Feb 01
Lauren FisherWage and Hour
Minor v. Bostwick Laboratories, Inc., No. 10-1258 (4th Cir. Jan. 27, 2012), available at http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/101258.P.pdf. Ms. Minor began working at Bostwick Laboratories, Inc. (here, “Bostwick”) as a medical technologist on December 24, 2007. On May 6, 2008, she and several colleagues met with Bostwick’s chief operating officer, Bill Miller, and told him that their supervisor had altered time sheets as to eliminate overtime pay, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Miller said that he would look into the allegations.
The following Monday, Bostwick terminated Ms. Minor’s employment. Miller and an HR manager stated that the reason for Ms. Minor’s termination was that she was having too much conflict with her supervisors and that they had met with her co-workers and determined that Minor was the problem. In essence, Ms. Minor endured the workplace equivalent of Mean Girls: when she threatened the status of her superiors she was evicted from the group, ostensibly because no one liked her. In fact, Minor had never had any conflict with her supervisors, the alleged meeting between Miller and Minor’s co-workers never took place, and the circumstances suggest that she was terminated because she complained about her supervisor’s FLSA violation. More
Jan 30
Blackwell ShelleyTrade Secrets/Confidentiality
Collelo v. Geographic Services, Inc., ___ Va. ___ (January 13, 2012) Geographic Services, Inc. (“GSI”) subcontracts with various United States government prime contractors, including the Boeing Company (“Boeing”), to perform what is known as “geonames” work. Geonames work involves entering data into a spreadsheet, sometimes thousands of items, referring to a map feature. Once all of the map feature information is collected and verified, GSI then submits the spreadsheet to the prime contractor or the United States government. As part of its business, GSI developed a method for identifying and correcting errors in the data entered into the spreadsheet. GSI claims that its method enables it to produce highly accurate data more efficiently than is possible without the method. GSI considers its method a proprietary, confidential trade secret, and GSI has undertaken efforts to keep the method secret.
GSI hired Anthony Collelo in 2006 and trained him to do geonames work using GSI’s confidential methods. When GSI hired Collelo, he signed (among other things) a non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality agreement which prohibited Collelo from disclosing confidential information without GSI’s written consent, and from soliciting or performing “Conflicting Services” for a customer or contractor of GSI for a period of one year after his GSI employment ended. In early 2008, Collelo resigned from GSI and went to work for Boeing, a GSI customer, in a non-geonames capacity. By mid-2008, however, Collelo became part of a Boeing team that started work on a future Boeing-GSI geonames project. Within a few months after he started work with Boeing, Collelo wrote a memo to his supervisors that he had developed methods that would dramatically increase production and efficiency in Boeing’s geonames work. When GSI learned that Collelo was engaged in geonames work, GSI objected and advised Boeing that it believed that Collelo was in violation of his non-solicitation agreement. More
Jan 27
Tim SchulteWhistleblower
In February 2010 we blogged about Ligon v. County of Goochland and noted that sovereign immunity is a complete bar against many suits filed by public employees against their employer. Here is another example, with a slightly better outcome for the plaintiff:
In Huang v. The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, et al., Case No. 3:11-cv-00050 (W.D. Va. December 19, 2011), a professor at a public university complained about fraud and misappropriation of funds from a research grant. Then he was fired. The complaint alleged these facts:
Dr. Huang worked at UVa as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences. In 2009, Huang received a grant from the National Institutes of Health. As the “principal investigator” of this NIH grant, Huang was responsible for allocating grant money to researchers and staff working on his project. His allocation in turn determined how much of the salaries of the people involved in his research project would come from the grant money, instead of from UVa. For example, Huang allocated fifty percent of his time to his research project: fifty percent of his salary would therefore be funded by the NIH while the other fifty percent would be paid by UVa.
Huang alleged that he later discovered that his supervisor, Dr. Li, had secretly changed the allocation of the grant money. The allocation of three persons had been increased even though this increase did not accurately reflect the time actually spent on the research. In other words, Huang alleged that he had discovered that funds from the NIH were improperly diverted to UVa employees for purposes unrelated to the grant. Huang was sure he had discovered a fraud. More
Jan 26
Lauren FisherFair Employment Practices
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission et al., ___ U.S.___ (2012). Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School employs two types of teachers, which Hosanna designates as “called” teachers and “lay” teachers. A called teacher must complete training that includes theological study, and upon completion of his or her training is designated a “Minister of Religion, Commissioned.” Lay teachers, on the other hand, are not even required to be Lutheran.
Cheryl Perich was asked to become a called teacher at Hosanna and completed the required course of study. Ms. Perich taught secular subjects as well as a religion class, and she led her students in daily prayer. She also accompanied her students to a weekly chapel service and led the chapel service about twice a year.
Ms. Perich was diagnosed with narcolepsy and took disability leave for much of the 2004–2005 school year. In January 2005 she notified the school principal that she would be able to report to work in February, but rather than welcoming her, Hosanna instead asked her to resign. Perich refused to resign, threatened to assert her legal rights, and was terminated. More
Jan 24
Blackwell ShelleyFair Employment Practices, Hostile Environment
Balas v. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., Civil Action No. 2:11-cv-347 (E.D. Va. January 18, 2012). Plaintiff Karen Balas sued her former employer, Huntington Ingalls Industries, alleging sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), retaliatory termination under Title VII, wrongful discharge, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. For all of these claims, Balas alleged that her supervisor, Bradley Price, sexually harassed her and terminated her for opposing that harassment. The district court dismissed Balas’s claim of sexual harassment because she had not properly raised that issue with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), as is required by Title VII. The federal court also dismissed Balas’s claims of wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
What remained were her claims of retaliatory termination and assault and battery. Huntington Ingalls moved for summary judgment as to these remaining claims. Balas filed her response to Huntington Ingalls’s motion, as well as her own motion for summary judgment on the claim of assault and battery. This note focuses on what the court did with the assault and battery claim. More
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