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Minnesota School District Enters Into Five Year Consent Degree with Department of Justice and the Office of Civil Rights in Resolution of Peer-on-Peer Harassment and Discrimination Claims Based Upon Sex and Sexual Orientation

The Anoka-Hennepin school district (District) in Minnesota recently entered into a five year consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to resolve two separate actions brought by six current or former district students alleging peer-on-peer harassment and discrimination based upon sex and […]

Employers Required to Display Paid Sick Leave Notice Poster in English and Spanish

As discussed in our previous posts, here and here, Connecticut’s new paid sick leave law went into effect on January 1, 2012.  Among its many requirements is an obligation for employers to provide adequate notice of the law to employees.  Most employers likely satisfy this requirement by displaying the notice poster created by the Department of Labor.  Though […]

$168 Million Sexual Harassment/Retaliation Verdict

According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, a California jury recently awarded a hospital employee $168 million, including $125 million in punitive damages, to a female physician assistant who endured two years of sexually inappropriate behavior and then was fired for reporting the harassment as well as patient care violations. The perpetrators included cardiac […]

Department of Labor Proposes New FMLA Regulations

The Department of Labor recently proposed new regulations designed to implement and interpret the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which amended and expanded the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”).  The amendments expand military caregiver leave and incorporate a special eligibility provision for airline flight crew members. As set forth in the DOL’s informational notice, […]

LABOR BOARD REBUKES TEACHER UNION CLAIM THAT NEW SOFTWARE CAUSED INCREASED WORK LOAD

In a move that seemed to defy logic, the Connecticut Education Association (CEA) on behalf of its local affiliate the Milford Education Association, filed a complaint claiming that a popular software program, specifically designed to make easier the process of completing paperwork following a Planning and Placement Team meeting (PPT) for a special education student, […]

Trusts & Estates Attorney Addresses American Bar Association

WESTPORT, Conn. – Attorney Shelby L. Wilson, of the Westport office of the law firm of Berchem Moses PC, served as a panelist on a presentation entitled “Estate Planning Gone Awry” at the 2012 Mid-Year Meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA) Tax Section. Ms. Wilson, who is a lifelong resident of Orange, attended the ABA […]

Trusts & Estates Attorney Addresses American Bar Association

WESTPORT, Conn. – Attorney Shelby L. Wilson, of the Westport office of the law firm of Berchem Moses PC, served as a panelist on a presentation entitled “Estate Planning Gone Awry” at the 2012 Mid-Year Meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA) Tax Section. Ms. Wilson, who is a lifelong resident of Orange, attended the ABA […]

NLRB Issues Further Social Media Guidance

In follow up to our previous post (May 9, 2011) regarding the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) treatment of social media, the NLRB released further guidance in an effort to assist employers in evaluating the legality of social media policies and practices.  The NLRB’s social media report analyzes 14 cases, involving both social media policies and employee discharge for […]

Employers with Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Advised to Review Their Policies

If you are an employer that maintains a mandatory arbitration agreement that waives the rights of employees to participate in class or collective actions, your arbitration agreement may be in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). Pursuant to the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) recent decision in D.R. Horton, Inc., 357 NLRB. No. 184 […]

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Student Off-Campus Online Speech Cases

As you may recall from our previous posts regarding student’s online speech, the summer of 2011 brought with it a split in the Circuit Courts regarding how to handle discipline of student’s off-campus online  speech.  Specifically, the cases J.S. v. Blue Mountain Sch. Dist. and Layshock v. Hermitage Sch. Dist. out of the Third Circuit and Kowalski v. Berkeley County Schools out of the […]