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Opinions vary, but most employment lawyers believe that they are not worth the effort and expense outside of special industries and unique circumstances.  Many issues arise when employers seek to bind their employees to arbitration agreements.  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that employee arbitration agreements must provide at least the same level of protections that employees would have under federal law.  This means that they must be able to recover the same remedies (including…

A female employee’s claim of retaliatory termination under Title VII was tossed out on a summary judgment motion because the supervisor who received the employee’s discrimination complaint was not the same person who was principally responsible for making the termination decision.  The Federal Court’s decision was later affirmed by the Fourth Circuit in Balas v. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. The case involved a claim by a former employee of Northrop Grumman Corporation (Huntington Ingalls Industries,

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit clarified its position on whether or not district courts may consider extrinsic evidence in ERISA cases.  In Helton v. AT&T, Inc., et al. (No. 11-2153, March 6, 2013), the Fourth Circuit confirmed that courts may consider evidence outside the administrative record, when necessary and appropriate, in order to determine whether a plan administrator abused its discretion. Cases brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new poster describing employee rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that covered employers must post by March 8, 2013.  Additionally, in February of this year, the DOL issued updated model forms that eligible employers must now use when addressing employee requests for FMLA leave.  These forms do not substantively alter past FMLA forms, and will remain in effect through February 28, 2015. The FMLA