Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

A contract employee who said only that he “would not be opposed” to mediation, but didn’t actually request it, didn’t satisfy a condition precedent for suing. In light of his previous non-suit after months of litigation, the circuit court had ...

Tagged with: Contract Employment Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia

A plaintiff’s hostile-work-environment claim against his employers can proceed to trial. The plaintiff presented evidence of severe and pervasive harassing conduct based on sex, with no response by their supervisor. Despite firing both the harasser and the supervisor, the defendants ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Employment Employment Discrimination Judge Norman K. Moon Sexual Harrassment U.S. District Court - Western District

As amended in 2015, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) doesn’t require dismissal of a complaint served late, even with good cause not shown. Here, extending the service deadline better served the interests of justice, since it wouldn’t prejudice the ...

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

On reconsideration, an auto worker’s FMLA retaliation claim can go to trial after all. Having already found fact issues material to his other claims, the court concluded it would be inconsistent not to send the retaliation claim to the jury ...

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

Tipped employees at Macado’s stated a claim for unpaid wages related to untipped “side work” they were required to do. Rather than alleging a specific amount of time they spent on side tasks, it was sufficient to allege they spent ...

Tagged with: Administrative Employment Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District Wage & Hour

The plaintiff, a former executive, survives summary judgment on several claims arising from her treatment by the company’s CEO during and after a volatile intimate relationship involving threats and abusive behavior. Her husband’s separate claim for Title VII retaliation can ...

Tagged with: Employment Employment Discrimination Judge T.S. Ellis III Personal Injury Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The district court erred in finding that three police officers, fired in retaliation for their joint action, represented a single claim for municipal insurance purposes. Thus, the per-claim policy limit applied to each officer individually, rather than the trio as ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Employment Employment Discrimination Insurance Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

Although some claims analysts were on a different Hartford subsidiary’s payroll, they nevertheless processed the plaintiff’s disability claim on behalf of the entity designated as plan administrator. Accordingly, under ERISA, the administrator’s decision to terminate benefits was subject only to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employee Benefits Employment Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

In a multi-plaintiff race discrimination suit against a state agency, the court said an attempt to “streamline” the original complaint did just the opposite, finding that plaintiff-by-plaintiff presentation of allegations was repetitive and too many claims relied on “information and ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Civil Rights Employment Employment Discrimination Judge M. Hannah Lauck U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A prosecutor who read racial slurs aloud from potential evidence, which he was evaluating at a pre-trial meeting, did not create a hostile work environment for the black police officers in the room. Even if such conduct could give rise ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Employment Discrimination Judge Pamela A. Harris Municipal