In Everett J. Prescott, Inc. v. Leahy, Maine’s U.S. District Court recently denied Everett J. Prescott, Inc.’s (EJP) motion for a temporary restraining order that would have, among other things, required its former employee to cease working for one of EJP’s competitors. This case involves a relatively common type of…
IBM recently discontinued its longstanding practice of including in its severance packages a disclosure of the ages and job titles of the other employees it had decided to lay off. IBM made these disclosures in order to comply with the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA). 29 U.S.C. sec. 626(f). …
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the Boston Police Department may have violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act because it used a drug test that analyzed hair samples which had a disparate impact on African American police officers. After looking at the statistical differences…
Bed Bath & Beyond has agreed to a settlement with New York’s Attorney General regarding the company’s policy of refusing to hire all applicants with past criminal convictions. In New York, with the exception of law enforcement jobs, it is illegal for employers to categorically refuse to hire all applicants…
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Maine, recently ruled in an unpaid overtime case that the defendant-employer should have included per diem payments when it calculated overtime pay. In the case, Newman and Patague v. Advanced Technology Innovation Corp., Mr. Newman and Mr. Patague argued…
This year, “Anita: Speaking Truth to Power,” a documentary about the life of Anita Hill, will be showing in theaters around the country. In October 1991, Hill famously testified before Congress about how Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her while she worked for him at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…
In most places in the United States, including Maine, employers do not have to provide paid leave to employees who need to take time off from work because they are sick, to care for a sick family member with, or to care for a newborn child. The federal Family and…
In a case that the Maine Employee Rights Group (MERG) filed against F.W. Webb Co., the U.S. District Court of Maine has found that a jury could reasonably conclude that in 2009 F.W. Webb unlawfully fired Mr. Crosby, a former truck driver based out of its South Portland location, because…
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Maine, other New England states, and Puerto Rico, today reversed the decision of a Puerto Rico court and held that a sex discrimination lawsuit against a Puerto Rico fire department may proceed. Waleska Garayalde-Rijos, the plaintiff in the case,…
Last month, in Shazor v. Professional Transit Management, Ltd., the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Ohio and other states in the Midwest, held that a jury could reasonably conclude that Professional Transit Management (PTM) illegally fired its former CEO, Marilyn Shazor, because she was an…