Compliance Stuff

In a recent decision, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals highlighted the requirement that employees requesting an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) must engage in the interactive process with their employers. The court in  Tarquinio v. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab  affirmed that the employer acted reasonably in requesting medical documentation and that the employee’s refusal to provide this information justified the denial of her accommodation request and her ultimate discharge. Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab required all employees to be vaccinated or obtain an exemption, in order to comply with then-applicable federal contractor mandates . A systems engineer requested a medical exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement. According to the court, in support of her request, she submitted a 2012 blood test and a form signed by her healthcare provider, citing “chronic ...

Background The Trump administration recently issued a series of executive orders aimed at restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. These executive orders have impacted businesses and organizations across the public and private sectors by revoking prior executive orders that promoted DEI and imposing new compliance obligations to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” Executive Order 14173 (“EO 14173”), titled “ Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity ,” is of particular concern for federal contractors—those businesses and other organizations that contract with the United States government to provide goods or services in exchange for funds appropriated by Congress. Among other things, EO 14173 directs federal agencies to require that contractors certify that they do not “operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws.” Importantly, EO 1...

  The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an interesting employment law decision,   E.M.D. Sales, Inc., et al. v. Carrera . As with the California Wage Orders and Labor Code, the FLSA contains several overtime exemptions. It is the employer’s burden to prove an employee falls under one of these exemptions. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was split with other federal appellate courts as to what evidentiary standard applies to FLSA claims, so the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.  In  E.M.D. Sales,   employees sued their employer for unpaid overtime . The company argued that the employees were exempt from overtime under the FLSA’s outside sales exemption . The federal district court and the Fourth Circuit applied the “clear and convincing evidence” standard . The Supreme Court rejected this approach and ruled that the lower, more employer-friendly “preponderance of the evidence” standard applies. This standard is essentially “ 50% plus a feather ,” and muc...