Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Feb 9, 2012, 6:33 am
You may recall a recent 3rd Circuit ruling that placing an employee on a Performance Improvement Plan (the dreaded "PIP") is not an adverse employment action sufficient to bring discrimination claims. What about a lowered evaluation, plus a PIP, plus denial of a transfer request, plus a refusal to a...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Feb 8, 2012, 6:50 am
Employee or Independent Contractor? How employers classify the people who work for them can have important implications for everything from taxes to wage and hour issues. The IRS has its take, and there are tons of court opinions weighing in on wage and hour issues. This classification a...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Feb 6, 2012, 9:05 pm
Unpaid internships have picked up some unwanted mainstream media attention lately. Recently, a former unpaid intern filed a lawsuit against Harper's Bazaar, alleging violations of state and federal wage and hour laws.  She's also hoping to make it into a class action against other Hears...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Feb 3, 2012, 8:17 am
Let's get down to business - the employment law Case of the Week is Haybarger v. Lawrence Cty. Adult Probation and Parole, No. 10-3916 (3d Cir. Jan. 31, 2012). It's a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) case that touches on two important issues: 1. when a supervisor can be individually...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Feb 2, 2012, 8:49 am
My latest post on ELinfonet is up! Please check out The Death of NLRA Disclaimers in Social Media Policies? My new article covers NLRB guidance on social media policies, and explains why a simple disclaimer that the policy "will not be construed or applied so as to prohibit NLRA-protecte...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Feb 1, 2012, 8:32 am
Some fresh Lawffice Links for your reading pleasure: Top 10 Reasons Employees Get Fired. CBS Sports blogger fired over false tweet prematurely reporting Paterno's death. Pregnant, and Pushed Out of a Job (NYT op-ed). Ban on courtroom tweets considered in Pennsylvania.&#...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 30, 2012, 2:13 pm
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to address the implementation of the servicemember leave and airline flight crew provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). If you're really into this stuff, you can see the full 213-page notice here. Or, y...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 30, 2012, 8:27 am
A quick post to kick off the week here at Lawffice Space. CareerBuilder released the results of its latest survey regarding excuses employees use for coming in late. The most common excuses were pretty standard . . . traffic, weather, kids. But, they also noted the most outrageous excuses of...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 27, 2012, 8:50 am
When two co-workers email you a case, the mainstream media picks up on it, and it has already hit the blogosphere... it's probably a good case of the week. The Case of the Week is an unemployment compensation case involving Sharon Smiley and a Chicago real estate company. The gi...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 26, 2012, 8:21 am
I baked up some fresh Lawffice Links for your reading pleasure. They're jam-packed with federal agency goodness: The NLRB acting GC just released a second social media memo, detailing 14 cases. The EEOC unveiled a draft strategic plan for 2012-2016. DOL provided a fact sheet on...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 24, 2012, 10:07 pm
The EEOC released charge statistics for FY 2011 today. I'll be honest... nothing too earth-shattering here. But, I noticed a few things: Total charges leveled off, creeping up from 99,922 to 99,947 (or as the media might report it... "EEOC charges set all-time record!"); The heavy-hitters, rac...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 23, 2012, 10:13 am
When people find out I'm an employment lawyer, they almost always have questions. Those questions are invariably some form of "Can my employer fire me for __________." I can assure you that I have never been asked, "Can my employer fire me for . . . wearing a fake penis to work?" A new case ju...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 20, 2012, 6:46 am
Grandma, don't forget to file your ADEA claim! Two of the key components of a discrimination claim are 1. establishing discriminatory motive; and 2. showing an adverse employment action. The employment law Case of the Week is Norris v. Millbrook, 2011 WL 5553082 (M.D. Ala. Nov. 15, 2011...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 17, 2012, 9:55 pm
President Obama kicked off the new year by making a handful of recess appointments, including three NLRB appointees. This touched off a firestorm of legal commentary. Volokh Conspiracy has a nice recess appointment round-up, featuring links to commentary ranging from libertarian-leaning Richard Epst...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 16, 2012, 2:24 pm
... arbitration panel hearing! Beautiful day to get out and see the courthouse in Bellefonte, PA.
