Legal Updates
John Gause monitors what’s happening in employment discrimination, civil rights, and tort law. He shares some of what he finds on this page.
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
- Law Court: The court held that plaintiff engaged in protected activity under the Maine Whistleblowers’ Protection Act when she complained about resident safety issues (in a nursing home) that implicated but did not violate the applicable standard of care; and there was sufficient evidence that she was fired for making the complaints even though the decisionmaker testified that she did not know about them, where decisionmaker held a position in which she likely would have heard of them and the termination came a couple days after complaints
- Ninth Circuit: The court held that human resources manager engaged in protected activity under the Fair Labor Standards Act anti-retaliation provision by complaining that employer was not in compliance with FLSA, where FLSA compliance was not part of her regular job duties
- First Circuit: In upholding jury verdict on Fair Labor Standards Act retaliation claim, the court, in part, reversed district court’s vacating as a matter of law entire front-pay claim ($450,000) that rested only on plaintiff’s testimony about his future employment plans
- MHRC: December 14th meeting minutes posted
- Press Herald: Maine’s high court clears way for lawsuit against Scarborough nursing home
- Bangor Daily: Black nurse’s discrimination lawsuit against state can proceed
Saturday, December 12, 2015
- First Circuit: The court declined to reach whether an employee of a federal subcontractor could bring a First Amendment Bivens claim because the complaint failed to plausibly demonstrate a right to recovery and dismissed under Rule 8(a)(2)); and affirmed summary judgment on Title VII retaliation claim, finding that plaintiff was not an “employee” of federal agency under EEOC factors and only “employees” may bring Title VII claims
- First Circuit: In reversing summary judgment for employer on Fair Labor Standards Act unpaid overtime claim, the court found disputed facts on whether plaintiffs’ primary duty was management (which would make them exempt from overtime pay)
- MHRC: January 11th Commission Meeting Agenda posted
- Sun Journal: Assistant who was asked to watch chick flicks settles suit with Bates College
- Bangor Daily: Family of man killed by Hampden officer drops lawsuit
Saturday, December 5, 2015
- Law Court: Oral arguments scheduled for December 8-10 include Cum-15-67 (negligence claim following fall down staircase), Cum-15-60 (whether Whistleblower plaintiff was constructively discharged because employer led her to reasonably believe that she was about to be fired and whether there was a “joint employer” relationship), and Ken-15-29 (whether “other-owned-vehicle” exclusions in underinsured motorist policies barred coverage under more than one policy)
- US DOJ: Guidance issued on Americans with Disabilities Act requirements when restriping parking spaces
- MHRC: 2016 Meeting Schedule posted
- Bangor Daily: Jury finds against Southern Aroostook coach fired after hazing incident
- Bangor Daily: Worker sues Whole Foods for racial discrimination at Maine store
- Bangor Daily: Lawsuit alleges excessive force in Woodville man’s 2014 death
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
- Eleventh Circuit: In a matter of first impression (and parting ways with three other circuits), the court held that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act authorizes disparate impact claims by applicants for employment (in addition to employees); the court also held that “equitable tolling” excused plaintiff’s failure to file timely complaint with EEOC where he alleged that he did not know nor could he have known that he had been discriminated against until after the deadline had passed, regardless of whether there was misrepresentation by defendant
- Tenth Circuit: The court held that, for purposes of ADA and ADEA claims, although County was not plaintiff jailer/dispatcher’s “joint employer” (plaintiff was directly employed by Sheriff’s Office), it was nevertheless her employer under basic agency principles because the Sheriff was a County officer and the Sheriff’s Office merely a subordinate department of the County
- EEOC: New guidance addressed to health providers, “Helping Patients with HIV Infection Who Need
Accommodations at Work,” identifies common reasonable accommodations as altered break and work schedules (e.g., frequent breaks to rest or use the restroom or a change in schedule to accommodate medical appointments), changes in supervisory methods (e.g., written instructions from a supervisor who usually does not provide them), accommodations for visual impairments (e.g., magnifiers, screen reading software, and qualified readers), ergonomic office furniture, unpaid leave for treatment or recuperation, and permission to work from home - US District Court ME: The court denied summary judgment to employer on age discrimination claim where discussions about plaintiff’s alleged performance issues started within six months of his supervisor discussing his retirement plans (he was 61 and said he wanted to retire at 66), other employees had “general concern” about age bias, and, although employer claimed plaintiff was insubordinate, it did not institute formal discipline as prescribed by its policies
- US District Court ME: New Local Rules effective 12/1/2015
- US DOJ: Supplement to the 2013 DOJ/DOT Joint Technical Assistance on the Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act Requirements To Provide Curb Ramps when Streets, Roads, or Highways are Altered through Resurfacing
- EEOC: $582,000 settlement reached in Title VII sexual harassment claim that manager regularly touched female employees on their buttocks, hips, and backs, forcibly kissed them and made comments about their appearance and body parts
- Bangor Daily: Judge rules ex-Orono fire chief’s lawsuit over his firing may go forward
