Employment Law Blog

NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS District court properly granted summary judgment against federal retaliation claim, because former employee failed to raise genuine issues of material fact whether employer took adverse employment actions because she reported another employee showing her a racist video at work, and whether the reasons her employer offered for its actions were...

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court properly granted summary judgment against disability discrimination claim, because former employee's Hepatitis C was not a physical disability, it was asymptomatic and limited no major life activity and employee did not present evidence that the employer perceived him as limited in a major life activity.  District court...

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court improperly dismissed federal discrimination claim, because letter and draft complaint sent by employee's counsel was a timely filed charge.  Jones v. Scorpio Gold (US) Corp., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 2565 (9th Cir. Feb. 12, 2016). District court properly granted summary judgment against retaliation claim under Energy Reorganization...

U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii District court granted summary judgment against federal disability discrimination and state whistleblower act claims, because former employee admitted he had no impairment that substantially limited a major life activity and the employer did not fire him, wrongfully transfer him or subject him to any other adverse employment action.  Whitaker...

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court properly granted summary judgment against federal discrimination claim, because former employee failed to raise genuine issues of fact whether the employer subjected him to adverse employment action or more favorably treated similarly situated individuals outside his protected classification.  District court properly granted summary judgment against retaliation claim,...

U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii District court dismissed former employee's state wrongful discharge claim, because government contract violations involve no clear mandate of public policy.  District court dismissed former employee's state whistleblower act constructive claim because concerns about possible safety or government contract violations were not sufficiently intolerable that reasonable employee would have felt...

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court properly granted employer's motion to compel arbitration because parties incorporated American Arbitration Association rules into their agreement and therefore agreed to arbitrate the question of arbitrability.  Roszak  v.U.S. Foodservice, Inc., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 514 (9th Cir. Jan. 6, 2016). Note: We analyze cases to learn rules...

U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii District court denied motion for certification federal wage and hour collective action, because different employment settings of putative representatives and class members and defenses available to the employer evidenced no compelling or unifying nexus created by a common policy or plan of the employer that would lend itself to...

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court properly granted summary judgment against federal discrimination claim, because employee did not allege adverse actions or failed to rebut the employer's legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for its actions or present any other direct or circumstantial evidence that discrimination more likely motivated  the employer's actions.  District court properly granted...

District court properly granted summary judgment against employee's discrimination and retaliation claims, because employee did not suffer adverse employment action or show the employer's legitimate reasons for its actions were pretextual.   Blount v. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 22119 (9th Cir. Dec. 18, 2015). District court improperly granted summary judgment against...