In Hall v. Interstate Brands Corporation, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the federal appellate court having jurisdiction over Utah—recently ruled that a district court correctly dismissed an employee’s discrimination claim against his employer when the employee admitted that he had engaged in misconduct and conceded that there was no evidence other than his own personal […]
In Rzepiennik v. Archstone-Smith, Inc., the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal circuit having jurisdiction over Utah, considered the question of when a retaliation claim under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is considered timely. The employee in the case contended that his employer had retaliated against him when he reported financial irregularities internally by terminating […]
The Stimulus Package that was enacted in February, otherwise called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, provides sweeping whistleblower protections to any employee of an employer who receives any stimulus money. The protections found in section 1553 of the Act prohibit any demotion, discharge, or other discrimination of an employee when he or […]
In a case decided on Thursday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the appellate court having jurisdiction over Utah— upheld the dismissal of a complaint brought by a woman against the Colorado Department of Transportation for sexual harassment and retaliation she claimed occurred while she was working for the agency as an administrative assistant. In the […]
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the circuit having jurisdiction over Utah—held on March 19, 2009, in a case entitled Avila v. Jostens, Inc., that a supervisor’s statement to an employee that he “should get out of the country if he couldn’t speak English” at approximately the time the employee was fired was “circumstantial evidence of […]
The Tenth Circuit (the federal appeals court having jurisdiction over Utah) decided last week that three employees did not have a retaliation claim when they were unable to establish that the alleged actions taken against them by the Wichita Police Department would not dissuade a reasonable worker from making a charge of discrimination. In the […]
All employers know that one of the most important decisions that they make is who to hire or who to let go. Despite this fact, many employers approach the employee selection process in a haphazard manner. This is very troublesome because the selection process is one of the most fertile areas for employment litigation. Hiring […]
The Utah State Legislature is considering whether to enact a measure that would make it illegal for health care facilities, agencies, or providers to subject their employees to abusive work environments or to retaliate against them for reporting abusive environments. The bill, House Bill 224, Health Care Provider Abusive Work Environment Prohibition Act, defines such […]
The United States Supreme Court ruled in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government that a local government employee who answered questions posed to her about a human resource employee’s alleged sexual harassment was protected from retaliation even when she did not file her own complaint about his behavior. The questions came during an internal investigation being conducted […]
