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Employment Law

California HR agency pays to settle ADA complaint

10/31/2018
The EEOC investigated the California Department of Human Resources following complaints from applicants that it failed to accommodate disabilities during the hiring process and violated the ADA when it was conducting medical reviews of applicant fitness.

Expect courts to give leeway to pro se litigants

10/31/2018
Just because an employee doesn’t have an attorney, don’t expect his discrimination case to be quickly dismissed. In fact, many federal judges will try hard to help such pro se litigants.

Per diem payments aren’t wages for overtime purposes

10/31/2018
Do you pay a per diem to employees who work away from home for several days or more? It’s not compensation. That means per diem payments should not be included in the base pay you use to calculate overtime wages.

When slur was an isolated incident, discipline, warn not to repeat—and move on

10/31/2018
Sometimes people—including supervisors—say or do stupid and offensive things. But an employer doesn’t always have to terminate the offending employee.

Discrimination lawsuit defense: Show boss didn’t know of protected status

10/31/2018
One defense to discrimination claims is that the alleged discriminator didn’t know what protected class the employee hails from, and therefore couldn’t discriminate based on that characteristic.

Risky assumptions: 9th Circuit adds clarity to ADA’s ‘regarded as disabled’ definition

10/31/2018
When the ADA was amended in 2008, Congress changed the definition tied to discrimination based on an employer’s presumption that a worker is disabled. Now the 9th Circuit has clarified what Congress meant.

Telecommuting not always an accommodation

10/31/2018
Sometimes, allowing a disabled employee to work from home may be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. But what constitutes a reasonable accommodation depends on individual circumstances.

San Diego massage parlor rubs DOL the wrong way

10/31/2018
The owners of two San Diego-area massage parlors have agreed to pay 17 employees $61,317 to settle charges they violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

DOJ says transgender bias is lawful

10/30/2018
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does not protect transgender employees from discrimination, according to a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case.

Cargill settles suit brought by Muslim meatpackers

10/29/2018
The EEOC and Cargill, the meatpacking giant headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, have settled a long-running lawsuit over the company’s denial of prayer breaks for Muslim employees.