Under employment laws, employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who participate in a number of protected activities. One such protected activity is complaining about or reporting potential unlawful discrimination in the workplace. If an employee claims he or she was disciplined, demoted, or terminated for complaining of discrimination, the employer must present a valid,… Read More
Posts Categorized In: Employment Agreements and Termination
Fired For Putting Out A Fire
A greeter, though not at Wal-Mart, was fired in Michigan for helping a customer in need. David Bowers, was working when a customer ran into the building seeking help with a car fire. As many would, Bowers grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, ran outside, and helped put out the fire. Then he was fired. The… Read More
Unpaid Internship Appeals Granted
Unpaid interns have been in employment news regularly over the past year due to several lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unpaid interns, mostly in the media and entertainment industries, claimed they were misclassified and that they should have been paid a minimum wage for the work they… Read More
Violation of Substance Abuse Policy Leads to Seahawk Suspension
Recently in this blog, we discussed a local teacher demanding he get his job back despite the fact that he arrived to work drunk and proceeded to teach young children while he was intoxicated. His violation of the school’s drug free workplace policy seemed like a fairly straight forward, non-discriminatory grounds for termination. However, when… Read More
Google And The Treasure Island Tech Barge
Companies, especially tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple, are very protective of their trade secrets and control of their inventions. Google, for instance, has floated the idea of internet balloons drifting over Africa to provide broadband access to rural areas and it has been testing the idea in California and New Zealand. Google has… Read More
Workplace Retaliation Costs County $495,000
Snohomish County’s Medical Examiner’s Office has agreed to pay one of its former employees close to half a million dollars as a part of a workplace retaliation settlement. Shannon Impett, a former county death inspector of seven years from Granite Falls, settled outside of court earlier this week. Her lawsuit against the Medical Examiner’s Office… Read More
Is It Wrongful Termination?
Would you know a wrongful termination, if you saw one? Would it depend on which side of the equation you are on? What information or details could change your mind? These are some questions that arise when an employee is terminated and believes it was wrongful, especially when both sides appear to have legitimate legal… Read More
Questionable FMLA Claim May Worry Employers
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows employees in the United States to take up to twelve weeks each year under certain circumstances. Leave can be used if the employee is suffering from a serious medical condition that prevents them from performing their job duties, or in order to care for a child, spouse,… Read More
Non-Competition Agreements: A Double-Edged Sword
A recent Wall Street Journal article about the rise in litigation over non-compete agreements, noted that over the last decade there has been nearly a 60% increase in lawsuits over the breach of these agreements. While an increase could be expected since non-compete clauses have become almost commonplace in employment agreements, the steep increase in… Read More
New Contract for Seattle Teachers as Children Head to Class
Negotiating or re-negotiating contracts is an important and potentially stressful situation nearly everyone faces at some point. Recent contract negotiations between the Seattle school district and the Seattle Education Association (SEA) ended in an agreement right before a deadline that would have led to a teachers’ strike. Both sides had their demands. As the Seattle… Read More