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A Right To Free Speech on the Job? Uh — Not so Much
Happy Independence Day Week! As you lounged at the pool or on the beach with your friends and family, between swimming, cooking and eating, you maybe talked about Donald Trump wrestling CNN, or North Korea, or whether Congress will take away your health care. Maybe you wore a shirt declaring Make America Great Again, or […]
Local Railroad Company to Pay for Disability Discrimination
Attorney Meghan Deutsch-Blanco reached a settlement on behalf of a wrongfully terminated North Carolina railroad worker this month. The railroad agreed to pay for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act or “ADA.” The ADA is the law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life. In the workplace, the ADA requires […]
Victory in the Fight for Strippers’ Rights
Last week the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision protecting the employment rights of exotic dancers under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Maryland wage and hour laws. The decision upheld a previous district court ruling in Maryland finding that the group of dancer plaintiffs were employees, not independent contractors, and […]
Does an employer have to accommodate religious beliefs when they conflict with a company safety policy?
In general, employers are not allowed to discriminate against employees on the basis of their religious beliefs. In other words, they can’t favor one employee over another because of which types of churches the employees attend or whether they attend church at all. Also, employers have a duty to accommodate religious beliefs if it won’t burden […]
Ask an expert: Should I report getting hurt at work, even if I was injured while playing around?
Answer: Yes. You should report the injury AND tell the truth about how it occurred – even if you know the injury is totally your fault. In North Carolina, the workers’ comp rules require you to have an injury by accident during a break in a worker’s normal routine in order for you to qualify for benefits. It […]
Valerie co-chairs Workers’ Comp Roundtable
CJG Partner Valerie Johnson is co-chairing the 19th Annual Workers’ Comp Roundtable held today at the North Carolina Advocates for Justice Headquarters in Raleigh. The session will include discussion of a wide array of legal issues that injured workers can face as well as updates about recent changes made to North Carolina’s workers’ comp laws. […]
Time running out for ERISA claims
Workers who have been denied retirement or disability benefits from their employers and who want to appeal should be aware that a recent Supreme Court ruling has shortened the statute of limitations for filing suit on these claims. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) sets minimum standards for pension plans provided by […]
Supreme Court issues important decision in discrimination case
In Staub v. Proctor Hospital, the US Supreme Court just issued an important unanimous decision in this military-service-based discrimination case. This case concerns the so-called “cat’s paw” theory of liability, under which one supervisor acts with discriminatory intent against the plaintiff, but the plaintiff is actually fired by another supervisor. The case arose under the Uniformed Services […]
Fourth Circuit rules USERRA retaliation claim can go to trial
In a recent unpublished opinion, Bunting v. Town of Ocean City, the Fourth Circuit partially overturned a grant of summary judgment and allowed the plaintiff to proceed to trial on his USERRA retaliation claim. USERRA is a federal statute that protects armed service members from being discriminated in employment because of their service. Like other anti-discrimination […]
