Justia Labor & Employment Law Opinion Summaries

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Koss in an action brought by plaintiff, a former employee, alleging that Koss terminated her employment in retaliation for her complaints about pay discrimination based on sex in violation of the Equal Pay Act (EPA).The court held that plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact as to pretext. In this case, plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence as to the question of whether there was no basis in fact for Koss's proffered reason for her termination: there was lack of work at the project. The court also held that plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact on the question of whether a retaliatory reason more likely motivated the manager's decision to terminate her. View "Yearns v. Koss Construction Co." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against the railroad under the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), alleging that the railroad discriminated against her on the basis of her gender and her use of FMLA leave when it terminated her. The railroad maintains that plaintiff was terminated as part of a reduction in force (RIF) without discriminatory intent.The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the railroad, holding that the affidavits that the district court relied on were not sham affidavits; plaintiff failed to present any evidence to create a genuine dispute of material fact that her gender was a contributing factor in her termination; the RIF was legitimate and plaintiff failed to demonstrate evidence showing that her gender was a contributing factor in her termination; and thus the district court properly granted the railroad summary judgment on plaintiff's MHRA gender-discrimination claim. Because plaintiff does not offer any direct evidence that the railroad terminated her in the RIF for exercising her FMLA rights, the court analyzed her claim under the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework. In this case, the railroad proffered a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for terminating plaintiff and she failed to show that the stated reason was a pretext for FMLA discrimination. View "Button v. Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp." on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to UPS in an action brought by plaintiff for retaliation and discrimination under 42 U.S.C. 1981. The court held that plaintiff's retaliation claim failed because he cannot link protected conduct with his demotion. In this case, plaintiff concedes that his supervisor and his supervisor's supervisor did not know about the statements plaintiff made on two different occasions. The court also held that plaintiff's race discrimination claim failed at the third step of the McDonnell Douglas framework because UPS provided a legitimate, non-discriminatory basis for the action: plaintiff was failing to perform his duties. Furthermore, plaintiff failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether UPS's explanation for his demotion was pretext for discrimination. View "Williams v. United Parcel Service, Inc." on Justia Law

The Sheriff's Office appealed the district court's denial of qualified immunity on First Amendment wrongful-discharge claims brought by former Deputy Sheriffs Timothy Bruce and Robert Curtis. Bruce and Curtis's complaints alleged that Cole, the newly elected sheriff, discharged them for political reasons in violation of their First Amendment rights.The Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of qualified immunity, holding that political loyalty is an appropriate requirement for the job of deputy sheriff under Missouri law because of the closeness and cooperation required between sheriffs and their deputies in fulfilling overlapping duties. In this case, Cole did not violate Bruce and Curtis's constitutional rights. Consequently, the county is also entitled to summary judgment on the claims against it. The court remanded for further proceedings. View "Curtis v. Christian County" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that Falcon Jet violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act when it failed to pay team leaders and production liaisons not less than one and one-half times their regular rates for hours worked in excess of forty per week after June 6, 2014. Sixteen other team leaders and production liaisons joined the action. Falcon Jet claimed exemptions for executive or administrative employees and highly-compensated employees. The district court held that the exemptions do not apply and awarded plaintiffs liquidated damages.The Eighth Circuit reversed and held that the district court erred in granting plaintiffs summary judgment on the limited record, because the record did not establish that every plaintiff was not an exempt employee for the entire period at issue. Accordingly, the court remanded for further proceedings. View "Coates v. Dassault Falcon Jet Corp." on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to plaintiff's former employer, Con-E-Co, on plaintiff's sex discrimination claim, her sexual harassment claim, and her retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act.The court held that plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination because she did not demonstrate that she met Con-E-Co's legitimate job expectations or that Con-E-Co treated her differently than similarly situated male employees; the district court did not err in granting summary judgment to Con-E-Co regarding her sexual harassment claim based on vulgar behavior directed at her by her coworkers, because plaintiff failed to demonstrate that she subjectively perceived the alleged harassment as abusive; and plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case for retaliation in response to either her race discrimination or sex discrimination complaints. View "Gibson v. Concrete Equipment Co., Inc." on Justia Law

After apprentice electrician Timothy Sky was seriously burned by an arc flash while connecting wires from a new electrical panel at the ADM corn processing plant, Jacobs was cited for a single serious violation of 29 C.F.R. 1910.335(a)(1)(i) for failing to ensure that Sky was wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). The ALJ upheld the citation and the Commission denied Jacobs' administrative appeal.The Eighth Circuit denied the petition for review, holding that substantial evidence on the record supports the ALJ's finding that Jacobs knew or should have known of the need to reevaluate its permissive PPE policy when Sky was told he had not finished the work. The court rejected Jacobs' contentions that the ALJ erred in failing to establish an affirmative defense; Sky violated its work rule requiring employees to stay within the scope of their assigned work; 29 C.F.R. 1910.335(a)(1)(i) does not impose a legal duty on employers to ensure that employees wear appropriate PPE; and the citation mistakenly stated that Sky was terminating the ground wire when the arc flash occurred. The court concluded that Jacobs' contentions were either without merit or did not warrant vacating the ALJ's final decision. View "Jacobs Field Services North America, Inc. v. Scalia" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against her former employer, Allina, for race and national origin discrimination as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment as to the discrimination claims, holding that the record demonstrates that Allina considered plaintiff's race only to ensure that any corrective action was not based on racial discrimination; without direct evidence of discrimination, the court relied on the burden shifting McDonnell Douglas analysis; and, assuming plaintiff established a prima facie case, plaintiff failed to demonstrate that Allina's stated reason for terminating her was pretext.The court explained that nothing in Allina's Violence-Free Workplace policy or other policies prohibit Allina from treating some offenses as more severe than others and selecting a corrective action that it believes is proportional to the level of severity for the violation. In this case, Allina's response to plaintiff's grievance and the deposition of an Allina human resources director make clear that Allina believed that pushing a coworker was more severe than throwing a lab coat at a co-worker and that plaintiff's behavior justified a more severe punishment. View "Findlator v. Allina Health Clinics" on Justia Law

Sysco Minnesota filed suit against Local 120 under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) for violating their collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The Eighth Circuit held that Local 120 waived its right to the CBA's prescribed non-judicial grievance procedures, including arbitration. In this case, Local 120's failure to seek relief under the CBA’s prescribed grievance procedures in a timely manner caused the parties to complete all discovery and litigate the merits of Sysco Minnesota's breach claim. Furthermore, the district court did not err in finding that Local 120 violated the picket line clause in the CBA; Local 120 waived the right to engage in sympathy strikes; and the court was not persuaded that Local 120 did not authorize, participate in, or ratify the picket line. View "Sysco Minnesota, Inc. v. Teamsters Local 120" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the County on plaintiff's claim of interference with her rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and retaliation against her for asserting those rights. Plaintiff's claims arose when she was put on administrative leave following an investigation into her involvement in her husband's sexual abuse of their children. The court held that plaintiff failed to show any prejudice from the County's delay in acting on her FMLA request or its failure to give her notice of her FMLA rights. The court rejected the FMLA interference claim, holding that plaintiff was neither asked to nor required to complete work-related tasks while on leave. Rather, the activities plaintiff was asked to do related to the underlying child-protection investigation, her FMLA request, and her employment status.The court also held that the County was entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff's discrimination claim where the undisputed sequence of events does not demonstrate a causal link between her FMLA request and the Board's decision to proceed with a meeting regarding whether to terminate her employment. In this case, the Board's actions were based on the maltreatment determination. Finally, the court held that the district court did not err in declining to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding costs to the County. View "Thompson v. Kanabec County" on Justia Law