News

[03/10] Ex-Marine sues Calif. city to get back police job
[03/10] NJ unemployment rate down slightly in January
[03/10] Calif.'s unemployment rate 5th highest in nation
[03/10] Nebraska jobless rate 4.6 pct in January
[03/10] Highlights of Senate jobless aid bill
[03/10] NC Jan. jobless rate hits record 11.1 percent
[03/09] Ohio gunman recently learned he was being fired
[03/09] Senate to take up unemployment insurance extension
[03/08] XenoPort slashes half its work force
[03/05] Shaw's Supermarkets laying off 967 in Conn.

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Articles

Employment Discrimination

Discrimination among employees by an employer is not automatically illegal. An employer may legally discriminate among employees on the basis of their performance, attitude, and even personality. Discrimination is illegal, however, when it is based on an employee's membership in a "protected class." Protected categories include race, sex, national origin, religion, age, and disability.

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What Should an Employer Keep in Mind When Firing an Employee?

One of the most difficult decisions an employer may be faced with is determining when to fire an employee. If employers do not handle the termination process professionally and legally, they may face lawsuits for wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination and defamation, among others. Below are some useful tips for employers to follow when making the difficult decision to terminate an employee.

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Case Summaries

[03/09] San Francisco Hous. Auth. v. SEIU Local 790
Superior court's order vacating an arbitration award in its entirety on the ground that the the award is contrary to layoff provisions of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the parties is reversed as the remedy imposed by the arbitrator did not conflict with clear and explicit language of the MOU and it was rationally related to the breach identified.

[03/09] Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n v. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & Sch.
In an employment discrimination and retaliation action brought by a teacher at a religious school claiming violations of the ADA, the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant based on the "ministerial exception" is vacated and remanded as, given the factual findings relating to plaintiff's primary duties as a teacher, the district court erred in its legal conclusion classifying her as a ministerial employee.

[03/08] McBeth v. Himes
In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action arising out of an investigation by the sheriff's office and the Colorado Department of Human Services that resulted in plaintiff surrendering her license to run a daycare facility in Colorado, partial summary judgment based on qualified immunity to defendant-officials is affirmed in part where: 1) plaintiff voluntarily relinquished her license before any suspension proceedings could take place; and 2) defendants made a prima facie showing that they acted objectively reasonably when they sought suspension of plaintiff's daycare license. However, the order is reversed in part where plaintiff failed to allege and prove that the state officials lacked cause to seek suspension of her license.

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