Haworth Found Liable for Race Discrimination
Bos & Glazier client prevails in a race discrimination case in Grand Rapids federal court.
Pressure Points For Settlement in Employment Cases.
Why and when do employment cases usually settle.
The Effects of Arbitration Agreements on Employment Claims
This is a great article on the effects of arbitration agreements on employment claims. Before you seek an attorney, it's a good idea to request a copy of your personnel file and see if you signed an arbitration agreement. Your rights may be severely restricted. While we prefer to be in court, Bos...
Sexual Harrassment - Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Enviroment
Sexual Harassment is prohibited by State and Federal Law. Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, MCL 37.2101, et seq., provides that unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex includes sexual harassment, which means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or...
Negotiating a Severance Agreement
When an employee is terminated from his or her job, the employer will often present the employee with a severance agreement. A severance agreement is a promise by the employer to pay salary or wages and other benefits in exchange for the employee giving up the right to sue the employer. After h...
Is maternity and paternity leave up for debate? How to negotiate more time with your baby.
Welcoming a new child into your family is a momentous event. Its also stressful and tiring—especially if you have to become a parent to a new member of the family all the while wondering about whats going to happen to you when you return to work. And many people are confused about what their le...
Salaried Workers Are Not Automatically Exempt From Overtime Pay Rules
Salaried workers are eligible for overtime unless their job fits into a narrow class of exemptions.
Can a medical care worker sue if he is fired for reporting an incident of medical negligence?
Public Policy Protects Medical Workers Who Report the Negligence of Co-Workers.
Unions and the Duty of Fair Representation
What is the duty of fair representation owed by a union to its members. When can an union member sue the union. This blog posts explores those questions and others.
But What About My Non-Compete Agreement?
Non-compete and non-solicit agreements are being foisted upon employees more frequently. Think long and hard about whether you should sign such an agreement and try to negotiate the terms of any agreement before you sign. Don't simply assume that such agreements will not be enforced.
6th Circuit Court of Appeals Clarifies the Medical Exam Provisions in the ADA
Kroll v WLAA - Click for a full text of the court decision described below. On August 19, 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision in favor of Emily Kroll. Emily was an EMT working for White Lake Ambulance Authority when she was fired for refusing to undergo a psych...
Whistleblower Protection Act
On April 11, 2014, I had the privilege of speaking at the 39th Annual Labor and Employment Law Institute sponsored by the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE). The topic was Anatomy of a Whistleblower Retaliation Lawsuit. We used the fact pattern from the case Thompson v Aramark Scho...
Amendments to the Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA") was passed with much fanfare, but the act's narrow interpretation by the courts has meant that very few employees with disabilities were protected by the statute. In order to receive protection, employees needed to show "an impairment which subs...
Workplace Fairness Web Site
Clients and potential clients often have questions about the process involved with filing a wrongful discharge lawsuit. Common questions include: How long will it take? What will I have to do? What is mediation? General answers to these questions and many others can be found at a web site af...
Emloyment Discrimination Claims in Federal Court
The Harvard Law & Policy Review (Winter 2009, volume 3, number 2) recently published an analysis of employment discrimination claims filed in Federal courts. The authors conclusions: (1) the number of cases filed in Federal courts have dropped dramatically, nearly 40 percent since 1999, (2) e...
When does a firing not equal a lawsuit?
More often than not, a termination of employment is completely lawful and cannot be challenged in court. Employees who are fired for legitimate reasons, such as misconduct at work, poor attendance, downsizing, etc., have no recourse to court. Even some employees who are fired for dumb reasons, f...
So, What makes a good lawsuit?
Since most employees are "at-will," when can employees sue their employer when they think they have been wrongly fired? Most employees must be able to fit their situations into one of the at will exceptions discussed in the previous post. For example, an employee who takes an FMLA leave has the...
What I'm About
This is a new blog discussing employment law issues. It is written by an attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For information about me, see http://www.bosglazier.com/brad_glazier.shtml. In this blog, I will be sharing information about what facts make a good employment lawsuit, the at-will empl...
Michigan Makes it Harder to Collect Unemployment Benefits
In Public Act 269 of 2011, which became effective on December 28, 2011, the Republican Legislature passed and Governor Synder signed a bill that will make it tougher for workers to collect unemployment benefits. Here is a link to an analysis and summary of the new law prepared by Legislative Anal...
Public Policy Exception to the "at-will" Rule Expanded
The Michigan Supreme Court issued a decision that expands upon the Public Policy Exception to the at-will employment rule. On July 21, 2009, in McNeil v Charlevoix County, the court ruled that a local health department rule that prohibited employers in Charlevoix County from discharging or retal...