No, according to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The 4th Circuit recently dismissed such a claim in its decision in Discovery Communications, LLC v. Computer Sciences Corporation, No. 13-1969.  That case involved a chief accounting officer who allegedly breached his contract to work for his employer, Discovery Communications, LLC (Discovery), for a set length of time.  According to Discovery, the executive breached his employment contract by resigning early to go to work for another

A recent 4th Circuit decision opens up claims of employer liability for failing to prevent customer harassment of an employee.  Finding that a negligence standard applies to such claims, the 4th Circuit held that the employer may have behaved negligently even though it took remedial measures shortly after major incidents of harassment occurred.  The 4th Circuit found that the employer’s alleged failure to react to earlier incidents created a jury question as to whether the

While traditionally the answer is “no,” a recent Federal Court of Appeals decision suggests that, in some circumstances, the answer is now “yes.” Telecommuting appeared as a workplace phenomenon in the 1970s, primarily to reduce fuel consumption during the OPEC oil embargo.  Since then, the federal government has implemented telecommuting plans and policies for environmental and traffic reduction purposes.  Many larger companies, particularly in the technology sector, have also permitted employees to telecommute where practical. 

Despite being the most expensive of four bidders, a contractor bidding to install fiber optic cable in Jordan wins its bid protest.  This case is a lesson on the use of subcontractors in a small business set-aside contract.  A company must be specific, on the fact of its proposal, as to who in the company is going to really be doing the work.  This is not a time to be vague. In this case, Technical

The Western District of Virginia Federal Court recently ruled that an employee cannot bring class-action employment and benefits claims against his employer when he previously agreed to arbitrate them.  Reinforcing recent federal decisions favoring employment arbitration, the Court stayed the employee’s claims concerning his layoff pending arbitration.  The decision is Green v. Zachry Industrial, Inc., Civil Action No. 7:11CV00405 (W.D. Va. Mar. 25, 2014). The employee worked for Zachry Industrial, Inc., a construction and industrial