Undischarged Debtor Can Pursue Race Bias Claim

No ADA Claim from Leave Denial

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 21, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Employment Discrimination, Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

An employee of a chain-store distribution center who filed his disability discrimination claim with the EEOC before he filed his Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition has standing to pursue his discrimination claim, the 4th Circuit says, but the claim has no merit as the employee did not show he could perform the essential functions of his [...]

Employer Has ‘Bona Fide’ Safety-Rule Defense

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2013
Tags: Judge Randolph A. Beales, Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

The Court of Appeals says a commercial laundry attendant with a prior back injury is barred from workers’ comp benefits for a later back injury because of his misconduct in failing to wear the back brace, despite the attendant’s claim that the employer did not enforce its back brace safety rule. The commission did not [...]

Provider Surcharge for Comp Patients Not Paid

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2013
Tags: Judge Walter S. Felton Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

Testimony by the chief financial officer of an orthopedic practice that it charges 40 percent more for workers’ compensation patients, to cover overhead for extra time and administrative costs, does not prove the provider’s case that its fees are reasonable under Va. Code § 65.2-605, and the Court of Appeals upholds denial of the provider’s [...]

Interstate Delivery Drivers Lose on Preemption Issue

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2013
Tags: Employment, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court grants summary judgment to defendant Lasership Inc. in this suit filed by a purported class of delivery truck drivers who allege they were misclassified under the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Statute, M.G.L. 149 § 148B. Though headquartered in Vienna, Va., Lasership maintains facilities in Woburn, Mass., and Meriden, Conn. In the [...]

No ‘Comp bar” from Equipment Assembly

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Jerrauld C. Jones, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts, Workers' Comp

Although a rental company employee who delivered sanitation equipment to a job site spent several extra hours assembling the custom equipment, he is not a statutory employee of defendant construction company, and the Norfolk Circuit Court overrules defendant’s special plea in bar of the Workers’ Compensation Act. The parties have stipulated that sanitation, the work [...]

Sidewalk Fall Compensable

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 9, 2013
Tags: Judge Randolph A. Beales, Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

The Court of Appeals affirms the commission decision holding compensable employee’s fall on an icy sidewalk outside the main entrance to her employer’s building: the commission correctly applied the extended premises doctrine. Nurse worked for employer over 15 years. One day in January, she fell on ice on a sidewalk outside the entrance to her [...]

School Bus Driver’s FLSA Retaliation Claim Fails

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Judge James R. Spencer, Labor, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Richmond U.S. District Court says a school bus driver who alleges she was fired in retaliation for filing a claim for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act may not amend her complaint because her additional allegations still do not show a causal connection between her protected activity and her later termination for [...]

Court Won’t Seal FLSA Settlement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, Judge Tommy E. Miller, Labor, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court accepts a magistrate judge’s recommendations to approve a class action settlement in this Fair Labor Standards Act case filed against a Norfolk call center, and to deny the call center’s motion to seal the settlement. The complaint alleged that customer service representatives in Ryla Teleservices’ call center were not paid [...]

City Worker’s USERRA Claim Too Late

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 7, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Employment, Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

A chief warrant officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves, who left his job as a municipal waste manager for periods of active service with the Coast Guard, waited too long to file his suit under the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, and the 4th Circuit affirms the district court decision [...]