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 […]
It is no secret that most employers attempt to manage the risk of litigation through the use of employee separation agreements. A recent Second Circuit decision serves as a valuable reminder of the importance of drafting separation agreements which will stand up to attack. Earlier this month, in Ridinger v. Dow Jones & Co., the Second […]
Effective July 1, 2011, all cases before the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities Office of Public Hearing were suspended, see pdf, as the Governor failed to appoint new referees for the term beginning July 1, 2011. To date, new referees have yet to be appointed. This all comes as a result of Connecticut’s current budget […]
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court issued its much anticipated decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes. As expected, the decision was a victory for the retail giant. The Court denied the plaintiffs the right to proceed as a class on the grounds that the class failed to meet the commonality requirement, since the action was based […]
I had the fortunate opportunity to speak on Wednesday with Mike Devlin to a group of in-house counsel at the Connecticut Law Tribune’s Annual In-House Counsel CLE Lecture. The topic of discussion was recent employment law developments. Topics included the Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, NLRB trends under the Obama administration, the new […]
In addition to the paid sick leave law which we’ve been closing following as its made its way through the General Assembly, a new law affecting employers which will make “gender identity or expression” a new protected category passed the General Assembly this weekend and is heading to the Governor’s desk. Few employers will be […]
All eyes are on the United States Supreme Court in a case that involves millions of female employees facing off against the nation’s largest retailer. The United States Supreme Court heard arguments in March on the most closely watched case before it this year, and the largest employment class action in history, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. […]
On October 1, 2010, a new Connecticut law went into effect which provides additional employment protections to victims of family violence and an allowance of leave time for employees dealing with issues relating to family violence. Before October 1, 2010, Connecticut law prohibited employers from terminating, penalizing, threatening, or otherwise coercing employees with respect to […]
In 2010, retaliation surpassed race for the first time ever as the most frequently filed charge with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This is of great concern, given that retaliation is often far easier to prove than discrimination, and given that there has been a national trend of high damage awards issued […]
In 2010, retaliation surpassed race for the first time ever as the most frequently filed charge with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This is of great concern, given that retaliation is often far easier to prove than discrimination, and given that there has been a national trend of high damage awards issued […]
