Atlanta Employment Attorneys Blog

The Right (and Wrong) Way to Navigate an Employee’s FMLA Request in Georgia

March 31, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) grants important rights to many workers across the country. The statute also erects some specific obligations on both workers and employers. A worker’s failure to meet their obligations can result in a loss of eligibility for leave, while an employer’s failure to follow the rules can come with a substantial cost, as well. Whether you’re on the employer side or worker side, it pays to ensure that you are following the FMLA’s rules with precision, and a knowledgeable Atlanta FMLA leave lawyer can help you do exactly that.

Recently, a Georgia employer’s failure to meet its FMLA obligations came with the cost of a U.S. Department of Labor investigation and a payment of $67,140 to one of its workers.

The worker was a dock supervisor at a logistics company’s Covington facility. As he prepared for the arrival of his new child in the Spring of 2022, the supervisor submitted a request to take FMLA leave to bond with his new baby and to care for his ill spouse.

Employers’ Health Insurance Coverage Choices and Gender Identity Discrimination in Georgia

March 24, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

For transgender workers in Georgia, the potential to be harmed by discrimination exists on several fronts. Even if an employer refrains from any adverse action directly related to the worker’s performance of their job, other ways to harm that worker still exist, such as the denial of insurance coverage for necessary treatments connected to their transgender condition. When a Georgia employer erects a carve-out in its insurance plan that specifically targets treatments designed for transgender people, then that employer has potentially engaged in gender identity discrimination in violation of Title VII… as well as disability discrimination in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. When that happens, be sure to contact an experienced Atlanta employment discrimination lawyer to find out how to protect your rights.

A.L., whose case this blog covered last year, was one of those employees. A.L. was a sheriff’s deputy in Houston County and a trans woman. The deputy’s medical providers diagnosed her with gender dysphoria and recommended hormone treatment, breast implants, and a vaginoplasty.

The employer’s health insurance refused to cover the care. As the deputy pointed out, the plan was discriminatory, covering hormone treatments when doctors prescribed them in relation to a woman’s menopause, but not in relation to a trans woman’s transition. Additionally, the plan covered mastectomies when needed as part of cancer treatment, but excluded them when they were part of a trans man’s gender dysphoria care.

Establishing a ‘Convincing Mosaic of Circumstantial Evidence’ in Support of Your Workplace Race Discrimination Case

March 17, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

When you seek to defeat your employer’s motion for summary judgment in your discrimination case, you may have multiple avenues through which you can do that. One is to provide the court “a convincing mosaic of circumstantial evidence that raises a reasonable inference that the employer discriminated against” you. A knowledgeable Atlanta employment discrimination lawyer can help you ensure you’re amassing and presenting the evidence you need to defeat your employer’s motion and get your day in court before a jury.

M.B. was a Black man whose race discrimination case advanced using that “mosaic” method.

M.B. began working at a manufacturing facility in Flowery Branch in 2006. He rose to shift lead but never ascended any higher. That professional stagnation was not for lack of trying. From February 2017 to January 2018 alone, he applied for promotions five different times. Five times the employer turned him down.

A North Georgia HR Director Receives $460K in a Settlement of a Federal Age Discrimination Dispute

March 10, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

When an employer denies a worker a promotion, fires them, or refuses to hire them because they’re over 40, that decision potentially represents a violation of federal law (the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).) If you’ve encountered an age discrimination issue — whether as an employee or an employer — an experienced Atlanta age discrimination lawyer can help you map out the path forward that is the most advantageous given your specific circumstances.

Observers have noted that age discrimination actions are on the rise. That includes here in Georgia.

In one recent age discrimination case, the employer was an Alpharetta-based manufacturer of connectors used in medical devices. Allegedly, after the employer named a new CEO in 2016 and a new president in 2019, the pair embarked on a plan to get rid of all the company’s older management employees and sales workers, replacing them with a new, younger staff.

A New Wage and Hour Ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court and Its Potential Impact on Some High-Earners in Georgia

February 28, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In an important new ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court recently clarified the standards under which a worker does (or does not) qualify as a salaried exempt employee for purposes of overtime compensation. The 6-3 decision in favor of an oil rig worker clarifies that just because an employee earns a very high income, that does not automatically mean that he/she is an exempt employee. Regardless of how much you make, if you think that you meet the legal standards for a non-exempt employee, then you may be entitled to overtime pay and if your employer didn’t compensate you accordingly, you potentially can, with the aid of the right Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer, win compensation in a Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit.

The worker, M.H., worked as a tool pusher on an offshore oil rig. That job typically entailed the employee working 12-14 hours per day, seven days per week for a stint of four weeks, followed by four weeks off. The employer paid the pusher a daily rate of $963. All totaled, the worker earned more than $200,000 annually.

Neither the worker nor the employer argued that 29 CFR 541.604(b) applied to the pusher’s circumstance. That’s the federal regulation that says that if a worker receives extra pay based on his/her work hours, he/she can still be an exempt employee so long as there was a “reasonable relationship” between the worker’s periodic salary and the amount the worker actually earned each period.

