By Sarah Beth Tyrey On June 17, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its COVID-19 guidance (scroll down to A.7) to state that employers cannot require employees to take COVID-19 antibody tests in order to return to work. Although employers are allowed to take employee temperatures and to test for current COVID-19 infection, the EEOC says […]
Joe Murray My last appellate update was so long ago that I’ve got a lot of cases to review here. Hence I’m limiting (almost) every summary to 280 characters, Twitter style. Wetherington v. NC Dep’t of Pub. Safety, No. COA18-1018 (N.C. Ct. App. Feb. 18, 2020) (State Personnel Act): In 2009, Patrolman loses hat, lies […]
By Joe Murray An anonymous show of hands: who has done a local TV news segment in which you and your client discuss their lawsuit? Maybe you state the employer is racist or a specific manager was a predator. Now, a second show of hands: how many have considered the potential for such a statement […]
By Sean Herrmann Today, May 1, is International Workers’ Day. Though it is overlooked in the United States, this day, also referred to as “May Day,” is a public holiday in many countries around the world. It’s a day to celebrate workers and a day for workers to demonstrate and demand more rights in the […]
The Distinguished Practitioner and Service Award Nominating Committee is accepting nominations from now until Friday, July 31, 2020. The Award exists to recognize an employment law practitioner for “Outstanding Service, Leadership, and/or Significant Contributions to the Development of Labor and Employment Law in North Carolina.” The Award was first given to Jon Harkavy in 2008 […]
By Savannah Singletary Assume that an employee is fired because her employer mistakenly believes she is of Middle Eastern descent. In fact, she is not. Should she be able to state a claim under Title VII? Courts are now divided about whether Title VII protects persons who are perceived to belong to a protected class, […]
By Trey Ferguson Since the U.S. Supreme Court adopted the after-acquired evidence rule in McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., employers have relied on this doctrine to limit former employees’ remedies in wrongful termination cases. Suppose an employer terminates an employee because he is 60 years old. That discharge would clearly violate the federal Age Discrimination […]
By Michele Livingstone and Will Quick Our section membership has a strong tradition of supporting and participating in pro bono and community service activities—both those planned and sponsored by the NCBA and those that you undertake on your own or with other organizations. We are in unprecedented times with COVID-19 (Coronavirus), and I am confident […]
By T. Cullen Stafford The U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule clarifying the joint employer standard took effect on March 16. The final rule, first announced on January 12, narrows the definition of joint employment and contains several practical examples of scenarios where joint employer status would or would not exist. The rule is a positive development […]
By Joe Murray The court opinions have been sparse lately, and none of them are earth shattering. But here they are: Davis v. NC Dep’t of Health & Hum. Servs., No. COA19-449 (N.C. App. Dec. 17, 2019) (unpublished) (Human Resources Act): DHHS terminated Davis for manually lifting a patient from his wheelchair to his bed […]