The Fourth Circuit recently issued an opinion that highlights the importance of maintaining regular communication with an employee who is out on leave. In Thomas v. City of Annapolis, Maryland, a police officer injured his knee on the job and was offered a permanent...
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Month: April 2021
Is a Customer’s Harassment Enough to Create a Hostile Environment?
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, along with other state and federal anti-discrimination laws, employers are required to take reasonable measures to prevent or address a hostile work environment. In other words, if someone is harassing your employee,...
Do Employers Need to Pay Employees for COVID Temperature Checks?
A new trend in wage and hour litigation has emerged: employees who are required to wait in long lines to get their temperatures taken before clocking in are claiming that their wait times are compensable under state and federal wage and hour laws. Employers who...
Federal Court Rules That Professor Not Required to Address Students by Their Preferred Pronouns
The 6th Circuit recently ruled in favor of a professor who violated his university’s policy by refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns. The case serves as an important reminder that government employees retain their First Amendment rights and there...
Tech Workers Say Harassment Rate Was Higher During Remote Work
"There's the assumption that once everybody went separately and you were protected in your own home, that you wouldn't see the same level of harassment," says Ellen Pao, a tech investor and leading diversity advocate in the tech field. "It turned out that actually...
Lessons Learned from Recent Maryland Case: How Not to Respond to an Employee’s Discrimination Complaint
In Wethje v. CACI-ISS, Inc, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland recently ruled in favor of a white employee who brought a reverse race discrimination claim. In March 2017, her African American subordinate complained that the Plaintiff over-assigned...