The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

It has been a busy couple of weeks traveling for work.  In fact as I type this, I am about ready to land in Miami.  However, while I have a few spare minutes, I want to post a What I've Been Reading This Week so that readers can take a look at some of the well written notes I came across.  As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Employers: A Few Tips On Dealing With the Termination of High Profile Employees This is a great article from the Delaware Employment Law blog on a recent issue that arose when Reddit terminated a high profile employee, Victoria Taylor, who had been responsible for organizing and facilitating AMAs for the company (AMAs a/k/a "Ask Me Anything"...a sort of question and answer session on Reddit where Reddit users can pose questions to well known people and get responses to a range of questions).  However, after Taylor's termination, Reddit made some missteps, which as this article points out, employers can use

Readers might remember a recent United States Supreme Court decision from June in which the Court considered an issue over whether an Abercrombie & Fitch store discriminated against an applicant because she wore a head scarf to her interview (which did not conform with Abercrombie's "Look Policy".  ( United States Supreme Court Issues Opinion in Abercrombie & Fitch Case ).   Recently, a federal judge in California certified a class action lawsuit for approximately 62,000 Abercrombie employees.  The employees allege that Abercrombie forces its workers to wear its clothing (which requires employees to buy new clothing every time Abercrombie issues a new sales guide) but will not reimburse them for the purchases.  These alleged acts are in violation of California's labor codes.   As well, Abercrombie allegedly sent employees home or reduced their shifts if they showed up to work and did not meet the company's strict appearance requirements.  The pl

Back in February, I had posted an update on the NLRB Ambush Election rules (aka "quickie election" rules).  ( A Look at the NLRB's New Ambush Election Rules ).  Unsurprisingly, two lawsuits were filed to challenge the new election rules.  One suit was filed in D.C. and the other in Texas.   Recently, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a whopping 72 page opinion that rejected each of the arguments raised by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and other groups that the ambush election rules were unconstitutional.  Note, this opinion follows an April ruling from the Texas court which also rejected a challenge to the ambush election rules. While this opinion takes some wind out of the sales of some of these opposition groups, this probably is not the last challenge we have heard.  For now, I would expect there to be additional appeals and at some point, possibly some sort of Congressional action.  While this is an updated p

Given all the attention to Netflix's parental leave policy announced recently, I thought it was appropriate to point readers towards some additional articles on the topic.  Unsurprisingly, there are supporters and critics of the new policy.  I think it is worth a look at both sides of the argument, in order to get a better understanding of how this policy will impact workers going forward. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. The Challenge Facing Netflix's Parental Leave Policy...& a Possible Solution? Business Insider has a well thought out look at one of the main challenges facing Netflix's parental leave policy:  The uneasiness/unwillingness of workers to actually use the leave provided by the new policy out of fear that they will become expendable, not be able to catchup on the work they miss, burden their coworkers, etc.  The same line of reasoning often applies to why workers do not use all of their vacation time.  Howeve

Raiford v. Maryland Dept. of Juvenile Services - United States District Court for the District of Maryland Facts :  Gregory Raiford ("Raiford") was a Resident Advisor ("RA") with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services ("DJS") at a youth detention facility.  In his position as an RA, Raiford was in charge of providing care and supervision to youth offenders.  In June 2010, Raiford was injured while separating juveniles who were in a fight.   After he initially returned to light duty work at the gatehouse, which did not involve contact with the juveniles, he underwent surgery on his knee and took about three months to recover.  In April 2011, Raiford's doctor recommended that he return to the gatehouse for his light duty work.  However, DJS could not accommodate this request and gave Raiford another month of leave.  During that time off, DJS required Raiford to undergo a workability evaluation to determine if he could perform the essenti

Early last year, I posted an article about several Northwestern University football players argued they were "employees" and sought to unionize.  ( College Football Players: Student Athletes & Now Union Members? ).  As things developed, the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") ruled in March of 2014 that the student athletes qualified as "employees" and therefore were allowed to unionize.  ( College Football Players Given Green Light to Unionize ).  Unsurprisingly, Northwestern University filed a brief with the National Labor Relations Board in D.C. and asked the Board to overturn the decision from the NLRB's Chicago Regional Director.  ( Northwestern University Files Its Brief to Contest Initial NLRB Decision ).  However, the Northwestern football team conducted a vote in April of 2014 on whether to unionize.  The results of that vote were sealed until the outcome of the NLRB matter was resolved. And now, many, man

Without a doubt, one of the more talked about topics that I came across this week dealt with potential changes to overtime exemptions under the FLSA.  It is still early and these changes might never actually occur.  However, if they do, there will be many, many employers and employees alike who will be impacted. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Is FMLA Leave Allowed So An Employee Can Attend to An Autistic Child? This was one of the more interesting FMLA related articles I came across recently.  I wanted to draw readers' attention to this one as Jeff Nowak does a great job walking through the issue of whether FMLA leave is allowed for employees to care for autistic children.  While there might not be a clear cut answer on this matter, Jeff provides the reader with the foundation to better understand the issue and and comprehend some of the finer points of the FMLA. Changes Could Be Coming for Overtime Exemptions Under the FLSA!

