Employment Law

Seek civility, don’t sweat oversensitivity

12/31/2008

Whether a work environment is actually sexually hostile depends on whether that’s how an average person would perceive it. A supersensitive person won’t get to sue for sexual harassment if an ordinary person would brush off the alleged harassment.

Complainer can use co-workers’ anecdotes in building hostile environment case

12/31/2008

The 4th Circuit just made it easier for employees to sue for having to work in a hostile environment. The court said that unpleasant and offensive conduct aimed as one’s sex or race does not have to happen in the presence of the employee who winds up complaining. Conduct witnessed by other employees can be used as evidence …

Boss put foot in mouth? Consider settling—and protecting against future suits

12/31/2008

Surprise! Supervisors sometimes say dumb things. It may be entirely innocent—they simply don’t realize the impact their words may have. If that’s the case, and someone complains, it may be best to settle the case and move on.

Tenure denial and discharge don’t give right to sue over ruined reputation

12/31/2008

Probationary university professors whose contracts aren’t renewed because they failed to achieve tenure status can’t use tenure denial alone as the basis of a suit alleging damage to their reputations. They must show that the decision was actually motivated by something like race or sex discrimination.

No interest penalty after resolving workers’ comp dispute

12/31/2008

Sometimes, it’s unclear whether an employee’s medical bills are related to a workplace injury. Now there’s a bit of good news if you wind up having to cover those bills.

High bar for retaliation case when someone else is victim

12/31/2008

Sometimes, employees don’t have enough information to judge whether something they observe at work is discrimination—or a legitimate management action.

Employee sues Camp Lejeune for nixing anti-Muslim decals

12/31/2008

A retired Marine who is a civilian employee at Camp Lejeune is suing the Marine Corps base for demanding that he remove anti-Muslim stickers from his car. Officials asked Jesse Nieto, whose son was a victim of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, to remove a decal…

Employment Law

Seek civility, don’t sweat oversensitivity

Complainer can use co-workers’ anecdotes in building hostile environment case

Boss put foot in mouth? Consider settling—and protecting against future suits

Tenure denial and discharge don’t give right to sue over ruined reputation

No interest penalty after resolving workers’ comp dispute

High bar for retaliation case when someone else is victim

Employee sues Camp Lejeune for nixing anti-Muslim decals

Justice Department sues judge, courts for USERRA violations

A matter of trust: 4 ways to defend against employee disloyalty

Can handbooks destroy at-will employment?

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