Tuesday, February 16, 2021
- HUD 2/11/2021 Press Release: “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that it will administer and enforce the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity”
- First Circuit: In affirming (remitted) $500,000 jury award for plaintiff in disability employment discrimination claim arising out of employer’s failure to accommodate employee’s request for an automatic door at its public entrance, the court held that plaintiff’s direct employer and a second entity were liable under the “integrated-enterprise test” (without adopting the test for all disability discrimination cases), the fact that plaintiff was able to enter his workplace (at the risk of bodily injury) despite difficulty opening the door and to perform the duties of his position once inside did not necessarily mean he did not require an accommodation, employer was liable for punitive damages where it did not respond to plaintiff’s accommodation request on three occasions; a new trial was not warranted based on the trial judge’s exclusion of previously undisclosed testimony of one of employer’s witnesses, plaintiff’s counsel’s brief violation of the “Golden Rule” (which prohibits attorneys from suggesting that jurors place themselves in the shoes of the plaintiff) during her closing, and plaintiff’s counsel plain error in suggesting during closing how much the jury should award in damages (disallowed in the First Circuit) because there was no showing of prejudice (here a reasonable probability that the jury would have returned a different damage award otherwise); and further remittitur of the damages to the statutory minimum was not justified because the jury’s finding that employer had over 500 employees was supported by evidence that it consisted of forty-five hotels and resorts (payroll records were not required)
- Third Circuit: “At the pleading stage, an age-discrimination plaintiff does not have to know his replacement’s exact age. That age can come out in discovery.”
- Seventh Circuit: Deciding a matter of first impression in the courts of appeals, court held that the Uniformed Services Employee and Reemployment Rights Act mandate that military leave be accorded the same “rights and benefits” as comparable, nonmilitary leave requires an employer to provide paid military leave to the same extent that it provides paid leave for other absences, such as jury duty and sick leave
- First Circuit: Summary judgment for employer on FMLA retaliation claim because there was no evidence that when decisionmaker decided to eliminate plaintiff’s position he thought of her as impaired in any way or knew of her plan to take any leave
- US District Court ME: Following remand from First Circuit (see 10/18/2020 blog post), summary judgment for chief of police and municipal police department denied on § 1983 claims arising out of alleged sexual abuse by subordinate officer because, in part, while plaintiff had to prove a constitutional deprivation by subordinate officer despite those claims being time-barred in order to lay the groundwork for his claims against the other defendants, there was a jury question whether the subordinate officer was acting under color of state law when he engaged in the alleged abuse even though it occurred off duty and was not the product of physical intimidation
- US District Court Me: Leave to amend complaint to include Title VII claim against company president denied because individual employees are not liable under Title VII
- Maine Legislature: Public hearing before Labor and Housing Committee scheduled for February 17th on LD 97, which would prohibit a person, either in the public or private sector, from being required to join a labor organization or pay any labor organization dues or fees as a condition of employment or continuation of employment, notwithstanding any state law to the contrary
- Maine Legislature: Public hearing scheduled for February 18th before Judiciary Committee on LD 233, An Act To Provide Electronic Access to Confidential Juror Information
- MHRC: Minutes of February 8th meeting include Jill Duson’s nomination to fill one of the two vacant Commissioner seats
