Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

A county’s former Director of Tourism presented genuine factual disputes as to whether he was fired in retaliation for his past vote to censure members of the county board of supervisors who voted to raise taxes. Background At a Bedford ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Due Process Employment Employment Discrimination First Amendment Judge Norman K. Moon Municipal U.S. District Court - Western District

An employer was on notice that a workers’ compensation claim related not only to an initial work-related injury and surgery to repair it, but also to a subsequent knee replacement necessitated by the claimant’s post-operative stress fracture. Background Claimant Denzil ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Robert J. Humphreys U.S. District Court - Western District Workers' Compensation

After taking more than six months of medical leave before her employment was terminated, a bank teller failed to establish a prima facie case for age discrimination. Her medical leave followed a position change that she mistakenly believed was a ...

Tagged with: Employment Employment Discrimination Evidence Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District

An employee failed to identify evidence that his supervisor’s lewd comments to him were because of (his) sex, but his employer’s varied explanations for terminating him after he complained precluded summary judgment as to retaliation. Because some evidence suggested that ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Employment Employment Discrimination Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon U.S. District Court - Western District

Based on her responsibilities as set forth in the Virginia Code, a school board’s Director of Budget & Finance was a “public official” who had to show actual malice to prove that a TV news station defamed her. She failed ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Defamation Employment First Amendment Judge Henry F. Floyd Personal Injury Tort

The Workers’ Compensation Commission did not err in declining to infer that a claimant fell due to the condition of the floor where she slipped at work, rather than due to her pre-existing knee condition. Background In 2016, Appellant Sabrina ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Mary Grace O'Brien Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

A plaintiff claiming that her supervisor defamed her with crude comments at work could not hold their employer vicariously liable for the statements. The comments were outside the scope of employment, and the district court lacked any indication that this ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Personal Injury Tort

The Workers’ Compensation Commission did not err in finding that the composition of the review panel was proper and that the claimant adequately marketed her residual work capacity. Background Claimant Kathleen Tefft was an assistant freight manager at one of ...

Tagged with: Administrative Employment Employment Law Judge Mary B. Malveaux Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

A retired firefighter diagnosed with throat cancer – an occupational disease – was not a “disabled person” prevented from the further performance of his duties and, thus, was not entitled to continuing health insurance coverage. Background Plaintiff Eddie R. Jones Sr. was ...

Tagged with: Administrative Employment Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia Workers' Compensation

A white high school principal can proceed with discrimination claims against the school board, which allegedly demoted her after the superintendent implied that school staff should “look like” the student body. Background Plaintiff Angela Weinerth is a white female over ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Education Employment Employment Discrimination Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District