It is important for employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”) to remember the impact which the Act can have on employment policies and rules – including, but not limited to, policies and rules in connection with confidentiality. This article is not intended to provide an exhaustive review of this area. Instead, it will merely refer to portions of the recent decision in Cintas Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board, 482 F.3d 463 (D.C. Cir. 2007) which “involve[d] an allegation that the confidentiality rule of [an employer] violated provisions” of the NLRA. Id. at 464.
Continue Reading Do You Remember the Impact the National Labor Relations Act Can Have on Employment Policies and Rules?

Come this September, employers are facing a new EEO-1 form and a new filing format.  Therefore, employers are well advised to get a head start on this annual reporting task.    The new rules relating to EEO-1s are really two-fold:  EEO-1s must now be filed on-line; and some of the job, ethnicity, and race categories have been modified.
Continue Reading New Rules Regarding EEO-1s

In a recent decision, the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the notion that temporal proximity standing alone can be sufficient proof of “but for” causation in a Title VII retaliatory discharge claim. In Strong v. University Health Care System, L.L.C., 2007 WL 891148 (5th Cir. (La.)), plaintiff Laurie Strong sued UHS alleging gender discrimination and retaliatory discharge.

Strong worked as a nurse coordinator for UHS, a large Louisiana hospital. She complained to one of her supervisors on December 15, 2003 of alleged gender discrimination by a hospital surgeon, based largely on angry comments by the surgeon on three separate occasions that she was “stupid” and “lazy.” Both before and after the date of this complaint, however, numerous complaints had been made about Strong’s behavior in the workplace by patients, co-workers, supervisors, and physicians. Strong was eventually terminated no March 31, 2004 for poor performance, improper work conduct, arguing with superiors, and obstructing various departmental policies. On November 24, 2004, Strong filed her complaint alleging Title VII and Louisiana law violations.Continue Reading “Temporal Proximity” Alone Insufficient To Prove Retaliatory Discharge Claim

In a recent Supreme Court decision, the Court held that Title VII’s requirement that a covered “employer” meet a minimum threshold number of employees is not “jurisdictional” but is part of the requisite elements of a claim for relief. Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 126 S. Ct. 1235, 163 L.Ed.2d 1097, 74 USLW 4138 (2006). The effect of holding that the threshold is not “jurisdictional” was to abrogate previous Fifth Circuit jurisprudence treating Title VII’s employee-numerosity requirements as a matter of federal court subject-matter jurisdiction that is not subject to waiver or estoppel.
Continue Reading Is It Jurisdictional?

It is common for an employer to require an employee to provide a medical release or to submit to a medical examination before returning to work after a sickness or medical leave. Some employees contend the time it takes to complete this process amounts to involuntary FMLA leave and they should receive all benefits of the Act related to such leave. In a recent Fifth Circuit decision, the court recognized that an employer can place an employee on “involuntary” FMLA leave if the employee has provided the employer with notice of the employee’s “serious health condition,” and the involuntary nature of the leave does not deprive the employee of rights under the Act.    Willis v. Coca Cola Enterprises, Inc., 2006 WL 827359 (5^th Cir. March 31, 2006).

The facts in Willis are interesting. Willis was a Senior Account Manager with Coca Cola Enterprises. On a Monday, in May 2003, she called her supervisor and told him she would not be at work that day because she was sick. In the same conversation, she told her supervisor she was pregnant, but she did not specifically tell her supervisor she was sick because of her pregnancy.Continue Reading 5TH CIRCUIT RECOGNIZES THAT AN EMPLOYER’S PLACEMENT OF AN EMPLOYEE ON LEAVE CAN RESULT IN “INVOLUNTARY” FMLA LEAVE IF…

The 2006 Louisiana Regular Legislative Session ended, and efforts to establish a state minimum wage in Louisiana failed. The United States Senate also recently voted 52-46 against a bill that would have increased the Federal minimum wage.

See article from CNN here.