Back in 2020, the Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance on...
Month: July 2021
Disability Discrimination Can Include Failure to Accommodate
It seems straightforward, but avoiding discrimination against people with disabilities sometimes requires understanding what activities the disability affects. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), employers have a duty to reasonably accommodate the needs...
New Overtime Law Goes into Effect in Virginia
Earlier this month, the Virginia Overtime Wage Act (VOWA) went into effect. The new law resembles the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in that it requires employers to pay employees an overtime rate of 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours worked in...
Baltimore Judge Halts Governor’s Early Termination of Pandemic Unemployment Programs
Back in March 2020, Congress passed multiple unemployment programs designed to assist Americans who were out-of-work due to the pandemic. Although these programs are slated to expire on September 6th, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced last month that the state...
Biden Asks FTC to Rein In Non-Compete Agreements
Recently, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping executive order aimed at promoting competition and removing barriers to economic growth. In the order, he encouraged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to limit non-compete agreements or ban them altogether, at least for...

Federal Court Rules that Consultation with Attorney Before Termination of Employee is not Evidence of Retaliation
When an employer seeks the advice of an attorney before they terminate an employee, is this evidence that the termination was motivated by retaliatory intent? A federal case called O'Rourke v. Tiffany and Company recently addressed this very question. In O’Rourke,...