Your Administrative Charge, Your Georgia Discrimination Suit, and What Happens if You Encounter Retaliation After You File With the EEOC

February 21, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In cases of employment discrimination and retaliation, the worker’s ability to pursue that claim in court depends on more than just the strength of the factual evidence he/she has. The law imposes certain requirements that, if not satisfied, can completely derail the worker’s case. One of these is something called the “exhaustion of administrative remedies,” which means going through the proper administrative agency before suing in court. Whether you’re a worker or an employer, issues like exhaustion can dramatically alter the trajectory of your case, and these issues represent just one of the countless reasons why it pays to have a knowledgeable Atlanta employment retaliation lawyer handling your case.

One U.S. Postal Service employee recently lost his claim for this reason. The worker, E.E., was an African-American male and mail handler. In 2003, the handler suffered a lower-back injury that impaired his ability to do “repetitive motions such as bending, lifting, twisting, and turning.”

In 2016, the handler’s supervisor assigned him to a “modified job position.” That new position had the impact of reducing the handler’s daily hours by 75%, which also triggered a reduction in his pay. In response, the handler filed a race and disability discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A few months later, the supervisor allegedly retaliated against the handler because he complained to the EEOC.

The Impact of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Break Rules on Georgia Employees Who Work from Home

February 14, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Today, remote work is more common than ever before, with much of explosion coming in the last 2-3 years. With that vast growth of people working from home comes new and different ways that employers can run afoul of federal wage and hour laws. If you’re a non-exempt employee working from home and your employer has denied you the leave, breaks, or other benefits that federal law mandates, check with a knowledgeable Atlanta wage and hour lawyer to find out how best to protect yourself.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued an important new “field assistance bulletin” document discussing this cutting-edge issue implicating the Fair Labor Standards Act, break rules, and remote workers who are non-exempt employees.

Field assistance bulletins are documents that lack the force of a statute or a regulation, but they do represent important reflections of Labor Department policy and the federal government’s view on the correct interpretation of various laws and/or regulations.

An FLSA Class Action, Collective Action, or Individual Action: Which One Makes the Most Sense for My Unpaid Overtime Claim?

February 7, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

If your employer has denied you overtime pay that you earned, you potentially have several possible legal options. You can seek compensation individually, you can initiate a class action, or you can pursue a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Determining which avenue makes the most sense can be a complicated and nuanced legal determination, so make sure you get the advice you need from an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer before you start.

Earlier this month, one north Georgia nurse achieved an important success in her unpaid overtime case, successfully persuading the federal district court in Atlanta to approve her collective action.

The nurse was a Gwinnett County woman who worked as a “medical management nurse” for a major insurance company. Her main duty (along with the primary duty of several colleagues with various titles) centered on performing medical necessity reviews for the employer. That entailed “reviewing medical authorization requests submitted by healthcare providers against pre-determined guidelines and criteria for insurance coverage.”

My Employment Discrimination Case Just Got Moved to Georgia from Out of State. Now What?

January 31, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Ours is a national and, in many cases, global economy. The realities of the world of work often include job changes or promotions that necessarily include relocation to a new state. If that’s happened to you and you’ve also suffered discrimination on the job, your case potential can present some unique challenges, such as a case that starts in one state but later gets transferred to another. If you’ve brought your lawsuit in Georgia — or the other side has successfully gotten your case moved to Georgia — then you need to be sure you have a skilled Georgia lawyer to represent you in your action.

A recruiter who relocated to Georgia was someone in that sort of position. C.J., a Black woman, worked for a company in suburban Detroit. C.J. was very successful at her job and earned a promotion to “field distribution leader.” As part of this new role, C.J. was tasked with launching a new program for the employer in Georgia, so she moved here.

Two years later, the company underwent a round of layoffs. The employer gave the workers two options: apply for one of the remaining positions or take early retirement. C.J. applied for a director role and a specialist job but got neither position, so she sued for age discrimination (Age Discrimination in Employment Act) and race discrimination (Title VII).

What Happens if My Employer Takes an Automatic Pay Deduction for Meal Breaks But I Did Not Actually Get My Break?

January 24, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In wage and hour law, as with any area of the law, there are issues that arise with elevated frequency at certain moments in time. (For example, a few years ago the courts saw a flurry of employee-versus-independent-contractor misclassification cases involving exotic dancers.) More recently, an issue before multiple different courts involves employers taking automatic meal-break deductions, regardless of whether the workers got their full break (or any break at all) or not. When this happens, it may constitute a Fair Labor Standards Act violation for which you may be entitled to compensation. An experienced Atlanta wage-and-hour lawyer can tell you more about whether your situation represents a violation of the law.

One of the most recent incidents occurred to our north, where Ohio workers initiated a class action against their employer, a medical company that owns hospitals, rehab centers, and clinics. According to the workers, the employer had a practice of automatically deducting 1/2 hour from their hours to account for each worker’s meal break. The alleged problem was, however, that the realities of the workplace (especially during periods of understaffing) meant that workers often had to work through lunch or were able only to take abbreviated meal breaks. Even when those circumstances arose, the employer still took the automatic 30-minute deduction, according to the complaint.

On that basis, the workers alleged that the employer violated the FLSA by failing to pay overtime wages the workers earned. The class that the workers proposed was an expansive one; namely, “all current and former hourly, non-exempt direct care employees of defendant who had a meal break deduction applied to their hours worked in any workweek where they were paid for at least forty (40) hours of work.”