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Employment Law

Supreme Court rules in Walmart v. Dukes

05/13/2011
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in the pay discrimination lawsuit everyone is watching. Walmart is asking the High Court to overturn a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in April that allowed a class-action suit alleging widespread discrimination against women to proceed. At stake: potentially $1 billion or more—and the future of high-stakes class-action cases.

When do the new rules for implementing the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) go into effect?

05/13/2011
Q. When do we have to start paying attention to the final regulations implementing the ADAAA?

You can demand that employees respond to FMLA leave questions

05/13/2011

Employees don’t always give their employers much notice that they need FMLA leave. Nor are they always specific. Now the 7th Circuit Court of Ap­peals has issued a ruling that clarifies what’s expected of both employer and employee in such circumstances.

Emanuel pick for school head will have to explain age remarks

05/13/2011
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked candidate to lead Chicago’s school system faces two lawsuits dating from his three-year tenure as the head of Rochester, N.Y., schools.

Complaint: anti-gay slurs, propositions by Jesse Jackson

05/13/2011
A former employee of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s Rainbow Push Coalition has filed what Chicago news outlets are calling a “bombshell” complaint with the Chicago Commission on Human Rights, alleging Jackson ridiculed him for being gay, and even asked him for oral sex on at least one occasion.

No additional claims in most sexual harassment cases

05/13/2011
In most cases, employees who file sexual harassment claims can’t add a host of other related claims. For example, an employee can’t add a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress if the behavior she describes was essentially sexual harassment.

Settling employee lawsuit? Withholding taxes usually OK

05/13/2011
Here’s something you may not have considered when agreeing to settle a nuisance case for a few thousand dollars. Most of the time, you will need to withhold federal and other taxes. Be­­cause of a relatively recent change at the IRS, unless payment is for a physical injury, the proceeds are fully taxable.

Court: Compensation based on employees’ market value may correct past pay bias

05/13/2011
Ever since Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, employers have had to struggle with evaluating their compensation plans to make sure they aren’t perpetuating past pay discrimination. Now a federal judge has suggested that a better approach to fixing the problem may be found in the free market. If employers use the market value of jobs as a major factor in setting compensation, then even those whose pay is lower than it would be without past discrimination will be paid fairly because their increases will be greater.

Quick application of anti-harassment policy cuts liability–even in highly charged race cases

05/13/2011

Perhaps nothing is more offensive—and terrifying—to black employees than the implicit message behind a noose. Triggering images of Jim Crow-era lynchings, the noose is a powerful symbol. But that doesn’t mean that its appear­ance at work always means employer liability.

Beware even the simplest discipline: Court says oral reprimand can be retaliation

05/13/2011

Ordinarily, when an employee receives a reprimand that doesn’t carry negative consequences, courts won’t consider the reprimand an “adverse employment decision.” As a practical matter, that means an employee can’t base a discrimination lawsuit on a simple reprimand. But that doesn’t mean an oral reprimand can’t be retaliation.