Articles Posted in Labor – Employment Law

Title VII makes it an “unlawful employment practice for an employer . . . to discharge any individual . . . because of such individual’s religion.” Title VII defines religion as follows: “[t]he term ‘religion’ includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable…

Business litigation in Florida often involves claims for trade secret misappropriation under Florida’s Uniform Trade Secret Act (FUTSA) or the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). For liability to attach under DTSA or FUTSA, the trade secret information must be the fruit of a wrongful acquisition or misappropriation. Misappropriation of a trade secret occurs “where a…

Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision makes it “an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any of [its] employees . . . because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by this subchapter, or because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding,…

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating “against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Sexual harassment can constitute discrimination based on sex for purposes of Title VII.…

Most claims of employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended) rely on circumstantial evidence. The plaintiff-employee may attempt to prove discrimination through circumstantial evidence by satisfying the United States Supreme Court’s burden-shifting framework set forth it its decision in McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). The…

Employers typically are not liable for alleged retaliatory acts against their current or former employees when the employee is not qualified for the employment position. This is true under both Florida and federal law governing retaliation claims. The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 (FCRA) provides that it is unlawful for “an employer . .…

In many cases, employers or managers make statements that do not qualify as sexual harassment as a matter of law, even though the statements may be viewed as inappropriate. To assess the best defense against an employee’s claim of sexual harassment, it is important to understand the types of sexual harassment under the law and…

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination by an employer “against a qualified individual on the basis of disability” in any of the “terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.” 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). The United States Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit in Holly v. Clairson Industries, L.L.C., 492 F.3d 1247 (11th Cir.…

Employees (current and former) can sue their employers for race and gender discrimination and hostile work environments under the Florida Civil Rights Act (the “FCRA”). The FCRA was patterned after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers with more than 15 employees from discriminating “against any individual with respect to…

Noncompete agreements sometimes designate the laws of other states to govern the parties’ contractual obligations, even if the agreement is made in Florida. This is known as a choice of law provision. When these choice-of-law provisions are valid and enforceable, they can have significant repercussions on the results of noncompete litigation. Peter Mavrick is a…