Pat Muldowney

Florida Reexamines Abortion Rights Under Its State Constitution Post-Dobbs

By Pat Muldowney and Sean Caulfield on July 7, 2022 Posted in Dobbs

According to statistics published in U.S. News & World Report, Florida has the fifth-highest rate of abortions performed per 1,000 women among all 50 states, and it trails only California and New York in the actual number of abortions performed annually. In an effort to reduce those numbers – and in anticipation of the U.S. … Continue Reading

“Lies, D*mned Lies, and Statistics”: Fourth Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment Against EEOC on Background Check Lawsuit Based Upon Faulty Statistical Analysis

By Pat Muldowney on February 25, 2015 Posted in Background Checks

On February 20, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a Maryland federal district court’s entry of summary judgment against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) with respect to its lawsuit alleging that an employer’s background check program violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. EEOC v. … Continue Reading

‘Going Postal’ Over Data Breach Response: Union Files Failure-to-Bargain Charge With NLRB Against USPS

By Pat Muldowney on November 24, 2014 Posted in NLRB, Unions

As recent high-profile cyberattacks have demonstrated, employers have a duty to protect their employees’ electronically stored personal information from being accessed by hackers, and to promptly remedy any breach in security concerning such information. Depending upon the outcome of a recently filed charge before the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”), unionized employers … Continue Reading

Background Check Lawsuits: If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

By Pat Muldowney on July 15, 2014 Posted in Background Checks, Retail

As we previously have written, employer use of criminal records and background checks with respect to applicants and employees has been the subject of challenge on the grounds that such checks tend to discriminate against African-American, Hispanic, and male applicants. Indeed, on July 1, a federal court in New York certified a class of unsuccessful … Continue Reading

No Return Date, No Problem: Seventh Circuit Reverses FMLA Summary Judgment for Employer

By Pat Muldowney on July 7, 2014 Posted in DOL, FMLA, Leave of Absence

On June 24, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an employee did not forfeit her right to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) to care for her seriously ill adult daughter by failing to provide her employer with an anticipated date of return. Gienapp v. Harbor … Continue Reading

Anti-Discrimination Laws Going “Intern”-ational? New York City Extends Its Human Rights Law to Unpaid Interns

By Pat Muldowney on April 7, 2014 Posted in Discrimination, New York

As we reported last October, a federal court in New York found that an unpaid intern could not bring a hostile work environment sexual harassment claim pursuant to the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”). (Wang v. Phoenix Satellite Television US, Inc., Case No. 1:13-cv-00218-PKC (S.D.N.Y. 2013). On March 26, however, the New York … Continue Reading

D.R. Horton on Steroids: NLRB Invalidates Arbitration Agreement Without Class Waiver

By Pat Muldowney on January 28, 2014 Posted in Arbitration, NLRB, Retail

As reported previously here, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) in D.R. Horton, Inc., 357 NLRB No. 184 (2012), held that requiring employees to enter into an arbitration agreement containing a class/collective action waiver violated the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) because the class action waiver inhibited employees from engaging in … Continue Reading

Not So Fast, My Friend! Eleventh Circuit Weighs In On NLRB Recess Appointment Issue

By Pat Muldowney on November 26, 2013 Posted in NLRB, Supreme Court

As we previously reported, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Noel Canning v. NLRB, 705 F.3d 490 (D.C. Cir. 2013) struck down President Barack Obama’s “recess appointments” of three members of the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) as unconstitutional, placing into question the legitimacy of numerous (mostly pro-union/employee) decisions issued … Continue Reading

Interns and Anti-Discrimination Laws: Is Wang Employers’ High-Water Mark?

By Pat Muldowney on October 21, 2013 Posted in Harassment, New York, Retaliation

So you may have heard — a federal court in New York has dismissed an unpaid intern’s hostile work environment sexual harassment claim against a media company pursuant to the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”). (Wang v. Phoenix Satellite Television US, Inc., Case No. 1:13-cv-00218-PKC (S.D.N.Y. 2013).) In granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s … Continue Reading

Solidarity Forever? When it Comes to Obamacare and Unions, Maybe Not.

By Pat Muldowney on September 12, 2013 Posted in ACA, Unions

From the time of his initial run for President, and throughout his time in office, President Barack Obama has had the near universal support of organized labor. Even though he was not able to obtain passage of the unions’ much-coveted Employee Free Choice Act (a/k/a “card check”), he has attempted to expand union influence in … Continue Reading

Court Slams EEOC on Background Check Lawsuit

By Pat Muldowney on August 18, 2013 Posted in Background Checks, Discrimination, EEOC, Retail

Last week, a district court in Maryland granted summary judgment in favor of Freeman, Inc. (“Freeman”), a service provider for corporate events, with respect to a nationwide pattern and practice lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). EEOC v. Freeman, No. 09-CV-2573 (D. Md. Aug. 9, 2013). In its lawsuit, the EEOC … Continue Reading

Closing Shop: Courts Look to Rein in the NLRB

By Pat Muldowney on June 27, 2013 Posted in NLRB

Over the past several years, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has engaged in an aggressive campaign to extend its reach into non-union workplaces with the goal of facilitating unionization. In areas such as social media, employee confidentiality as to company investigations, and waivers of class arbitrations, the Board has attempted to expand … Continue Reading