The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has vacated Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, which found that Title VII did not protect against sexual orientation discrimination. I wrote about the decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit, in August. The court will rehear the case with all of the judges participating.

Here is a copy of the order.

Ms ...

Employers should beware of being too quick to believe an employee who accuses a co-worker of wrongdoing. If the accuser has an illegal motive (such as discrimination or retaliation), and if the employer is "negligent" in investigating before taking action against the co-worker, then the employer could be legally responsible.

So says the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...

UPDATE (10/14/16): The Hively decision discussed below was issued by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit. This week, the full Seventh Circuit set aside the decision and agreed to rehear the case with all of the judges participating. Here is a copy of the order. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided last week in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College that sexual ...

A federal appeals court panel has come out with a decision interpreting the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in Young v. UPS, and the result wasn't too good for the employer.

The Sheriff's Department of Ulster County, New York, provided light duty for employees with work-related injuries but didn't provide it for anyone else. Plaintiff Ann Marie Legg, a corrections officer at the ...

If you have a poor performer, is it better to make a clean break and fire him, or is it better to prolong his (and your) agony?

That is obviously a biased question, but some employers will do almost anything to avoid firing an employee, including the following:

• Nothing
• Issue 8 bazillion warnings but never act on them
• Offer a demotion, or a transfer to a less demanding job
• Let the employee ...

The Marchuk v. Faruqi law firm sexual harassment case has been "amicably resolved." Now, what will we gossip about?

(To see why I'm disappointed, go here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Apparently, I wasn't just "following" this case - I was stalking it.)

After the verdict that pleased no one, both sides had appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second ...

Uh-oh. Lawyers who do document review may not be exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to a court decision issued yesterday.

Large law firms and legal services vendors often hire stables of contract lawyers to do document review in big cases. Sometimes, the lawyers who do the review are actually reading and analyzing the documents in light of ...

Guest post by Tommy Eden, a partner in Constangy's Opelika, Alabama, and West Point, Georgia, offices.

In all the hoopla over the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision last week, it may have been lost that the Court refused to review a circuit court decision compelling arbitration in a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

All federal courts of appeal to decide the ...

It seems like such an insignificant little case, but it's really a can of exploding snakes.

An Illinois woman who was terminated after she was caught working during her lunch period has won her claim for unemployment. (The employer said that she was not terminated for working but for her behavior after she was confronted about the unauthorized work.)

Your gut reaction was probably the ...

It's been another zany week or so in the world of labor and employment law, rivalling Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo. Here are a few items that jumped out at me. (Each subhead is a line from a Marx Brothers movie or the title of a Marx Brothers movie. Answers at the end.)

"Hurry up, or you'll be late for jail!" Pepsi Beverages (formerly Pepsi Bottling Co.) agreed to a pre-litigation settlement ...