The De Niro Verdict: A Q&A with Brent Hannafan
Partner and Trial Practice Group Co-Chair Brent Hannafan served as...
Retaliation Law
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Which Employer Actions Qualify as “Adverse Employment Actions” for a Retaliation Claim?
Rarely when faced with an employee’s opposition to discrimination or other unlawful activity do employers fire the employee by telling them, “I am firing you because of your opposition to my unlawful activity.” Employers are usually subtler when they want to stop employees from speaking up. For example, they may change an employee’s job duties,[1] place a negative letter in…
How the Ninth Circuit’s Decision in A.B. v. Hawaii State Department of Education Recognizes the Reality of Title IX Litigation
In one of few recent victories for Title IX plaintiffs, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in favor of four student athletes at James Campbell High School. The Ninth Circuit held that the district court erred in rejecting the plaintiffs’ request for class certification on their Title IX retaliation claims. A.…
Labor Law Amendment Grows and Extends Whistleblower Protections for New York Workers
Great news for workers in the State of New York: Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed into law an amendment to the New York Labor Law that dramatically expands safeguards against and remedies for employers’ whistleblower retaliation. Historically, New York has “not recognize[d] the tort of wrongful discharge,”[1] including “for firings that violate public policy such as . . . discharge for…
Update to States-The Final Frontier: the Ninth Circuit Addresses Calif. AB 51
On September 14, 2021, the co-authors of this blog post published an article entitled “States – The Final Frontier: How State Law and State Courts Can Provide Avenues for Justice and Resist the U.S. Supreme Court’s ‘Lochner Lite’ Anti-Employee and Anti-Consumer Agenda.” In that article, we discussed states’ efforts to provide protection from hostile federal arbitration jurisprudence—including enactment of laws…
Threatening Employees Based on Their Immigration Status Can Constitute Unlawful Retaliation Under Wage and Hour Laws
When an employee complains about an employer’s violation of wage and hour laws, anti-retaliation protections often kick in to protect the employee from being punished for complaining. Obvious examples of retaliation include firing or demoting the employee who complains. However, an employer’s retaliatory actions may also extend beyond the workplace. In some cases, the employer may try to use the…
Section 806 of Sarbanes-Oxley: Protecting Those Who Complain of Fraud at Work
In the wake of the Enron and Arthur Anderson scandals, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) to address “a culture, supported by law, that discourage[s] employees from reporting fraudulent behavior not only to the proper authorities, such as the FBI and the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission], but even internally.” S. Rep. No. 107–146, at 4–5 (2002).Section 806 of…
Banning Bans on Competition: DC Passes Sweeping Prohibition on Non-Compete Agreements in the District
This blog was co-authored by Leigh Anne St. Charles and Kaitlin Leary. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently signed into law a new Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 for the District of Columbia. The new law, which will go into effect following a 30-day congressional review period, offers sweeping and unprecedented employee protection from restrictive workplace policies designed to prevent employees…
Does Title VII Provide Any Protections If Your Employer Fires You for Advocating for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
As long as there has been discrimination in the workplace, courageous employees have spoken up about it. In the past year, employees have pushed hard for workplace equity, as examples from the Audubon Society, Google, Pinterest, and elsewhere show. Unfortunately, many employers have reacted with retaliatory firings. The story of AI Ethicist Timnit Gebru at Google is perhaps the most recent, well-publicized example…
Victim of a Biased HR Investigation? You’ve Got Rights!
The “Human Resources” or “HR” department of an organization typically performs various employee management functions, such as overseeing compliance with labor law and employment standards, administration of employee benefits, organizing employee files with documents for future reference, recruitment, and employee onboarding and offboarding. At their best, HR departments provide critical support to both employers and employees and facilitate a mutually…