What you should know before agreeing to a severance package
After a layoff, anxious employees sometimes sign whatever severance agreement they’re offered, failing to appreciate that they may have more leverage to negotiate than they’d expect. While companies are under no obligation to even offer severance, many do so, eager to demonstrate their goodwill, …
Understanding Equity in Hiring
Discussions of workplace discrimination often center on actions that occur during someone’s time as an employee. But workplace safeguards extend to the hiring process as well, and it’s illegal for employers of a certain size to discriminate against applicants due to their protected characteristic…
How are pregnant employees protected against discrimination?
Many women are pregnant at some point during their working life, yet workplaces often still treat pregnancy as an impossible obstacle to hiring, career advancement or even continued employment. After giving birth and returning to work, new mothers often face judgment, questions about their commit…
How Does the Law Protect Religious Freedom in the Workplace?
Just this fall, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced three major settlements involving religious discrimination lawsuits. The cases, which originated in Maryland, Florida and Colorado, demonstrated how workers from any part of the country, and of any religious background, can face harassment, miss opportunities or be denied accommodation due to their beliefs.
Mental Health in the Workplace
Mental health, once a taboo topic for many employers, became a top business consideration in 2021 as people became more open during the pandemic about the challenges they face. According to a Harvard Business Review report, two-thirds of surveyed employees told someone they work with about a mental health challenge in the past year—an increase from the original 2019 survey.
How to Spot Workplace Retaliation
Every year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports its annual charges based on categories of discrimination. Year after year, retaliation tops the list, accounting for more than half of cases in 2020. While some workplace retaliation may seem obvious—a sudden firing or demotio…
Employee Spotlight: Lacey Wilson
Lacey Wilson is a law clerk with Barrett & Farahany’s Alabama Trial Practice Group and a third-year law student at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham.
Lacey has worked in a variety of areas of the judicial system since she was a teenager, beginning as a clerk’s assistant…
Is Workplace Monitoring and Surveillance Legal in Georgia?
For anyone who works in a retail job, or who may have in the past, it’s no surprise that much of the work takes place under employer surveillance. Cameras are likely visible on the floor, in the stockroom and near the exits.
Summary Judgment Orders From September
DeLoach v. CSX Transportation, Inc.; District Judge Mark H. Cohen and Magistrate Judge Alan J. Baverman; ADA – Reasonable Accommodation; Summary Judgment: Granted.
Case Name: TBD
Nature of the Order: TBD
Magistrate Judge: TBD
District Judge: TBD
Claims & Outcomes:
Whether …
Employee Spotlight: Cameron Tipton
Cameron is an associate at Barrett & Farahany’sBirmingham office. Cameron earned her law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law, where she served on the managing board of the Alabama Law Review as web editor. She was also a member of the John A. Campbell Moot Court Board, and she ass…
Fair Credit Reporting Act
Do I have a Fair Credit Reporting Act claim?
So much in life rests on your credit report: your ability to obtain a mortgage, a car loan or even a job. And when someone makes a mistake, whether it’s the credit reporting agency, your creditors or debt collectors, it can have a huge impact on your life. You may unfairly lose an opportunity, take on debt at a higher interest rate or face judgment from prospective employers.
Wage Discrimination
While the pandemic has disproportionally disrupted women’s presence in the workforce, inequality has been there all along. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women with full-time wages or salaries earned just 82 percent of what men earned in 2019—a ratio that has barely budged since 200…
Summary Judgment Orders From August
DeLoach v. CSX Transportation, Inc.; District Judge Mark H. Cohen and Magistrate Judge Alan J. Baverman; ADA – Reasonable Accommodation; Summary Judgment: Granted.
Hendricks v. Henry County, Georgia; District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. and Magistrate Judge Russell G. Vineyard; Discrimination u…
Summary Judgment Orders From July
Brooks v. Steadfast Services, Inc.; District Judge Amy Totenberg; Breach of Contract; Summary Judgment Denied.
Crittendon et al v. International Follies, Inc. et al
Davis v. Dekalb County, Georgia
Farrakhan v. Dal Global Services D/B/A Delta Global Services, Delta Airlines, and John Does 1–10
…
How to Know When You Have A Case: Unfair vs. Illegal
Employment law cases are particularly complex due to the subtleties involved.
There is often a fine line between something that is unfair and something that violates federal or state laws. Employment attorneys spend early consultations with clients determining if a particular situation is illegal or just unfair. Here are some of the most common situations we hear about:
Summary Judgment Orders From June
Butts v. Centimark Corp.; District Judge Cohen and Magistrate Judge Salinas; race discrimination and retaliation; Summary Judgment: Granted. Alexander v. Georgia State...
What to Know About Hostile Work Environments
As more employees return to in-person work and hiring ramps up, it's important for workers to know their rights as well as...
How to Fight Back Against National Origin Discrimination
Any kind of discrimination based on national origin is against the law, whether it is being carried out by a US company...
The Childcare Conundrum: How COVID-19 Continues To Impact Women In The Workplace
As the economy has opened up, more employees have returned to some form of in-person employment, with one exception. Working mothers, who...
Sexual Harassment and the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the way we work, but it didn't keep sexual harassment at bay. Even with fewer people...
Women’s Rights and the Laws that Protect Them at Work
We’ve come a long way, baby, from first starting to work outside the home in the 19th century to present-day, when women are running boardrooms and holding some of the highest offices in our country. Along with this progression have come laws to support female advancement in the workforce and pro…
The New FFCRA and What It Means for You
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) received a lot of attention for its third round of stimulus checks. As time has passed, however, it appears the continuation and expansion of emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) and expanded Family and Medical Leave (EFML) might have an even greater impact on some…
Equal Pay Day 2021
How many extra days past year-end does it take a woman to earn what a man did in just 12 months? For the previous year, it was an additional 83 days. Equal Pay Day, the day set aside to raise awareness about the gender pay gap, falls on March 24, 2021. It’s been 24 years since this day was or…
One Year Out: The Pandemic’s Negative Impact on Women in the Workforce
A year into the pandemic and the female workforce is suffering. Women have been leaving the workforce and losing jobs at higher...