Tim Garrett provided insight on background check best practices as employers seek ways to balance the need to validate applicants’ background and experience with compliance and privacy issues, particularly amid a surge of legislation, litigation and public scrutiny.
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UConn Health System Found Liable for Clinician’s Sexual Harassment
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett discussed the implications of the ruling holding responsible the University of Connecticut Health Center for the sexual harassment of an employee by a fellow co-worker. In the ruling, the court found that the University of Connecticut Health Center did not take proper steps to alert supervisors of the co-workers prior harassment history which, therefore, prevented the supervisors from properly monitoring his behavior and allowed the misbehavior to occur. According to Tim, “While employers likely can’t monitor their staff at all times and eliminate all workplace harassment, they likely need to have a ‘heightened sense of awareness’ when an employee has been disciplined in the past, and companies will have a greater responsibility to monitor and investigate any allegations in those situations.”
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Tim Garrett Provides Update on Eighth Circuit’s Protection of Racist Insults in Cooper Tire Case
I provided an update on the August 2017 decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that a picketing worker from Cooper Tire should not have been fired for yelling racist insults at a busload of African-American replacement workers. The Eighth Circuit’s decision affirmed the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) decision that the company
Update: Stage Now Set for DOL to Adopt More Modest Salary Level for Overtime Exemptions
In an article for the October 2017 issue of The Corporate Counselor, Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett examined the latest ruling related to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) overtime rule following Texas Federal Judge Amos Mazzant’s final rule striking down the Obama-era rule. If implemented, the rule would more than double the minimum salary that employers would have to pay “white-collar” workers to meet overtime pay exemptions. Judge Mazzant’s final ruling cited that the DOL rule had made the salary level too high and that the exemption would inadvertently become based on pay and not duties of the position. Following the ruling, the DOL withdrew its appeal of the preliminary injunction and the Fifth Circuit granted the request.
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Federal Judge Issues Final Ruling Striking Down Overtime Rule
Texas Federal Judge Amos Mazzant has issued a final ruling striking down the overtime rule. In the August 31 ruling, Judge Mazzant used essentially the same reasoning on which he based his temporary injunction ruling. In light of this final decision, the appeal of his temporary injunction likely becomes moot. In addition, Judge Mazzant made clear that he is not finding that the DOL is prevented from ever using a particular salary level, but rather is invalidating this particular rule as going “too far” in essentially eliminating those who perform exempt duties but make less than the high salary threshold.
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8th Circuit Panel Rules NLRA Protects Picketing Employee’s Racist Remarks
In an article published earlier this year, I asked the question whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects racist insults. In a decision rendered on August 8, 2017, a majority of an Eighth Circuit panel, over a vigorous dissent, answered “Yes” – that the NLRA does protect racist insults by a picketing worker.
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Top Regulatory Developments in Employment Law
In an article published in the Nashville Business Journal, Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett discussed latest developments in employment law through the first months of the Trump presidency. The article covers the following developments:
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A New Fee-Shifting Trend In Employer Discrimination Cases?
In an article published by Law360, Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett provided insight on the continued increase in employment discrimination lawsuits, which may be due in part to fee-shifting in such lawsuits. Fee-shifting is a mechanism by which a prevailing party in a lawsuit can require the losing party to pay the reasonable
Employer Recovery of Fees and Costs in Discrimination Cases – Is There a Trend Starting?
Ohio just passed a new law that could begin a trend favorable to employers. The new law allows Ohio’s Civil Rights Commission, in its discretion, to award attorneys’ fees and costs to employers who are found not to have unlawfully discriminated against an employee. Why is this important?
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EEOC Guidance on Harassment Calls for Civility Training
In an article published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett provided insight on a 2015 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that reinstated a worker who made racist remarks to replacement workers during a strike. Tim states that an employer that does nothing in response to