Seyfarth Synopsis: Yesterday the Supreme Court held oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy, a case in which the Court is considering whether to overturn decades of precedent established by the seminal religious accommodation case, Trans World Airlines Inc., v. Hardison. Decided in 1977, Hardison is the seminal case establishing that an employer is
Continue Reading Takeaways From SCOTUS Oral Argument in Groff v. Dejoy: Justices Attempt to Find “Common Ground” on Religious Accommodation TestBy Christina Jaremus and Erin Dougherty Foley
Seyfarth Synopsis: When an employee violates company rules or policies, a company is within its rights to respond with appropriate corrective action. How to respond, however, can become complicated when an employee engages in legally protected activity at or around the same time as their misconduct.
On April 30, 2020, the 11th
Continue Reading What To Do When Employee Misconduct And Protected Activity Collide?
By Brent I. Clark, James L. Curtis, Adam R. Young, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: Last month at the 2018 National Safety Council (NSC) Congress the speakers noted that “safety programs shouldn’t end when employees walk out the door and get into a vehicle to drive.” The session was presented by Karen Puckett, the Director
Continue Reading National Safety Council Congress Session on Driving Safety – The Missing Link in Your Company Safety and Health Management Systems
By Marjorie Clara Soto, Kay J. Hazelwood, and Mary Kay Klimesh
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s recent opinion in Yeasin v. Durham, No. 16-3367, 2018 WL 300553 (10th Cir. Jan. 5, 2018), addresses the “tension between some students’ free-speech rights and other students’ Title IX rights to receive an education
Continue Reading Tenth Circuit Leaves Unresolved When Off-Campus Social Media Posts Can Subject Students to Discipline
By Karla E. Sanchez and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employer must reinstate four employees after it terminated the employees for agreeing with a former coworker’s email that complained about their terms and conditions of employment.
Recently, a National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge ruled that a restaurant unlawfully reprimanded and discharged several employees in violation of
Continue Reading Restaurant Wrong To Fire Workers Over Email Criticizing the Restaurant and its Managers
By Johanna T. Wise and Ryan L. Behndleman
Seyfarth Synopsis: Do employers have to let employees sleep on the job as a reasonable accommodation for a disability? While far from being decided, a recent federal case in the Southern District of New York addresses the issue.
Let’s face it, we all get tired from time to time. While
Continue Reading Don’t Lose Sleep Over It…Yet
By Benjamin D. Briggs, Adam R. Young, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Tenth Circuit held that a trucking company unlawfully retaliated against a truck driver after he abandoned a trailer on a public highway, finding that his actions constituted a protected refusal to operate a vehicle in unsafe conditions.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
Continue Reading Tenth Circuit Orders Truck Driver Who Abandoned Trailer on Interstate Highway to be Reinstated with Backpay
By Kevin A. Fritz, Andrew R. Cockroft, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: Petitioner to the Supreme Court claims that the Sixth Circuit engaged in a “separate but equal” rationale when it rejected her claim that her employer discriminated against her based on race after the employer allegedly acquiesced to a Caucasian family’s request that no African American
Continue Reading Nursing Manager, Removed from Patient Case, Seeks Supreme Court Review in Discrimination Case
The EEOC recently released its Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation, which is not law, but will shape how the agency investigates retaliation charges going forward. The report, which replaces the 1998 version, offers a look into the EEOC’s expansive view of its jurisdiction.
While the EEOC emphasizes that charges of retaliation “essentially doubled” between
Continue Reading EEOC Expands Its View Of Retaliation Charges