EAST TENNESSEE EMPLOYMENT LAW ADVISER

Providing insight on developments in labor and employment law affecting East Tennessee employers and employees.

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether Title VII Applies to Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Over the last three years I have posted several times concerning efforts by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and private litigants to have federal courts construe federal statutory protections against workplace discrimination on the basis of “sex” to include claims of discrimination on account of sexual orientation. Title VII ...
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Tennessee Healthcare Employers Must Now Report Positive Drug Test Results For Its Licensed Healthcare Employees

On July 1, 2017, over 130 new laws recently enacted by the Tennessee legislature became effective. One of those imposes new reporting requirements on employers in the healthcare sector whose licensed healthcare employees test positive on a drug test or refuse to submit to a drug test when directed to ...
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The Growing Danger in Using Prior Income to Perpetuate Wage Distinctions

Many of us have been in a job interview on one side of the table or the other during which this very common question is asked - “what are you currently making?” There is now, however, a growing movement questioning the legitimacy of inquiries regarding an applicant’s prior wages for ...
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When Friend Requests on Social Media Aren’t So Friendly

More businesses are requiring their employees who regularly work with customers or who possess certain types of sensitive information to sign some form of contract restricting the employee’s ability to engage in competitive activity once the employment terminates. I have discussed these types of agreements in several previous posts. Employee ...
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Further Developments On Extending Title VII Protection To Sexual Orientation Discrimination

In August 2016, I discussed a recent decision of the United States 7th Circuit Court of Appeals which held “that Title VII does not redress sexual orientation discrimination.” As I mentioned in that post, the 7th Circuit’s decision was the first federal appeals court opinion on that subject since the ...
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Employers Must Use a Revised Version of Form I-9 Starting September 18, 2017

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. All employers are expected to use the revised form by September 18, 2017. Failure to use the new form after that date will constitute non-compliance with federal law and may subject ...
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Must an Employer Allow a Resigning Employee to “Work Out a Notice?”

As an employment lawyer, I tend to focus a substantial part of my time on the consequences that may follow employee terminations that are involuntary. From time to time, however, questions do arise in the context of voluntary resignations. For instance, I am occasionally asked whether an employer must allow ...
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Federal Appeals Court Holds Title VII Prohibits Sexual Orientation Discrimination

In the last 9 months, I have twice posted on efforts by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and a number of private litigants to have federal courts construe federal statutory protections against certain forms of workplace discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Title VII of ...
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Employee Beware: Understand Your Rights Before Signing or Litigating a Non-Competition Agreement or Other Employment Contract

I am regularly asked by employees to review various types of employment contracts, including employee non-competition agreements. More often than not these employees are Tennessee residents who work in a Tennessee-based office (or home office) and whose job duties are typically performed in Tennessee. Despite those factors, the contracts presented ...
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UPDATE: Texas Federal Court Blocks Implementation of New Overtime Rules

Public and private employers throughout the United States received an early holiday gift from a United States district court in Texas on November 22, 2016. As I have discussed previously in this blog, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued new rules earlier this year substantially changing the federal ...
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