The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in New York, has decided that the full court—all eleven active judges—will consider whether sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act. If the full Second Circuit decides that sexual orientation discrimination is a form of…
In an important decision for transportation workers, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a trucking company cannot use the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to force its truckers to bring their claims against the company in arbitration. As we have previously discussed, companies often force workers to…
We previously reported on the Maine legislature’s consideration of a bill intended to lessen the gender pay gap in Maine. That bill, entitled “An Act Regarding Pay Equality,” has now received support from the majority of the legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee. It will now head to…
Yesterday, the Maine Employee Rights Group (“MERG”) secured another victory for our client in a federal case against Woodlands Senior Living of Brewer (“Woodlands”). As we previously reported, a Bangor jury found that Woodlands unlawfully discriminated against our client because she needed medical leave for a disability. The jury awarded…
Last month, the Massachusetts Supreme Court held that a jury could reasonably determine that the Boston Police Department (BPD) discriminated against one of its police officers, Sean Gannon, because he has disabilities related to a brain injury. Gannon suffered the brain injury from his experience competing in mixed martial arts…
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a disability discrimination lawsuit should be dismissed because the employee who filed the case failed to provide her employer with sufficient information to support her request for a reasonable accommodation. This case illustrates one of the pitfalls that employees with…
Earlier this month, New York City joined a growing group of cities and states that have outlawed the practice of asking job applicants how much money they earned in their previous jobs. Massachusetts and California enacted similar laws last year and Maine as well as Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Montana,…
Have you ever seen a job posting for a position where the employer only wanted applicants with little or no experience? Companies that look for applicants with little or no experience do so, in some instances, because they believe that applicants with relatively little experience will command a lower salary…
Excellent Feedback Meaning Review Superiority And Satisfaction Sexual and other forms of unlawful harassment continue to be one of the biggest problems in the workplace. Responsible employers (i.e. employers who honestly want to prevent harassment in the workplace) take reasonable steps to prevent harassment, such as employee training, prompt investigations…
The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has permitted a lawsuit against Home Depot to move forward where the plaintiff alleges that Home Depot’s negligence resulted in one of its supervisors raping and murdering her daughter. The plaintiff’s daughter, Alisha Bromfield, worked in the gardening section of a Home Depot…