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Employment Law

Goldsboro builder settles bias case with Adventists

10/26/2010
Goldsboro-based construction company T.A. Loving has settled a religious discrimination complaint for $47,500. Elvis Cifuentes Angel and two other workers filed the complaint stating that Loving forced them to work on their religion’s Sabbath. All three workers are Seventh-day Adventists.

Subway assistant manager too fresh for EEOC

10/26/2010
SKMATCH Inc., a Subway franchisee with several stores in the Wilmington area, faces charges it failed to address sexual harassment complaints leveled at one of its assistant managers.

Dillard’s faces age bias charges after firing in Cary

10/26/2010

Dillard’s department stores will have to answer in court to charges it discriminated against former area sales manager Virginia Keene because of her age. Working in Cary, Keene was 61 years old at the time the company fired her and replaced her with a 24-year-old with only four months’ experience.

Court refuses to expand Title VII liability to bosses

10/26/2010
A federal court hearing a sexual harassment case has dismissed the charges against a district manager because individuals aren’t personally liable for Title VII violations.

Check calendar when employee files EEOC complaint

10/26/2010
Employees who wait too long to file a discrimination complaint with the EEOC lose their right to sue.

Fish farms net win in court: They’re not on the hook for FLSA overtime

10/26/2010

By law, the FLSA doesn’t apply to fishing activities when the work takes place on the water. However, the FLSA does cover work at fish-processing plants. That means that employees on fishing boats aren’t required to be paid overtime, while those who packaged the catch on land must. But what about fish farms?

Court refuses to freeze employer’s assets pending outcome of discrimination case

10/26/2010

Here’s a happy ending to a case that could have made very bad law for employers. A federal judge has rejected a former employee’s request for the court to seize an employer’s assets pending the outcome of the case.

Can you pass the constructive discharge test? Beware lawsuits from employees who quit

10/26/2010
Some supervisors wrongly assume that employees who quit can’t sue because they weren’t fired. That’s not true. An employee who finds conditions so intolerable that he or she has no choice but to quit can sue and allege termination. Fortunately, courts expect employees to have relatively thick skins. Workplaces will never be perfect and courts don’t expect them to be.

Court: Employers can collect costs after win

10/26/2010
If an employer loses a discrimination case, it typically has to pay the employee’s legal fees and associated costs plus any damages due. But what if the employee loses the case? Judges have begun assessing legal costs to the losing side. Such costs typically include expenses associated with defending a lawsuit such as deposition fees, copying costs and expert witness expenses.

New employee a dud? Boss who hired should fire

10/26/2010

Someone who harbors animosity against a protected class isn’t likely to hire someone he knows belongs to that protected class. If a manager picks a black man as his preferred candidate for an opening and offers the job, he probably isn’t a racist. If that same manager finds out the new employee isn’t as qualified as he sounded or looked on his résumé, he should be the one to make the termination decision.