On July 1, 2015, a new law went into effect in Hawaii which will have a big impact on employees in the high tech industry in the state.  Under the new law, Act 158, high tech companies are now prohibited from requiring their employees to enter into non-compete and non-solicit agreements as a condition of employment.  For a state like Hawaii which has traditionally been a strong proponent and enforcer of non-competes, this is a somewhat stunning change in direction.  Employers can take some comfort in the fact that under this new law, there is a "grandfather"/"sunset" provision which provides that existing employment agreements of high tech companies that include non-compete and non-solicit clauses are not impacted.  It is important to note though, that if these agreements are amended, revised, or extended, these clauses could become void.  Note, the new law still prohibits workers from leaving their jobs with trade secrets that can then be used against thei

As with many employment and labor law related cases that are being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out.  This is one to keep an eye on. Facts :  Plaintiffs, Amanda Frlekin, Taylor Kalin, Aaron Gregoroff, Seth Dowling, and Debra Speicher, filed a suit against Apple on behalf of themselves and over 12,400 current and former Apple retail store workers from 52 California locations on the grounds that they should be compensated for time spent in security screenings after leaving work. The Main Issue :  Is the time that an employee spends in a security screening line after leaving work for the day, and after having already clocked out, compensable time? Current Status :  On July 16, 2015, the Court approved the Plaintiffs' motion to certify the class.  Looking Ahead :  For those that may remember, the United States Supreme Court ruled on a similar case late last year and held that time that employees spent in security screenings after

Last week, Netflix announced unlimited maternity and paternity leave for many of its workers.  ( Netflix Announces Unlimited Parental Leave ).  Under this new policy, Netflix employees will be allowed to take off as much time as they want during the first year after a child's birth or adoption.  These new parents will be allowed to come back to work part time or full time or return to work and leave again, as needed during that first year.  Note, however, that this new policy applies to Netflix "salaried streaming employees"...but not to employee's in the DVD distribution centers.  Readers might remember a "What I've Been Reading This Week" post from back in July which focused on paid paternity leave matters.  In particular, I highlighted Virgin's paid 52 week paternity leave policy that had gained widespread attention.   This announcement by Netflix takes things a step further, in particular because Virgin's policy would impact only a

Earlier this year, I featured a "What I've Been Reading This Week" post that centered on the Fight for $15 efforts around the country ( What I've Been Reading This Week: Fight for $15 Edition ).  Since that time, I have come across several good articles on the general push for minimum wage increases in cities and states around the country.  As a result, I wanted to focus on this particular cause for this post. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Unexpected Fallout From Seattle's $15/Hour Minimum Wage Hike Warner Huston has a very intriguing look at what is going in Seattle now that the city has implemented a $15/hour minimum wage rate.  As the article explains, many workers in the city are now requesting to work fewer hours so that they can still receive governmental assistance.  Very, very interesting.  It would not surprise me if those who oppose these minimum wage increases start using this as an example of why raisin

Recently, the United States Navy & Marines announced that effective immediately, they would triple the amount of paid maternity leave that female sailors and Marines could take after the birth of a child.  This change in policy combines six weeks of paid maternity leave with twelve weeks of paid convalescent leave, providing a new policy of eighteen weeks of paid maternity leave.  Perhaps most importantly, this policy applies retroactively to any woman in the Navy or Marines who has had a baby since January 1, 2015.   Note that although the leave does not have to be taken at once, it must be taken with the child's first year.  According to estimates, approximately 5,000 women would be eligible for the benefit each year.   This is quite a development!  The next question is whether branches of armed forces will follow suit? For additional information:  http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2015/07/06/Maternity-leave-tripled-for-Navy-Marine-Corps/3751436221582/

Higgins-Williams v. Sutter Medical Foundation - California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District Facts :  Michaelin Higgins-Williams ("Higgins-Williams") worked as a clinical assistant in Sutter's Shared Services Department.  Higgins-Williams reported to her treating physician that she was stressed because of her interactions with human resources and her manager.  After her physician diagnosed her with "adjustment disorder with anxiety", Sutter granted Higgins-Williams a stress related leave of absence for about 30 days.   After Higgins-Williams returned to work, she received a negative performance evaluation and had additional conflicts with her manager.  Not long after, Higgins-Williams submitted a disability accommodation request form and sought to transfer to a different department and obtain an additional leave of absence.  After additional leaves of absence that last almost a year, Sutter terminated Higgins-Williams. Higgins-Williams subs