- Press Herald: Former meat manager files racial discrimination lawsuit against Whole Foods
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
- MHRC: November 23rd meeting minutes include that the Governor’s Office has refused to permit the Maine Department of Education to jointly issue proposed rules interpreting the education provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act, prompting the Commission to issue guidance instead (at a future date)
- Bangor Daily: Rights commission backs 2 discrimination claims against BIW
- Bangor Daily: Widower awarded $1 million in wrongful death suit against killer
- Bangor Daily: Attorney for disabled Maine shipyard workers eyes lawsuit
Saturday, November 21, 2015
- First Circuit: In affirming $50,000 jury verdict in 4th Amendment claim arising out of warrantless entry into home, the court found that officer was not entitled to qualified immunity because she was indisputably engaged in an ongoing criminal investigation when the warrantless search occurred, and the community caretaking exception thus did not apply; and affirmed $134,642.35 attorney’s fee award despite trial court’s use of an an across-the-board hourly rate for plaintiff’s attorneys, rather than a rate that distinguished between core and non-core functions
- First Circuit: In reversing dismissal of employee’s breach of contract claim under Labor Management Relations Act, the court held that plaintiff was not required to exhaust procedures in collective bargaining agreement because he, the union, and employer had signed a memorandum of understanding (a “last chance agreement”) that waived, for a twelve-month period, use of the CBA’s grievance and arbitration procedures if he were terminated for violating employer’s generally applicable work standards
- Ninth Circuit: Following administrative law judge’s ruling that school district’s proposed IEP was inadequate because it did not provide a legally adequate way for student with disabilities to receive g-tube feedings, the court reversed and remanded trial court’s rejection of parents’ $1.4 million application for attorney’s fees, finding that the relief obtained through the ALJ’s decision was more favorable to the parents than the offer of settlement and that the parents were substantially justified in rejecting the offer (the IDEA otherwise disallows the recovery of attorney’s fees)
- HUD: proposed Gender Identity Rule would require recipients and sub-recipients of assistance from HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development, as well as owners, operators, and managers of shelters, buildings, and facilities with shared sleeping quarters or shared bathing facilities to provide transgender persons and other persons who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth with access to programs, benefits, services, and accommodations in accordance with their gender identity
- EEOC: Annual Performance and Accountability Report cites that 44 percent of conciliations were successfully resolved and the EEOC filed 142 lawsuits alleging discrimination during fiscal year 2015
- US DOJ: McDonald’s will pay $355,000 in civil penalties for longstanding practice of requiring lawful permanent residents to show a new permanent resident card when their original document expired when it did not make the equivalent request to its U.S. citizen employees who showed documents that later expired
- Bangor Daily: Jury awards Rockport man $155,000 in motorcycle crash
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
- First Circuit: Court granted summary judgment on Title VII disparate impact claim because defendants presented legitimate business justifications for their actions and plaintiffs did not meet their burden of showing defendants refused to adopt an available alternative employment practice that had less disparate impact and served the employer’s legitimate needs
- US District Court ME: The court dismissed equal protection complaint by charter school student who was denied participation on public middle school basketball team under Pullman abstention principles, concluding “that substantial uncertainty exists over the meaning of a state law and that settling the state law question may well obviate the need to resolve a significant federal constitutional question”
- MHRC: December 14th Commission Meeting Agenda posted
- EEOC: $45,000 settlement reached in Title VII Pregnancy Discrimination Act claim that restaurant fired pregnant employee for refusing to provide a doctor’s release indicating that her pregnancy was not “high-risk”
- Bangor Daily: Maine man says railway fired him for seeking longer cancer treatment leave
- MPBN: Maine High Court Sets New Standard for Whistleblower Cases
Saturday, November 14, 2015
- Law Court: The court eliminated the McDonnell Douglas framework from summary judgment analysis in Maine Whistleblowers’ Protection Act cases; and held that plaintiff had presented sufficient evidence of a WPA violation based on differential treatment, a disproportionate response, and an inference that the decisionmaker knew about plaintiff’s WPA-protected activity, even though there was no “temporal proximity” between the protected activity and the adverse job action (a nearly two-year gap)
- Law Court: The court denied Rule 60(b)(4) motion to set aside judgment as void despite argument that plaintiff had lacked standing, which is an issue of justiciability, not jurisdiction
- Law Court: The court affirmed denial of motion for new trial following jury verdict for defendant on negligence claim arising out of tree-cutting accident, finding there was sufficient evidence that plaintiff was at least as negligent as defendant
- EEOC: $206,500 settlement reached in case alleging law enforcement agency found officers unfit for duty solely because they were pregnant
- Bangor Daily: Family sues school district for denying charter student chance to play basketball
- Kennebec Journal: Winslow man says Pan Am fired him for medical leave request
- NY Times: Maine: Anti-Abortion Protester Faces Lawsuit Over Loud Protests
