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Employment Law

Rule requiring employees to speak only English at work may be race discrimination

05/07/2018
Take note if you have rules against speaking languages other than English at work: That could constitute race discrimination under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

You can’t dodge FLSA by forming 2nd company

05/07/2018
Ever thought you might be able to skirt the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions by arranging for related entities to “share” the same employees? Courts aren’t likely to buy the arrangement.

Beaumont, Texas firm sued for firings based on costly medical risk

05/07/2018
Signature Industrial Services, a refinery services company in Beaumont, faces an EEOC lawsuit after it fired three brothers, allegedly because they have hemophilia.

Employees win one of EEOC’s strangest lawsuits

05/03/2018
A federal jury in Brooklyn unanimously ruled in favor of employees at a New York insurance company who objected when they were forced to practice a religion conceived by the firm’s CEO.

Policy alone won’t fend off harassment suit

05/03/2018
You may think having a solid sexual harassment policy is all it takes to thwart a sexual harassment lawsuit. Not if the policy isn’t being followed!

Caste bias may pose new litigation risk

05/03/2018
Discrimination between members of protected classes is just as illegal under Title VII as discrimination by members of a majority class against minorities. Now there is a growing interest in a different form of intraracial discrimination: bias by some Indian Americans against members of lower castes.

Run internal audit to uncover hiring bias

05/03/2018
It’s entirely possible for employment discrimination to fly under HR’s radar. All it takes is too much trust that hiring managers wouldn’t knowingly violate your anti-discrimination policies. That’s why it’s critical to regularly audit your organization’s hiring practices.

New Jersey gas pump jockeys claim $2 million in back pay

05/01/2018
On April 27, the WHD announced it had recovered $2,079,596 in back wages and liquidated damages for 87 attendants working at 25 southern New Jersey gas stations.

Philly’s Dechert law firm settles discrimination claims

04/30/2018
The giant Dechert law firm, founded in Philadelphia in 1875, has agreed to settle charges it fired two workers from its payroll department because of their age and gender.

Recent medical diagnosis? Consider accommodations

04/30/2018
Sometimes an employee discovers she may have a disability, or that it’s time to disclose one she had been keeping secret. How the employer responds to that information may prevent an ADA discrimination lawsuit—or trigger one.