COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) provides a safety net for employees and their families to keep their health insurance, at their own expense, when they’re between jobs or when other life major events, such as divorce, occur.
Generally, COBRA health insurance coverage can last up to a maximum of 36...
In the preceding article, we reported on a case in which the court found an employee's evidence wasn't sufficient to support a claim of reverse race discrimination. But in this case, a federal court rejected an employer's request to dismiss a reverse discrimination lawsuit, finding the facts alleged by the employee properly asserted a plausible...
The 3rd Circuit recently ruled that an employer's statements that its employees would remain employed if they did their jobs and stayed out of trouble didn't create an implied employment contract sufficient to overcome the presumption of at-will employment.
Facts
Karen McCrone, Daniel Arminio, Jose Hernandez, Emanuel Hodson, Denise Molineaux,...
An employee recently lost a retaliatory discharge lawsuit because he couldn't prove the decision maker knew he had made complaints about discriminatory workplace comments. This case has been in the courts for a while. In fact, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Kentucky employers) sent the employee's retaliation...
An appeals court recently went to great lengths to reinstate a lawsuit against an employer that allegedly ignored work restrictions issued by a physician, failed to completely follow its own attendance policy, and referred to its employee as a "liability" when he requested Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave.
Facts
Alan Demyanovich...
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky recently ruled that a supervisor's statement that he would replace an employee with an "ass-kicking bad ass" wasn't evidence of "personal bias."
Facts
David Bzura, who is over 40, worked as a store manager for Lumber Liquidators, Inc., from January 2005 until April 2013. James Davis...
Q We want to terminate an employee for performance issues. However, once he realized he was in trouble performance-wise, he began complaining internally about state contract violations. We recently had a site visit investigation from the state, and we suspect the employee anonymously complained. Can we still terminate his employment, or will he...
On April 15, 2014, the Missouri Supreme Court issued a decision that significantly lowers the burden of proof for claims of workers' compensation retaliation under Section 287.780 of the Missouri Statutes. To prevail on a claim under the previous standard, an employee was required to prove that filing a workers' comp claim was the "exclusive"...
In the wake of the Enron scandal more than a decade ago, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) to impose stringent standards on publicly held companies. SOX provides whistleblower protections and prohibits publicly held employers and their agents, contractors, and subcontractors from retaliating against employees who report fraud...
A Rapid City employee accused of helping a local trash collector evade higher load rates struck back with his own lawsuit after he was vindicated in a criminal trial. Let's look at how he fared.
Facts
In 2009, Rapid City Alderman Sam Kooiker (now the mayor of Rapid City) learned from citizens that Fish Garbage Service was allegedly cheating...
