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Volume 5, Issue 12

December 2016

Domestic Violence in the Louisiana Workplace, Part 7: Domestic Violence-related Leave

It is not a matter of if, but when an employer will be confronted with a challenging domestic violence-related issue in the workplace. Domestic violence not only causes lost productivity and increased costs for employers, but also raises a host of potential legal obligations and liabilities that employers cannot afford to overlook. In this monthly series, Labor and Employment attorney Rachael Coe will discuss the various ways that domestic violence impacts the Louisiana workplace and what employers need to know in order to protect their employees, their customers, and themselves.

Domestic violence victims and their families may need time off of work for many reasons, from medical recovery to preparing for a court trial. Federal laws provide numerous types of leave for these situations, and some leave could be paid. Click here to read the full article by Rachael M. Coe.

Texas Court Stops Implementation of Minimum Salary Increase

Yesterday, November 22, 2016, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction delaying the implementation of the Department of Labor regulation that would have increased the minimum salary for exempt workers from $455 per week to $913 a week on December 1, 2016. This does not mean that the rule will never be implemented, but it does mean that the rule will almost certainly not be implemented in 2016. To read the full article by Jerry L. Stovall, Jr., click here.

Starbucks Moves Gay Worker's Bias Lawsuit to Federal Court

Starbucks Corp. recently removed a sexual orientation bias and harassment lawsuit filed by former barista Chad Horne from a state court to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. Horne's lawsuit claimed that he was subjected to physically threatening contact from his male co-workers and hostile comments about his sexual orientation from female managers. When Horne brought complaints of the harassment to one of his managers, the manager told him he didn't "have to behave so gay." He also alleged that general and regional managers told him to "tone it down" and asked that he "control" his mannerisms. A Starbucks spokesperson said that the company's policy strictly "prohibit[s] discrimination or harassment of any kind." Despite the current legal debate on whether federal law prohibits sexual orientation bias in the workplace, California is one of 23 states that bar sexual orientation bias in employment.

USPS Police Officer in Boston Gets Race Bias Trial

A Boston postal police officer was granted the right to move forward with her race bias claim after supervisors allegedly tried to stop her from returning to work after a workplace injury and punished her when she complained they had been motivated by race. On November 23, a federal judge ruled that the complainant could compare her treatment to her white co-workers who work under different supervisors. The officer, Diping Anderson was the only postal police officer of Asian descent at a U.S. Postal Service mail facility in Boston. After filing her initial complaint, Anderson said her work chair had been replaced with a broken one, and when she complained her supervisor told her if she didn't like it to go home. According to her complaint, two supervisors continued retaliating against her while she continued to file administrative bias complaints. Anderson was fired in 2013 for "failure to perform her duties." She presented evidence of white officers who had lost their service weapons on "the streets of South Boston" and in public bathrooms. In those cases, the officers received warning letters. The court ruled her evidence calls into question USPS's explanation of her termination and denied summary judgement.

Management Update Briefings