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 16, 2012, 8:17 am
Originally published on January 18, 2010. Co-authored by my wife, Sharon R. Miles Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday celebrated annually, honoring the late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior. The holiday is observed each January on the third Monday, near the day of his actua...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 13, 2012, 7:31 am
Lawsuits generally require damages. Employment discrimination lawsuits generally require a very specific type of damages, beginning with the "adverse employment action." This employment law Case of the Week provides some great analysis of whether and when a negative performance review ca...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 11, 2012, 10:22 am
The Supreme Court just issued its opinion in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC. You can read my preview of the case here. A unanimous court held that the First Amendment bars discrimination lawsuits brought by ministers against their church. The teacher in question was a minister within the meaning ...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 10, 2012, 3:11 pm
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Knox v. SEIU (SCOTUSBlog Case Page) today. You can read the transcript here. SCOTUSBlog describes the issues as: (1) May a state, consistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, condition employment on the payment of a special union ...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 10, 2012, 1:45 pm
Earlier today, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood. This is actually a credit card case, but it has some value in employment law because it involves the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The plaintiffs' credit card agreements included clauses that requir...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 10, 2012, 8:21 am
Last Friday, I had the pleasure of appearing on the 100th episode of The Proactive Employer to discuss employment law current events. Fellow employment lawyers, Jon Hyman and Dan Schwartz rounded out the panel, hosted by Stephanie Thomas. You can listen here: Listen to internet radio with Th...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 6, 2012, 8:47 am
The Proactive Employer is hosted by Stephanie Thomas of Thomas Econometrics Tune in to The Proactive Employer special 100th episode today at 2:00 PM est for special guest... ME! Jon Hyman and Dan Schwartz will also be on the program, hosted by Stephanie Thomas. You can listen live (he...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Jan 6, 2012, 8:31 am
Ordinarily, I try to pick new cases for the employment law Case of the Week. But, as the old saying (or advertising slogan) goes... if you haven't seen it yet, it's new to you. Thus the Case of the Week is Jordan v. City of New London, 225 F.3d 645 (2d Cir. 2000). Robert Jordan, th...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Nov 1, 2011, 4:53 pm
I just created a page called Employment Law Tweets. I utilize a Twitter list, EmpLaw, which I created as a list of the top employment law Tweeters... or is it Twitterers? (purely based on my personal experience on Twitter - I assure you, it is not scientific) If you're on Twitter, you can just...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 31, 2011, 2:21 pm
It started sometime last week. My phone has been ringing off the hook ever since. Anxious employers are desperate to find somebody... anybody... who can help them combat the latest employment law risk. Yup, you guessed it: Tebowing. Questio...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 27, 2011, 3:10 pm
In case you've been living under a rock, there was this little case called Wal-Mart v. Dukes which would have been the largest employment law class action in history. Would have been... except the Supreme Court held that class certification was inappropriate. The plaintiffs tried ...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 27, 2011, 6:48 am
Pennsylvania has a law called "Act 102" or the "Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act." Per the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's (DLI's) Act 102 website: "Act 102 prohibits a health care facility from requiring employees to work more than agreed to, predeter...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 26, 2011, 2:42 pm
You may recall a Case of the Week from back in May: Same Sex Partner Benefits and the Constitution. In short, two women filed suit against my hometown school district (State College Area School District) alleging unconstitutional sexual orientation discrimination. The school did not prov...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 25, 2011, 2:15 pm
Are volunteers "employees" for purposes of employment discrimination statutes? In the grand tradition of the law, the answer is: maybe... sometimes... depends on the jurisdiction. A recent case from the Sixth Circuit sheds some light on the issue. In Bryson v. Middlefield Voluntee...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 24, 2011, 4:46 pm
Wow, it has been over two years since I've run one of these. I examine analysis from Blogger showing me which search terms are driving traffic to Lawffice Space and then I try to provide what I think people using that search term are actually looking for. This is mostly unnecessary because I am conf...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 21, 2011, 8:15 am
Sometimes employment laws lead to seemingly silly results - perhaps we can call them "unintended consequences" to borrow a term from economics (what can I say? The law and econ lessons from my days at George Mason have stuck with me). Need an example? A Target employee just filed a lawsu...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 19, 2011, 10:55 am
Some links for your reading pleasure: - The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is now on Twitter! - A cool new Adverse Impact Tool from Stephanie Thomas of Thomas Econometrics (instant statistical analysis of employment decisions). - Robin Shea discusses strategy for when t...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 18, 2011, 9:44 am
Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Elgin v. Dep't of Treasury. The Petitioner's Brief describes the issue and the existing circuit court split: Do federal district courts have jurisdiction over constitutional claims for equitable relief brought by federal employees...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 17, 2011, 8:37 pm
I had a status conference at the Potter County Courthouse in Coudersport, Pennsylvania on Friday. Of course, I grabbed some photos and added them to the Pennsylvania Courthouses Photo Album! Potter County has a great courthouse in a scenic small town. It was faaaar away from my home base, but the 3-...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 15, 2011, 6:38 pm
A quick update on a previous Lawffice Space Case of the Week: 19 Days Off for Hajj as a Religious Accommodation. The case involved a math teacher who requested time off for an Islamic pilgrimage known as a "Hajj." The request was denied, forcing her to choose between her job and her reli...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 14, 2011, 8:26 am
Ah, double fisting and “Crazy Bitch Bingo”… just another Case of the Week here at Lawffice Space. Ashley Payne filed a lawsuit hoping to get her teaching job back (and maybe some monetary damages), claiming she lost her job over Facebook postings from her trip to Europe. The Atlant...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 13, 2011, 8:52 am
Yesterday, the Third Circuit weighed in on an employee's 14th Amendment right to privacy in Doe v. Luzerne County, 2011 WL 4823387 (3d Cir. Oct. 12, 2011)(Note: It will be published and precedential). The Court recognized that a public employee has a right to privacy that protects her fr...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 11, 2011, 3:46 pm
Some links for your reading pleasure: - Eric Meyer provides the Do's and D'ohs of ADA claims with legal analysis of Homer Simpson's obesity ploy. - Jon Hyman notes that plenty of laws protect employee rights, so he presents an Employer Bill of Rights. - Did you see Satu...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 10, 2011, 9:29 pm
This post has been a long time coming... but at long last it's the final post in the four-part series on the NLRB's social media memo. This post will address the NLRB's position on (what it views as) overly broad social media policies. Obviously, employers can't expressly ban socia...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 7, 2011, 7:39 am
Some employers terminate their employees pretty often. Sometimes there are even rumors about who will get fired next. But you know what's probably not a good idea for employers? Holding a contest in which employees place $10 bets on who will get fired next! Bad idea, great Case of the We...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 5, 2011, 2:43 pm
I just received an email from the NLRB including this press release. You may remember the new NLRB poster requirements (announced here, and posters available here)... well, I'll let the NLRB fill you in: The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for i...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 4, 2011, 10:41 pm
According to new ABA opinion letters, and a new article from Corporate Counsel, attorneys in employment law owe a duty to warn employee-clients about email interception. In ABA Opinions Clarify Ethical Obligations in Email interception, Jeff Campolongo addresses this "trending" topic in ...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Oct 2, 2011, 8:07 pm
Hey SCOTUS! Where's the employment law? The Supreme Court kicks off the fall season on Monday, and they're hearing an employment law case in their opening week. But, I'm still wondering where the "big" employment law cases are. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argume...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Sep 30, 2011, 1:13 pm
The NLRB just issued a press release announcing: Administrative Law Judge rules Chicago car dealership had overly broad employee policy, but discharged employee’s activity not protected. You can read the full decision here. Note that this was one of the cases covered by the NLRB's soci...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Sep 30, 2011, 7:05 am
"Weighs in" - get it? I stayed up all night thinking of that one. The latest employment law Case of the Week comes from a lawsuit filed by the EEOC on behalf of an ex-BAE Systems employee. The EEOC claims that the man's employer fired him because of his morbid obesity. Per the EEOC's pre...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Sep 29, 2011, 8:50 am
Big day yesterday! The federal government petitioned the Supreme Court to hear an appeal from the 11th Circuit ruling that the health care reform law (aka "ObamaCare", actually known as "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act") was unconstitutional. Just for good measure, the challen...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Sep 28, 2011, 3:01 pm
Monday was my second straight workday at a courthouse. If I could figure out how to resize photos (apart from manually editing the HTML) in Blogger's iPhone app, it would have been a "Live" blog entry. Oh well, enjoy the Centre County Court of Common Pleas in beautiful Bellefonte, PA (and no, I didn...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Sep 27, 2011, 8:51 am
Good news! You found some text messages that really help your case. Now, how do you authenticate them? Authentication is a prerequisite for admissibility of evidence - so like Ron Burgundy, it's kind of a big deal. Earlier this month, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania addressed th...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Sep 23, 2011, 9:57 am
Blogger has a new iPhone app that lets me blog from my phone. So I am testing it out with some pictures from Lycoming County. Enjoy! Sidenote: Apparently the Blogger iPhone app can't quite figure out that the ...
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Philip Miles posted an article on Lawffice Space - Sep 22, 2011, 9:07 pm
The latest Case of the Week is a flashback; we're travelling all the way back to late, great, nineteen ninety-eight. Hostile work environment claims based on sexual harassment require that the harassing conduct be subjectively offensive. That is, the Plaintiff must find the conduct offen...
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