Author: Kathryn McGovern

Jury Awards $2.6M to Pharmacist With Needle Phobia

Rite Aid Corp. will soon appeal a $2.6 million jury award for a pharmacist who is afraid of needles, according to recent court filings. A federal jury determined in January that the pharmacist’s phobia was a disability covered by the Americans with Disabilities and that he was fired because of that fear. Christopher Stevens, who […]

Make Performance Appraisals Work for You, Not for an Opposing Attorney!

Performance reviews can either hurt or help, says Attorney Susan G. Fentin. If an employee is fired for poor performance, but his or her appraisal was good, the appraisal can show pretext. However, when a poor appraisal is followed by a lack of improvement by the employee, your appraisal can demonstrate a legitimate (and nondiscriminatory) […]

Supreme Court Ponders Continuing Duty of Prudence Limits in Tibble

On Feb. 24, the first retirement plan “excessive fee” case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. It raises the question of how long a fiduciary must monitor its employer-sponsored plan’s investments — or whether that duty can instead be measured at a single point in time. A lower-court ruling had found the ERISA claim […]

Are There Wellness Plan Requirements Under the ACA?

As more of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are officially implemented, there are many questions as to what rules and regulations apply to individual organizations. Wellness programs are rising in popularity, and some wonder if they are governed by the ACA. It’s important for employers to know the facts in order to […]

Social Media Policy 101: What Personal Social Media Actions Can be Restricted?

In a recent article, we discussed the fact that employers need to be careful to avoid being overly restrictive in their social media policies, since restricting what employees can say online might constitute interference with an employee’s right to concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).