Articles Posted in Retaliation

The Family and Medical Leave Act provides workers with many important statutory rights, including ones designed to protect employees from inappropriate workplace punishment for exercising their rights, or wrongful denial of benefits. These rights and protections are not unlimited, and they are not a “straitjacket” on employers preventing them from administering workplace discipline on workers who seek or use FMLA benefits. Employers may, in some situations, discipline – or even fire – a worker who has requested, has used, or is on FMLA leave. If you have questions about using FMLA benefits and issuing workplace discipline, get the advice you need by consulting a knowledgeable Atlanta FMLA retaliation lawyer as soon as possible.

Earlier this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers federal actions in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama) looked into this issue of the interplay between workplace discipline and FMLA rights.

The employee, M.C., was a parks and recreation department worker for a city government in Florida. The employee received his requested FMLA leave forms in April 2018. City rules set a 15-day deadline for returning FMLA paperwork. M.C. returned his incomplete paperwork on July 12, more than three months after first receiving the forms.

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Sometimes, a worker’s requesting or taking Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will cause an unethical employer to fire that employee wrongfully. Other times, though, a legally compliant employer legitimately needs to fire an employee on FMLA leave. Whether you are an employee caught in the former scenario or an employer thrust into the latter circumstance, you need a clear understanding of your FMLA rights and responsibilities, which is where the advice of an experienced Atlanta FMLA leave lawyer can be vital.

An example of the latter of those two FMLA situations occurred in a case that ended in federal litigation recently. The lawsuit pitted a municipal employer against one of its park employees.

The employee, M.M., was an assistant park manager who started and maintained a food pantry at the park’s family center. In early 2022, the city’s HR team enlisted a local police detective to investigate allegations that the manager had been unloading donated pantry items at her home and keeping them for herself

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One of the more common issues employers and employees may encounter regarding a possible discrimination lawsuit is the existence of a valid arbitration agreement. Many employers include these agreements with other contractual documents that new hires sign as part of their “onboarding” process. Whether you’re a worker looking to litigate a discrimination claim or an employer seeking to compel arbitration (or ensure that your arbitration agreement is valid under the law,) it pays to get advice and representation from an experienced Atlanta employment discrimination lawyer.

The key for employers seeking to utilize arbitration to resolve workplace discrimination disputes is ensuring that everything about these agreements meets the law’s tests for validity. If the agreement is valid and enforceable, then the employer can get an order compelling arbitration rather than litigating in court. If the agreement isn’t valid under the law or no agreement exists at all, then the worker has the right to proceed in court.

A flaw — either in the wording or the execution process — can potentially sabotage the employer’s preference for arbitration, as one employer found out recently.

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Whether you’re an employee or an employer, it is important to understand the rights and responsibilities set out in the Family and Medical Leave Act. It is also vital to know what you have to prove (as a worker) or disprove (as an employer) in a case of illegal retaliation or interference in violation of the FMLA. To better understand both your rights and your obligations — both at work and at trial — you should contact an experienced Atlanta FMLA retaliation lawyer to get the knowledgeable answers you need.

A recent federal case that originated in Florida is important for a couple of reasons. One, it establishes for the first time what the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose decisions guide federal cases in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama) considers to be the proper analytical standard for assessing FMLA retaliation cases. Two, it provides a good reminder to employers of the profound benefits that can be reaped by engaging in proper and thorough documentation of workers’ performance (and performance issues) throughout their time with that employer.

In the FMLA case from Florida, the employee was a woman who worked for a nationwide chain of pharmacies. The employee had a son with profound disabilities, requiring her to use FMLA leave periodically.

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What started as a dispute over a few hundred dollars ended with an Atlanta-area employer paying nearly $40,000. That outcome is a useful lesson to employers on several fronts. One, always maintain legally compliant pay records, including pay rates, hours worked, and sums paid. Two, always make sure that you are paying your non-exempt workers proper time-and-a-half overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a week. And three, if you feel the urge to pay wages that you owe under the Fair Labor Standards Act in a way that smacks of revenge… don’t. Just issue a check and move on. It’ll be cheaper and better for your business in the long run. If you have any questions about your rights and responsibilities under the FLSA, make sure you consult with a knowledgeable Atlanta wage and hour lawyer.

The original dispute, which received relatively broad coverage as a result of its peculiar facts, pitted a Peachtree City auto repair shop against one of its former employees. The disagreement began after the employee, A.F., contacted the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division to complain that his employer had not paid him his final paycheck, which amounted to $915.

