By Sean Herrmann Today, May 1, is International Workers’ Day. Though it is overlooked in the United States, this day, also referred to as “May Day,” is a public holiday in many countries around the world. It’s a day to celebrate workers and a day for workers to demonstrate and demand more rights in the […]
The Distinguished Practitioner and Service Award Nominating Committee is accepting nominations from now until Friday, July 31, 2020. The Award exists to recognize an employment law practitioner for “Outstanding Service, Leadership, and/or Significant Contributions to the Development of Labor and Employment Law in North Carolina.” The Award was first given to Jon Harkavy in 2008 […]
By Savannah Singletary Assume that an employee is fired because her employer mistakenly believes she is of Middle Eastern descent. In fact, she is not. Should she be able to state a claim under Title VII? Courts are now divided about whether Title VII protects persons who are perceived to belong to a protected class, […]
By Trey Ferguson Since the U.S. Supreme Court adopted the after-acquired evidence rule in McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., employers have relied on this doctrine to limit former employees’ remedies in wrongful termination cases. Suppose an employer terminates an employee because he is 60 years old. That discharge would clearly violate the federal Age Discrimination […]
By Michele Livingstone and Will Quick Our section membership has a strong tradition of supporting and participating in pro bono and community service activities—both those planned and sponsored by the NCBA and those that you undertake on your own or with other organizations. We are in unprecedented times with COVID-19 (Coronavirus), and I am confident […]
By T. Cullen Stafford The U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule clarifying the joint employer standard took effect on March 16. The final rule, first announced on January 12, narrows the definition of joint employment and contains several practical examples of scenarios where joint employer status would or would not exist. The rule is a positive development […]
By Joe Murray The court opinions have been sparse lately, and none of them are earth shattering. But here they are: Davis v. NC Dep’t of Health & Hum. Servs., No. COA19-449 (N.C. App. Dec. 17, 2019) (unpublished) (Human Resources Act): DHHS terminated Davis for manually lifting a patient from his wheelchair to his bed […]
By Joe Murray I hope y’all appreciate that I read these opinions so you don’t have to. The employment decisions over the past several months have been fairly pedestrian. Clehm v. BAE Sys. Ordnance Sys., Inc., No. 18-2010 (4th Cir. Sept. 30, 2019) (unpublished) (Title VII): Clehm was sexually assaulted by a coworker, who BAE […]
By Michael B. Cohen Among the alternatives for calculating overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the fluctuating workweek method is perhaps one of the least familiar and used techniques. The fluctuating workweek method enables employers to pay overtime to certain non-exempt employees at one-half their regular rate, rather than one and one-half times their […]
By Kevin Murphy Retaliation subverts the aims of anti-discrimination laws, fair pay rules, safety regulations, accounting requirements, environmental safeguards, and many other laws. Employees cannot invoke the rights provided by these laws or help the government stamp out fraud if they know they will be retaliated against for speaking up or reporting misconduct. Retaliation is […]