Next Year's Headache for Employers

Not to ruin the Christmas season, but when you get through the holidays and start focusing again on looming legal issues, you might want to ...

Keyboard Filing - Being a Whistleblower Just Got a Lot Easier

It will be interesting to see what the response is to today's announcement by the Department of Labor that complaints under any of the 2...

Two Names You May Not Know and May Never Hear Much About

But if you are at all interested in what may be coming out of new NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin's office, and if you are an emplo...

The Things People Say and Do

One of the many changes that have happened since I first started practicing law in 1975, is the appearance of services which monitor the fil...

ENDA Half-way Home?

For the first time ever the United States Senate seems poised to pass legislation that would prevent discrimination against gays, lesbians a...

A Study That Won't Make You Feel Good in Half the Country

Sara Murray of the WSJ has an interesting story this week about state legislation in the now 23 states that as of January will require emplo...

Blogging Is a Habit

And like any other habit, it is much easier to fall out of than create.  I am always amazed how after working out regularly for several mont...

Whose Side Are You On? The Perils of HR

I have often said that being a front line supervisor is the most difficult job in today's workplace. I think that is still true for a sp...

Pay Cards - Federal Standard Might Be Helpful

Although employers are often ambivalent, if not negative, about federal involvement in the workplace, there are time when it is beneficial. ...

Federal Government Action on Employment Discrimination Before Title VII

Congress as early as the Unemployment Relief Act of 1933 made a policy declaration "That in employing citizens for the purpose of this ...

June 1963 - Civil Rights Act Introduced

On June 20, 1963, what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced as H.R. 7152, in the 1st Session of the 88th Congress. It was refe...

Let's Get a Grip, Employees' Rights Did Not End Yesterday

Reporting is no easy task. But I have heard several reports concerning the two Supreme Court decisions yesterday that  convey misleading inf...

"But For" Not "Motivating Factor" is Standard for Title VII Retaliation

Maybe it is because I practice in the 5th Circuit, but today's other major Supreme Court decision for the employment law world, Universi...

Supreme Court Adopts Narrow Definition of Supervisor for Harassment Law

Justice Alito writing for the court succinctly sets out today's holding in Vance v. Ball State  (S.Ct. 6/24/13): We hold that an employe...

Supreme Court Will Decide Recess Board's Fate

It would have been more of a shock (and an even bigger problem) if it had not done so, but today the Supreme Court granted cert of the D.C. ...

Supreme Court Arbitration Jurisprudence - No Class Action If You Say So

Combining today's decision in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant , (6.20.13) with its decision 10 days ago in Oxford Heal...

After JFK's National Address

Medgar Evers, a field secretary for the NAACP was shot dead as he got out of his car in his drive way in Jackson, Mississippi.  It was just ...

A Doorway Stand and One Big Step Forward

On June 11, 1963, George Wallace made his famous "segregation forever" speech while standing in the door to block the integration ...

The Equal Pay Act of 1963, The First Tentative Step

The first 87 Congresses of the United States did not really give much thought to the relationship between an employer and its employees.  Wh...

50 Years Ago ...

In the summer of 1963, the summer between the 7th and 8th grade for me, my main concern was playing first base for Tapp's Pony League ba...

It's Not Your Father's ABA Any More

According to my membership card, I first joined the American Bar Association in 1976.  I was a first year associate at one of the large firm...

Yes Virginia, the Supreme Court Does Matter - A Cat's Paw in the 5th Circuit

Although as an object fact we know that it is important when the Supreme Court issues a decision, see my discussion just above about the imp...

Sarbanes Oxley in the Supreme Court Dock

And on the Supreme Court docket for next term after the Court's grant of certiorai of a 1st Circuit decision which applied a narrow defi...

Another Bad Day in the DC Circuit for the NLRB

Today, the D.C. Circuit struck down the NLRB's rule which required all employers over which it had jurisdiction to post a notice advisin...

The Next Protected Class - Ex-cons

The EEOC last year issued some updated guidance on Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII . ...

A Ground Floor Opportunity? Litigation Finance

I really have not had much chance to give the area of third party litigation financing a lot of thought, but my initial instincts are that w...

Talking Money at Work

Today's Wall Street Journal discusses workers willingness to talk with their peers about what they are being paid as a generational chan...

Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk — A Wasted Opportunity?

I had hoped, although without any real basis, that when the Supreme Court dealt with a collective action case this term, by deciding whether...

Quorum, Heck a Fully Appointed NLRB?

Doubtful for awhile, but at least five nominees are now pending Senate action., with the announcement today of  the appointment of two new m...

And lawyers wonder why ...

Clients might wonder about our priorities. Mobile devices such as iPads are becoming an essential part of the job for many attorneys. "...

Bullying and My Predictive Abilities — New York at Risk

If there is anyone who started with me when I made my first post in July, 2002 you will know that one topic that has come up repeatedly is m...

Stipulating Your Way Out of Federal Court

In certain parts of Texas, it is not uncommon for plaintiffs to stipulate that they will not demand or accept an amount in excess of $74,999...

The March Toward a Bullying Cause of Action Continues

Since almost the beginning of this blog I have been commenting on the possibility of a bullying cause of action being adopted in the U.S.  O...

Bad Day for Whistleblowers in Texas

One of the most important things about whistleblowing or retaliation claims are that they are almost always created by statutes, so the stat...

A Genius Is Someone Who Thinks Like Me - An Approach to Litigation

I was pleased to see this dialogue between Darryl R. Marsch, the General Counsel of Krispy Kreme, and the Daily Reporter in today's Corp...

What Now for the NLRB? Recess Appointments Invalid

Although undoubtedly not the last word, today's opinion by the D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals limiting the President to make "reces...

The "New Sheriff" Leaves Town

After arriving at the Department of Labor, Hilda Solis famously proclaimed that there was a new sheriff in town. Hilda Solis, new sheriff at...

Veganism Protected As a Religion? Not So Fast

Writing from Austin, where almost every menu offers at least vegan alternatives, I hate to put a damper on what is surely going to be the qu...

Goodbye to the 112th Congress, Hello the the 88th?

It does not seem that many will shed many tears for the now departed 112th Congress, although I am not sure that any one seems hopeful that ...