Rather than simply cutting a check, the employer obtained 91,500 pennies, covered them in automotive fluids, and then delivered them to A.F.’s driveway. To remove doubts regarding motivation, the employer stuffed the man’s pay stub in an envelope with “[expletive] you!” written on the outside. The pile of pennies weighed more than 500 pounds and took more than seven hours to remove from the man’s driveway.

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The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) grants important rights to many workers across the country. The statute also erects some specific obligations on both workers and employers. A worker’s failure to meet their obligations can result in a loss of eligibility for leave, while an employer’s failure to follow the rules can come with a substantial cost, as well. Whether you’re on the employer side or worker side, it pays to ensure that you are following the FMLA’s rules with precision, and a knowledgeable Atlanta FMLA leave lawyer can help you do exactly that.

Recently, a Georgia employer’s failure to meet its FMLA obligations came with the cost of a U.S. Department of Labor investigation and a payment of $67,140 to one of its workers.

The worker was a dock supervisor at a logistics company’s Covington facility. As he prepared for the arrival of his new child in the Spring of 2022, the supervisor submitted a request to take FMLA leave to bond with his new baby and to care for his ill spouse.

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In cases of employment discrimination and retaliation, the worker’s ability to pursue that claim in court depends on more than just the strength of the factual evidence he/she has. The law imposes certain requirements that, if not satisfied, can completely derail the worker’s case. One of these is something called the “exhaustion of administrative remedies,” which means going through the proper administrative agency before suing in court. Whether you’re a worker or an employer, issues like exhaustion can dramatically alter the trajectory of your case, and these issues represent just one of the countless reasons why it pays to have a knowledgeable Atlanta employment retaliation lawyer handling your case.

One U.S. Postal Service employee recently lost his claim for this reason. The worker, E.E., was an African-American male and mail handler. In 2003, the handler suffered a lower-back injury that impaired his ability to do “repetitive motions such as bending, lifting, twisting, and turning.”

In 2016, the handler’s supervisor assigned him to a “modified job position.” That new position had the impact of reducing the handler’s daily hours by 75%, which also triggered a reduction in his pay. In response, the handler filed a race and disability discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A few months later, the supervisor allegedly retaliated against the handler because he complained to the EEOC.

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Many workers probably know that they can pursue legal action if they incur retribution from their employer for speaking out against discrimination or harassment. However, Title VII isn’t the only law with a prohibition against retaliation. You may also be entitled to hold your employer accountable if they punished you for taking part or being “about to” participate in opposing illegal practices under the Family and Medical Leave Act or the Fair Labor Standards Act. If that’s happened to you, you should contact a knowledgeable Atlanta retaliation lawyer to discuss your situation.

While not a case from Georgia, a recent retaliation matter in the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals shows how broad the coverage of the FLSA’s anti-retaliation provision can be.

The events culminating in the decision started in early 2019. That was when M.M., a former employer at an oil and gas production corporation, filed a class action complaint under the FLSA. The case accused the employer of failing to pay overtime compensation that the workers had earned.

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Victims of workplace sexual harassment face many potential harms, both professionally and personally. Too many times, they have to fear that merely speaking up and calling out the harassment they endured will harm them, through job loss or other adverse employment action. When that happens, it’s called retaliation, and it’s against the law. If that has happened to you, you should get in touch with an experienced Atlanta workplace retaliation lawyer to discuss your situation.

C.B., an administrative assistant working for DeKalb County’s Facilities Management Department, allegedly endured both that kind of sexual harassment and that sort of illegal retaliation.

The assistant’s boss, the deputy director of facilities management, liked her work and positioned her for a promotion and a raise. The deputy director also apparently was sizing the assistant up for something more than a promotion.

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One would hope that business owners and managers would always conduct themselves with professionalism and circumspection when dealing with inquiries from their employees. Reality tells us something different. Too many employers, when approached by an employee about issues like the employer’s pay practices, eschew restraint in favor of vindictive, vengeful retaliation. When that happens to you in the course of your job, do not be discouraged, as what your employer has done may entitle you to, with the help of a knowledgeable Atlanta workplace retaliation lawyer, recover compensation for a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

One such incident occurred here in North Georgia. Allegations against a DeKalb County brewery were numerous, including misclassification of employees as independent contractors.

However, one alleged transgression drew particular attention from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The allegation involved the treatment of two brewery employees who emailed the brewery’s owner to inquire about their wages and the employer’s rules about tip sharing.

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