their company culture is respectful and not tolerant of discrimination, harassing behavior or other inappropriate workplace conduct.

Q.  Based on your client and agency interactions, how have leadership and organizational mindsets changed since the rash of harassment scandals started to make national news?

A.  Daily headlines detailing high-profile harassment scandals clearly have many company executives and compliance professionals talking and worried. (Our call volume at SSAW has spiked and, notably, a significant number of callers are C-Suite members, themselves.) High-level executives have sought out our attorney-trainers and asked about strategies to avoid becoming an unwitting enabler.  We sense a wake-up call among many of those in key positions of power.

In-house legal and HR teams are reporting to us that they are now more fully appreciating how uncomfortable it can be for employees to confront those who cross a respect line and to report misconduct by higher-ups.  Organizations realize that they need real solutions that will be impactful and help reinforce a culture of non-tolerance for harassment in the workplace.

Q.  What kind of an opportunity has this created for compliance professionals? Do you and your group view the current momentum as sustainable?

A.  We see a significant opportunity for compliance professionals, as organizations are now willing to invest and prioritize harassment prevention and EEO – with longer term, comprehensive, and more strategically designed initiatives.   We have seen line items suddenly open-up in many annual budgets for compliance and conduct programming. Organizations are also increasingly investing in climate and employee surveys/focus groups, which (of course) must be handled delicately and skillfully – but which can also powerfully inform training and communications.

It is certainly challenging to predict the future and determine whether the current momentum is sustainable.  But given the depth and breadth of the publicity and #MeToo movement and related issues being raised, we see a clear shift that shows no signs of abating.

Q.  Given the apparent failure of passive and cookie-cutter training programs, what training solutions have you and others in the field found actually achieve buy-in and create meaningful behavioral change?

A.  There are a number of different things companies should be considering:

From a training planning standpoint:

  • Consider your claims history, internal complaint records, climate surveys, questions and concerns raised by employees, and organizational environment industry factors in program development.
  • Ensure that policies, codes of conduct and statement of values are just where you want them, in terms of content, core messaging and design.

From a training content perspective:

  • Focus on encouraging and simplifying internal reporting; in this regard many clients are asking for more extensive skill-building around “Responding to and In-taking Complaints and Concerns” to be added into their programs;
  • Focus on “Gateway Conduct” – such as leaders dressing down subordinates, which many have seen devolving into more egregious behavior, over time;
  • Focus on encouraging and creating a “step-up” culture of bystander intervention. Clients we work with report real value in referring to bystanders in the positive – as in “Accountable Allies” or “First Responders.” They have also found critical value in both championing and equipping bystanders with credible skills and simple scripts. “Accountable Allies” must be trained to:

** Spot colleagues’ discomfort;

** Support colleagues, using a safe, step-up, speak-up model;

** Employ distraction and extraction strategies, as appropriate;

** Know when and how to call in reinforcements.

We have known for some time that this is all about surmounting barriers of unease and reluctance to appropriately, safely and collectively “check” those starting to cross a line of conduct/norms (including peers at the C-Suite level). That is why the simplest, most user-friendly and tailored scripts can prove surprisingly effective, when built into a larger and cohesive culture strategy.

From a training design and delivery methodology standpoint:

  • Deliver training in everyday language that emphasizes real-world skill-building and avoids “legalese;”
  • Utilize organizational policies, corporate value statements, and best practices as core aspects of the messaging;
  • Wherever possible, arrange content around a set of practical thematic core elements. Choose central concepts and mantras so that delivery is not perceived as a litany of do’s and don’ts;
  • Sessions should all be engaging and fully interactive. This feature is essential. While always calibrating for an audience, the rule is: the more true interactivity, the better. (Having said that, individuals should not be singled out and “compelled” to answer questions.) Post-training surveys show that participants learn little from a “talking head” instructor. They learn and buy-in from collaborating and seeing how their colleagues respond to relevant situationals – and by building a consensus.
  • Ensure that best practices answers come from the group.
  • Keep to a minimum the use of PPTs, videos, and other relatively passive tools.
  • Because the credibility and impact of the presenter is critical for effective training, facilitators should be qualified attorney-trainers with practice and business leadership experience, who are also (importantly) entertaining and professional presenters with a recognized facility for high-energy delivery and an ability to draw-out individuals and powerfully connect their answers.

An added forward-looking defense bonus is deploying a course that has been evaluated and cited as a credible “culture changer” by federal agency-designated monitors in consent decrees. (Editor’s Note – SSAW has such programs! SSAW has participated in numerous EEOC and DOJ consent decrees where the long-term impacts of various communication and training strategies targeting harassment were comprehensively – and positively – evaluated.)

Q.  What additional top-down communications solutions are most effective in the current climate?

A.  One common approach is an all-employee memo re-articulating the organization’s commitment to respect – a “dignity-declaration” of sorts.

Beyond that, many forward-thinking organizations are employing a “wrap around” training communication cascade/approach. Like the training program itself, communication cascades should use simple terms, statements and values – the simpler, the more memorable.  Communications should be delivered through as many valuable and resonant mediums as possible – from team meetings, to emails, to postings on portals, to delivery of hard copies – and should be presented in differing and creative ways, whether virtually, visually or verbally.  With some forethought, organizations can calibrate the timing and variety of such communications so they impact without becoming redundant.

Of course, the most effective communication strategy is one where management at every level consistently refers to your harassment prevention and conduct training mantras and take-aways.

If you have questions about training or how to work toward a more respectful culture within your organization, please contact the authors, your Seyfarth attorney or Seyfarth Shaw at Work directly.

Seyfarth Synopsis: Last week, members of the Chicago L&E Team hosted the Fourth Quarter Breakfast Briefing to a packed room.  This Briefing looked at four key governmental agencies/trends (OSHA, OFCCP and equal pay, EEOC, and NLRB) to review key highlights from 2017 and how 2018 was shaping up.

In case you missed it, here are the slides from the presentation.

Please consider joining us for Firm Breakfast Briefings (which also offer CLE credit if that’s on your yearly “to do” list).  Upcoming topics likely include the ongoing issues impacting ADA/FMLA and other leave laws; paid sick leave; and other emerging topics in HR and employment law. We will be announcing dates for 2018 Chicago briefings in the next several weeks; so be on the (Employment Law) “Lookout” for those emails.