Articles Posted in Employment Law

The “opposition clause” of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents covered employers from retaliating against employees because they oppose a practice which is unlawful under the Act. Accordingly, an employer can be liable for terminating an employee for complaining about allegedly discriminatory conduct. A recent en banc case with the United…

Florida and Maryland’s non-compete laws are protective of business interests in customer relationships and goodwill. Due to the advent of remote working capabilities, there are often cases when the non-compete laws of more than one state may be implicated. For example, a Florida employee may work in Florida for a company based in Maryland, and…

Employee-plaintiffs face strict deadlines when bringing discrimination claims. The 90-day deadline to file a lawsuit filing receipt of a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC can sometimes be extended if the receipt of the letter was delayed. A recent case before the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals explained that these time extensions will not…

An employee can make a claim of unlawful retaliation under federal and Florida anti-discrimination law when he or she complains about racial discrimination, and then is subsequently passed over for a promotion. Actually proving such a claim, however, can be extremely difficult for the employee when the employer expresses a non-discriminatory reason for refusing to…

In defense against an employment lawsuit asserting discrimination, religious organizations can assert they are exempt from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 based upon the “ministerial exemption.” The exemptions permitted religious organizations were explored in a recent employment law article on the case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 17-1618, 2020 WL 3146686…

The federal statute 26 U.S.C. § 7434 permits a person to claim that another has filed a false tax return on his or her behalf, potentially subjecting an employer to a statutory penalty of $5,000 and attorneys’ fees. Sometimes, disgruntled former employees and independent contractors (collectively referred to as “workers”) will use this statute to…

The recent United States Supreme Court case, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 17-1618, 2020 WL 3146686 (U.S. June 15, 2020), held that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). While the holding may be considered groundbreaking by some LGBT advocates, the…

As discussed in our previous articles about hostile work environment claims in sexual harassment cases and race discrimination cases, the severity and pervasiveness of harassment necessary to qualify as an unlawful hostile work environment is extraordinary. Many employment claims are made based on an occasional joke made in poor taste and microaggressions. Even if the…

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was intended to allow “qualified employees” working for covered employers to be permitted unpaid medical leave arising from the employee or the employee’s family’s serious health conditions. Sometimes, an employee who is terminated for other reasons will claim that the termination was unlawful retaliation for seeking benefits under…

For an employer to be liable for retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), the employee must show the adverse action (the decision to terminate) was made because of the employee’s protected activity (the submission of discrimination complaint). Employers may prevail against these retaliation claims by showing that the…