Wednesday, January 29, 2020
- HUD: New guidance issued titled, “Assessing a Person’s Request to Have an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the Fair Housing Act”
- Fifth Circuit: A corporation does not need a racial identity to have standing to assert a § 1981 racial discrimination claim (finding staffing company had standing where its contract was terminated because it provided an African-American worker to its client instead of the Hispanic workers the client requested)
- Maine Legislature: Public hearing scheduled for January 29th before the Labor and Housing Committee on LD 2015, “An Act To Provide for Leave from Work for Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault or Stalking”
- Maine Legislature: Public hearing scheduled for February 4th before the Judiciary Committee on LD 1859, which would permit law students who are enrolled in and have completed 3 or more full semesters or the equivalent at a law school accredited by the American Bar Association to appear in court on behalf of the State or under the supervision of an approved organization providing legal services to the indigent
- Law Court: Motion to dismiss should be granted on various tort claims against employee of private law firm and law firm itself in light of employee immunity provision of the Maine Tort Claims Act, where complaint established that they were hired to act as an agent of a governmental entity to provide a report on a specific personnel matter and performed a governmental function consistent with the governmental entity’s contractual and legal obligations
- First Circuit: Summary judgment affirmed for government on former federal employee’s sex and age discrimination claims where there was no genuine issue of material disputed fact as to whether the government’s asserted nondiscriminatory reason for taking the adverse actions that it did was pretextual; comment by supervisor, “You are 64 no 65,” was insufficient to show age discrimination; and on Title VII and ADEA retaliation claims arising out of “EEO activity” being written on office notice board because, while the writing may constitute an adverse employment action by “chilling” a reasonable employee from further protected activity, it was unclear who wrote it and, therefore, there was no evidence that the writing was causally connected to protected conduct
- First Circuit: Summary judgment affirmed on Age Discrimination in Employment Act claim because there was insufficient evidence that employer’s asserted non-discriminatory reason for termination (poor performance) was a pretext; and district court did not abuse discretion in dismissing supplemental state law claims despite the fact that discovery was complete and the action had been pending for three years
- US DOJ: Monthly blog will commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
- HUD: Proposed rule “would recognize additional sets of standards and model building code editions that, when followed in the design and construction of new multifamily housing, will ensure compliance with the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act”
- EEOC: Fiscal Year 2019 Enforcement and Litigation Data data show that retaliation continues to be the most frequently filed charge with the agency, followed by disability, race and sex; and that the EEOC received 7,514 sexual harassment charges – 10.3 percent of all charges, and an 1.2 percent decrease from FY 2018
- MHRC: Minutes of January 27th meeting include that Edward David has been nominated to become a Commissioner; that LD 1703, “An Act To Improve Consistency within the Maine Human Rights Act,” which had been passed but waiting Governor action, has been recalled to the Legislature for amendment; and that the Commission expects to move back to its usual offices at 19 Union Street in Augusta in early May
- MHRC: March 2nd Agenda and Consent Agenda posted
- US Courts: Video seminar addresses “How Interpreters Aid Access to Justice”
