The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

As always, there are some recent EEOC cases that jump out at me when I review recent developments on that front.  Below are a couple EEOC cases and settlements that stand out: Applebee's Faces Sexual Harassment Claim Earlier this month, the EEOC filed a sexual harassment claim against Applebee's on the grounds that a male assistant manager created a sexually hostile work environment for two female employees and restaurant management, apparently aware of the alleged harassment, allowed the situation to exist.  According to the suit, the male assistant manager sexually harassed the two female employees, both sisters, for several months in 2014.  This alleged harassment is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employers from allowing a sexually hostile work environment to exist in the workplace. $57,000.00 Settlement Reached on Sex Discrimination Claim A settlement was reached between the EEOC and an education company recen...

Valdivia v. Township High School District 214 - United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division Facts :  Noemi Valdivia ("Valdivia") worked for Township High School District 214 ("Township") as a secretary at Elk Grove High School from May 2010 until June 2016.  Valdivia alleged that during her employment, co-workers "regularly made derogatory remarks about Hispanic students and their families" which increased in frequency around September 2014.  In fact, Valdivia was told by another secretary at one point not to speak Spanish at work because they were in America.  Valdivia complained about the comments to Elk Grove principal Paul Kelly ("Kelly") "several times in 2015" and to assistant principal Val Norris ("Norris") in November of 2015.  Kelly and Norris both told Valdivia that there was nothing they could do to address the comments because the secretaries' union was too strong. A...

Readers might be aware that President Donald Trump has been in the news lately.  Well, to be fair, he has been in the news pretty much since he announced his candidacy for President in 2015.  This week, President Trump's announcement of his proposed paid parental leave plan grabbed headlines and certainly warrants leading off this post. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. President Trump Introduces Proposed Paid Parental Leave Plan As NPR writes, President Trump's proposal to provide six weeks of paid parental leave for mothers and fathers is a (welcomed) change from his support of only a paid maternal leave plan while he was running for President.  Under his proposed budget plan introduced this week, President Trump would require employers to provide six weeks of paid parental leave to new mothers and fathers (as well as parents who have just adopted a child).  The paid parental leave plan, which is expected to cost up ...

Jackson v. J.R. Simplot Co. - Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Facts :  Stacey Jackson ("Jackson") worked as an Operator for Simplot at a fertilizer plant.  Operators were required to be able to carry more than fifty pounds and could be exposed to industrial chemicals, dirt, dust, gases, fumes, and odors.  In late 2013, Jackson began fertility treatments.  She requested to be transferred to a less physically demanding job or have light duty status.  As a result of submitting a letter from her doctor imposing a lifting restriction, Simplot temporarily assigned Jackson to operate the switch engine or loader.  In this type of administrative position, these employees were also exposed to fumes, dust, and gases.  (Although at this particular plant, Simplot did not employ administrative assistants and had few office positions).   A few weeks later, Jackson learned she was pregnant.  Her supervisor told her he could no longer accommoda...

As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out. This is one to keep an eye on. Two bills are working their way through the California Legislature, AB 353 and AB 1477, which would allow private employers to establish a veterans' preference policy and grant a hiring preference to veteran applicants, regardless of when the veteran applicant served.  Currently, Section 12940(a)(4) of the Government Code only allows a veterans' preference policy for Vietnam era veterans.  Needless to say, the proposed expansion of the statute would allow private employers to grant a hiring preference to a much broader scope of veterans without risk of violating local or state equal employment opportunity laws.  Bear in mind though, this proposed expansion of the veterans' preference policy could not be applied for the purpose of discriminating against another applicant on the basis of any pr...

Santillan v. USA Waste of California, Inc. - Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Facts :  Gilberto Santillan ("Santillan") worked for USA Waste of California ("USA Waste") as a residential garbage truck driver in Manhattan Beach, California for 32 years starting in 1979.  Although Santillan was rarely disciplined during his tenure with USA Waste, this changed in January of 2009 when Steve Kobzoff ("Kobzoff") was assigned as Santillan's new route manager.  Between January of 2009 and July of 2010, Kobzoff disciplined Santillan six times.  In March of 2011, USA Waste's garbage collection contract with the City of Manhattan Beach came up for renewal and USA Waste and Manhattan Beach homeowners specifically highlighted Santillan's exemplary service to the community.  USA Waste's contract was subsequently renewed.   On December 5, 2011, USA Waste terminated Santillan for the first time.  USA Waste said the termination was because Santi...

I spent a lot of hours on the road this week for work, so this will be a bit briefer of a "What I've Been Reading This Week" than I would prefer.  Although I had limited time to read articles this week (not to mention with other news dominating the headlines this week...), the article by Anne Yuengert on ways employers can attempt to minimize potential sexual harassment claims was one of the more relevant and practical articles I have read within the past week or two. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. A Brief Primer on Sexual Harassment Claims & How To Minimize Exposure Let me preface this with a word of caution:  When I say this article provides a guide on how to minimize exposure for sexual harassment claims, I am not saying this is a secret book of how to sexually harass co-workers or subordinates and get away with it.  Instead, Anne Yuengert's article gives readers a brief overview of what constitutes sexual harass...