Author: Elf

Joel used cocaine at work and was given the choice to quit instead of getting fired. His former employer has a policy not to rehire people who were fired or quit for breaking company rules, but Joel sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act because he has an addiction. Hernandez applied for a job at…

For almost 20 years, the McDonnell Douglas case has provided guidelines for proving discrimination in employment under the Civil Rights Act. These guidelines have also been used for discrimination cases under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires accommodating disabled individuals. However, the burden shifting in McDonnell Douglas doesn’t work well for cases where accommodation…

The previous article talked about who has to prove what in a case where someone is asking for an accommodation under the ADA. This article focuses on what the person asking for the accommodation has to prove and gives some guidelines for how the burden of proof is divided between the parties. In one court…

For employment lawyers, the way discrimination cases are resolved has changed a lot in the past few years. Summary judgment, which means a case can be decided without a trial, is now used a lot more often. This means it’s really important for lawyers to quickly figure out if a discrimination case has a good…

Noncompete agreements are becoming more common as companies try to protect their business interests from employees moving to competitors. These agreements can have serious consequences for employees, so it’s important to have a lawyer review the agreement before signing it. In Florida, noncompete agreements must be in writing and signed by the employee to be…

The law recognizes that some emotional distress is part of life, and only intervenes if it’s really bad. In employment lawsuits, people often claim emotional distress and the defendant may want access to their medical records. They might also ask for a mental examination to see if the distress is real. As a lawyer, you…

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act has been around for almost 40 years and has been the subject of many court cases. A recent Supreme Court decision called Desert Palace, Inc. v. Costa has changed the way discrimination in the workplace is proven. Before this, the Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins case set out…

This is a legal case where a student sued their school for not providing accommodations for their disability. The court ruled in favor of the student and said the school had to make changes to help them. In Florida, if an employee gets hurt on the job, they can’t sue their employer for negligence. But…

The Faragher defense is a way for employers to avoid being held responsible for discrimination by their employees. In order to use this defense, the employer has to prove that they had a good system in place to prevent discrimination and that the employee didn’t take advantage of it. Even though some people were worried…

The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided that employees must be paid for the time they spend putting on and taking off protective gear at work. They also have to be paid for the time they spend walking to and from their work areas after changing into their gear. But there are still some questions about…

A law called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created to protect people who report fraudulent activity that could harm innocent investors. It was made in response to the Enron scandal. However, the law’s whistleblower rules can be interpreted to cover more than just fraud that affects shareholders. For example, even if a company is small and…

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision in the case of Garcetti v. Ceballos that will impact public employees across the country. The Court ruled that public employees can be disciplined for making statements about public matters as part of their job duties. In this case, a deputy district attorney, Ceballos, was disciplined…

Different courts had different standards for what constituted retaliation in employment cases. Some said it had to be a big change, like being fired or demoted, while others said it could be smaller, as long as it was meant to punish someone for speaking up. The Supreme Court wanted to fix this confusion. They wanted…

In the 21st century, when companies merge or sell their business, it can affect the people who work there. Employment lawyers have to study when a new company might be responsible for treating employees fairly. A famous court case in 1973 set the rules for this. It said that if a new company buys a…

If you work in a job that involves selling things, making things for sale, or working for a business that sells things, you have to be paid at least the minimum wage. If you work more than 40 hours in a week, you have to be paid extra for those extra hours. This applies to…

The article discusses how the FLSA was expanded in 1961 to cover all employees of a business engaged in commerce, even if some employees are not directly involved in commerce. It also talks about further expansion in 1974. The 1961 amendments to the FLSA had a definition of enterprise that included employers whose employees worked…