Virginia Employer Law

Your Customer List May not be as Protected as You Think

the situation A sales rep quits and goes to work for a competitor. Naturally, you had him sign both a noncompete and a confidentiality agreement when he first came to work for you. So can’t you stop him from using any customer and pricing information? the ruling You might be able to—but maybe not immediately, […]

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Employee’s Facebook Rant Against Employer on Social Media Could be Protected

the situation If an employee posts nasty complaints about my company or supervisors on Facebook or another social media site, can’t I fire him?

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Move to Smaller Office Could Support Discrimination Claim

In order to make a claim under Section 1981, an employee must be able to show that he or she suffered an adverse employment action—but there can be some dispute as to what constitutes an adverse employment action. In a recent case, a district court in New York found that a school district’s relocation of […]

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Differing Discipline for Facebook Comments May be Discrimination

In today’s digital culture, employers are well advised to have social media policies which hopefully prevent employees from posting things that reflect poorly on the employer. But the question of how to apply some of these policies is unfamiliar territory. For example, how do you determine what kinds of comments warrant discipline? And how do […]

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Even Age Difference of Eight Years Can Support ADEA Claim if Other Factors Present

As all employers are aware, employment decisions such as hiring, firing and promoting should not be made on the basis of an individual’s age. And one of the key components of a claim based on the denial of a promotion is that the individual who was promoted was substantially younger. So does this mean that […]

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Travel to Break Area Makes Meal Break Compensable

Generally, employers feel pretty comfortable considering a thirty minute meal break non-compensable under the FLSA, as long as workers are not required to perform any work duties during that time. But what if the workers have to travel to get to where they can eat? Can that travel time end up making the meal break […]

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Federal Government Contractors Required to Provide Paid Sick Leave

Employers of all sizes are faced with the challenging decision of whether to give their employees paid sick leave and, if so, how much. A new executive order signed by President Obama on Monday will now mandate that federal government contractors and subcontractors provide sick leave and even dictates how much.   The new executive order […]

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EEOC Cracks Down on Pre-Hire Employment Assessments

Earlier this week, the EEOC announced that Target has agreed to pay $2.8 million dollars to resolve a charge of discrimination related to the use of employment assessments that disproportionately screened out applicants for certain positions based on race and sex.   The EEOC took the position that the tests violated Title VII because they were […]

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New Checklist from OFCCP Related to Affirmative Action

The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and requires government contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action to give jobs to and promote qualified individuals with disabilities.  According to the DOL, an affirmative action program is meant to provide individuals with disabilities with equal employment opportunity-it is supposed to be dynamic in nature […]

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I-9 Violations Can Lead to Huge Fines

A recent decision from the agency reviewing civil penalties for I-9 violations serves as a reminder to employers of the dangers of failing to properly complete I-9s.

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