Topic
Protected Activity
61 published works
Management Memo
Second Circuit Finds That Employee’s Obscene Facebook Post Is Protected Activity, Reminding Employers of the Importance of Uniformly Enforcing Employee Conduct Policies
By Adam C. Abrahms, Christina C. Rentz
In NLRB v. Pier Sixty, LLC, the Second Circuit held that an employee’s expletive-laden Facebook post – which hurled vulgar attacks at his manager, his manager’s mother and his family…
Employment Law Letter
Is Calling Your Boss “a Nasty Mother******” Protected Activity?
There are outer limits to insulting speech, but a recent decision seems to indicate that it is really really far out there. The questions up for consideration: When can an employer fire an…
Inside the False Claims Act
Fourth Circuit Interprets Meaning of “Protected Activity” Under 2010 FCA Whistleblower Amendments
By Molly Ruberg
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently affirmed dismissal of an FCA complaint for failure to state a claim under the FCA’s anti-retaliation provision, 31 U.S.C. §…
California Employment Law
10 Things That the EEOC’s New Retaliation Guidance Considers “Protected Activity”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its new "Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues" on On August 25, 2016. Careful readers will be able to deduce from the section titled "Expansive…
Proskauer Whistleblower Defense
S.D.N.Y. Dismisses SOX and Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Claims For Lack Of Protected Activity
By Steven J. Pearlman, Christopher Bouriat
On June 22, 2016, Judge Daniels of the Southern District of New York dismissed SOX and Dodd-Frank whistleblower claims, ruling that Plaintiff’s alleged internal complaints did not constitute protected activity,…
School Law
The Complaint Over Lunch With the Boss As Protected Activity
By Gary S. Starr, Jarad M. Lucan
Is a non-union employee who speaks out about employment matters protected by the National Labor Relations Act? If so, under what circumstances? That question is critically important because if the…
Proskauer Whistleblower Defense
ARB Rejects CFPA Whistleblower Claim On Protected Activity Grounds
By Steven J. Pearlman, Harris Mufson
On November 6, 2015, the DOL’s Administrative Review Board affirmed the dismissal of Consumer Financial Protection Act (“CFPA”) whistleblower claims of a terminated mortgage broker, concluding that the complainant did…
Employment Law Matters
What’s not to “like” . . . .? Maybe this Second Circuit decision.
The 2d U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an employee’s “like” of a posting by a former employee, and a second employee’s comment on the original posting both…
Employment Law Matters
8th Circuit denies enforcement of NLRB decision regarding throat-slitting gesture.
Over the past year, employers have bemoaned the fact that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has decided: that two nursing home employees should be reinstated despite performance deficiencies that…
Wage & Hour Litigation Blog
Whatcha Talkin’ Bout: Oral Complaints Made to Employer Constitute Protected Activity under FLSA, Says Second Circuit
By Michael Fucci, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Co-authored by Steve Shardonofsky and Howard M. Wexler In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., that oral complaints of a violation of the Fair…