Employment Law Letter

Q How can we discipline a new employee who takes unplanned, unexcused days off for sickness, family emergencies, etc.? We don’t currently have a policy on how many unexcused days off are allowed. Wisconsin employers have...

Q We have an employee who took four days off to tend to his daughter in the hospital after she received a C-section and another who wants to take three weeks off to assist her sibling going through chemotherapy. Would...

Small dollar cases are a problem because the cost of attorneys’ fees can often dwarf the remaining areas of liability. In addition, pain and suffering damages are a wildcard that makes a case evaluation difficult. But...

A mediocre sheriff with a history of performance warnings wasn’t promoted and tried to get that reversed by a California trial court. When that didn’t work, he went to the court of appeal and asked for his case to be...

Because arbitrations are creatures of contract, ordinarily a nonsignatory to an arbitration agreement cannot invoke its terms. But an exception exists when that rule proves just too unfair. Courts can’t countenance...

On November 11, 2024, a top-secret operation by Santa’s Detective Division discovered the Grinch in a makeshift lair, using a voice-to-text application to draft the following memorandum to himself. The division is...

Race discrimination and retaliation claims under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 have no cap on the damages that can be awarded. In a recent case from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings...

With the presidential election just behind us, it’s no surprise that political tensions are high and citizen campaigning continues to permeate the workplace. With a record number of employees donning “Make America Great...

In April 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision with the potential to significantly alter the scope of employment discrimination claims. The case, Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, addressed what employer actions...

Great interview! This is the job for you! Now what? Be strategic and thoughtful, as Art Markman suggests in his insightful article “4 Ways to Follow Up After a Job Interview,” published on November 5, 2020, in the...

Q Are there any exceptions to meal and rest break requirements, and are there meal penalties for not allowing staff to take proper breaks? Can we allow employees to waive their meal breaks if they work six hours instead...

Online retailer Amazon receives over 11.95 million orders each day and contracts with delivery service partners (DSPs) to complete its abundant deliveries. Amazon employees, technology, and operations work to fulfill...

On August 22, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision in Metro Health, Inc., holding it will no longer accept or approve consent orders issued by administrative law judges (ALJs) in unfair labor...

The Arizona Employment Protection Act (AEPA) establishes a presumption of at-will employment status but notes that termination may be wrongful if the employer fires an employee because the employee discloses a reasonable...

Yes, you read that right—Title VI, not Title VII. What is Title VI? It was passed as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 along with Title VII and prohibits discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or...