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What I've Been Reading This Week


Given the recent vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, and the potential replacements which were reported to include Judges Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Raymond Kethledge, there has been significant attention given to the prior rulings by these Judges in an effort to glean any sort of insight into how they might rule, should they be confirmed by Congress.  Robin Shea has great articles that I enjoy reading through and her article from last Friday on the actual nominee to the high court (and some of his prior cases) is well worth a quick read.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Boston Symphony Orchestra Flutist Files Equal Pay Lawsuit

Last week, a day after the new Massachusetts Equal Pay Law went into effect, a principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra ("BSO") sued on the grounds that the BSO discriminated against her on the basis of her gender by paying her a wage that was substantially less than other comparable males.  The flutist, Elizabeth Rowe, is currently the highest paid female principal player in the BSO and has been profiled as a soloist with the BSO 27 times since she was hired in 2004.  The suit alleged that one comparable male was reported to have earned about $280,000.00 in recent years, while Rowe was paid about $70,000.00 less.  In fact, the BSO's three other highest paid musicians are all male.  This suit is noticeable in so much that it appears to be the first gender pay equity claim filed under the new Massachusetts Equal Pay Law.  It will be interesting to see how this one plays out once the BSO responds to the suit.


A Closer Look at President Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee’s Employment & Labor Law Rulings

Robin Shea wrote a great series of articles recently that touched on some of the "finalists" for the recent vacancy on the United States Supreme Court and what their prior rulings on employment & labor law cases might foreshadow if they were placed on the high court.  Spoiler alert though, earlier this week, President Donald Trump formally nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy left by Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement.  In this particular article, Judge Kavanaugh's prior rulings on several relevant cases include findings that:  1) an employer's onetime use of a racially inflammatory word can create a valid claim for a hostile work environment; 2) when an employer has ample legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons to fire an employee, that does not amount to a "pretext" for discrimination; 3) there is no right to union representation in peer review interviews; and 4) a union policy that members that wanted to resign from the union or stop having their dues automatically deducted from their paychecks be required to come to the union office with a photo ID and a written request was coercive and illegal.

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