Many employees are required to sign agreements waiving their right to bring a class action suit against their employer over wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment. But most of them don’t dispute the validity of such waivers.…

In Ernst v. City of Chicago, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided whether the City of Chicago discriminated against female job applicants in violation of Title VII. The applicants for paramedic jobs claimed that a physical test…

Does Title VII protect employees from discrimination based on their hairstyles? In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Catastrophe Management Solutions, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered this question when an employer…

Every year, hundreds of U.S. companies are sold to new owners, and in many cases the seller’s contracts transfer to the buyer. Recently, this became an issue when employees allegedly violated their former employer’s noncompete and…

For an employee to receive equitable relief on a Title VII discrimination claim, the individual must be able to prove damages. This inability was the plaintiff’s undoing in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit case Olivares v.…

Employers must do more than pay lip service to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): They must exhaust administrative remedies before taking adverse action. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently affirmed this…

Employers should always be careful when weighing pregnancy accommodation requests, even when they’re following facially neutral policies — ones that don’t appear to be discriminatory on their face. The employer in Legg v. Ulster County…

Employee or independent contractor? It’s a question few employers can afford to ignore when classifying workers — particularly as authorities have stepped up their scrutiny in recent years. In one recent case, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra…

Ashlyn B. Lindskog, Attorney

Employers take note! You may be aware that the FMLA provides eligible employees with 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave when there is a new child or baby in the household, but did you know that leave may…

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit considered whether a trial court had properly granted summary judgment in favor of an employer. The court’s decision in Friedman v. Swiss Re America Holding Corp. is instructive…