Employment Law Commentary

November 5, 2017 - Privacy & Data Security

Hot Topics For Multinational Employers: Privacy In The Workplace, The EU General Data Protection Regulation, And Brexit

By: Hanno Timner, Annabel Gillham, and Lara M. Sirimanne

Increasing digitalisation of the workplace means that many routine activities nowadays entail the processing of employees’ personal information. Sophisticated data management tools allow for greater efficiency and help to identify and contain business risks. What often follows is harmonisation of HR data platforms within …›

October 5, 2017 - OFCCP

Workplace Bias and Gender Pay Equity in Silicon Valley

By: Eric Akira Tate, Annabel Gillham, and Kathiana Aurelien

It was only a couple of years ago, on March 27, 2015, that a jury rejected Ellen Pao’s gender discrimination claims and rendered a defense verdict in favor of her former employer, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The Ellen Pao case, and …›

September 5, 2017 - Workplace Misconduct

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But Words Survive Dismissal: Castleberry v. STI Group

The Third Circuit has recently taken steps to resolve inconsistent precedent regarding the standard for pleading hostile work environment harassment. In Castleberry v. STI Group, decided in July, the Third Circuit held for the first time that a single, isolated offensive comment could give …›

August 5, 2017 - EEOC

Let Us Pray: The Challenges of Accommodating Muslim Prayer in the Workplace

Some prayers go unheard; others go to the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission. Recently, employers in three states have faced actions from Muslim employees demanding increased accommodation for prayer in the workplace. In May, an employer in Minnesota refused to schedule prayer breaks requested …›

July 6, 2017 - Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

When One Person's Scent Is Another Person's Disability

By: Amber D. Shubin

A California jury recently awarded a $3.3 million verdict to a California Department of Transportation (“CALTRANS”) employee who alleged a variety of disability-related claims involving CALTRANS’s failure to properly accommodate his allergy to certain scents and his supervisor’s and co-workers’ retaliatory actions in light …›

June 5, 2017 - Legislation

“On The Seventh Day He (She) Rested” . . . Maybe

It took 124 years, but the California Supreme Court in Mendoza v. Nordstrom, Inc., No. S224611, 2017 WL 1833143 (Cal. May 8, 2017) finally addressed in detail California’s day-of-rest statutes (Labor Code Sections 551, et seq.) originally enacted in 1893. Such a seemingly simple …›

May 5, 2017 - Legislation

San Jose Thinks It Knows The Way

By: Kathiana Aurelien

The Economic Policy Institute has reported that, in 2016, as many as 4 million workers nationwide wanted but were unable to obtain full-time work. While some have debated these numbers, the City of San Jose, California, has attempted to tackle the issue with a …›

April 5, 2017 - Immigration

The Don(ald) Of A New Era: Are Workplace Immigration Raids On The Horizon?

By: Janie F. Schulman

The Place: A car wash in Los Angeles The Time: The 1970s The Scene: A busy afternoon at the car wash. Immigration agents burst onto the property in search of undocumented workers. The cashier—wife of the manager— yells frantically into the public address mic, “¡La migra! …›

March 5, 2017 - Pay Equity

The Movement For Equal Pay In The Workplace: Progressive State Laws Carry The Torch

Although strides have been made over the past few decades to achieve pay equity for women and other protected classes of individuals, the facts (and the sentiment expressed in the above quote) make clear that there is still a ways to go. Indeed, new numbers …›

February 5, 2017 - Legislation

The Cost Of Keeping Things Quiet: Crackdown On Confidentiality Clauses Calls For Explicit Carve-Outs

By: Niles A. Pierson

In last February’s Employment Law Commentary, we discussed best practices for drafting separation agreements. Among the issues raised was a recent SEC enforcement action applying one of the Commission’s rules in a novel way to clamp down on contracts seen as chilling whistleblowing activity. …›