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On the last day of June, a Supreme Court split decision ruled in the favor of corporations, determining that some for-profit companies will not be required to pick up the tab for certain kinds of contraceptives used by their employees. Considered a blow to employee rights all across the nation, the Court’s decision was split 5 – 4 on ideological…
A Missouri prison employee who worked for years as the director of the prison laundry spent many of those years working alongside a Missouri death row inmate whose date with the executioner was set for this month. The employee was approached one weekend in May at his home by the inmate’s attorney, who asked him about his experiences supervising the…
A former employee of the Kansas City nonprofit Kauffman Scholars alleges she was forced out of her job due to her high-risk pregnancy that would require time off for frequent prenatal appointments. The woman had worked at the nonprofit for seven years, the last two at a position that had been newly created. The nonprofit assists urban students with preparing…
The United States Supreme Court recently heard the case of Lane v. Franks, 13-483, and is currently pondering whether the plaintiff as an employee is protected by the First Amendment, and whether he and the millions of public employees across the nation have to fear retaliation on the job after offering testimony regarding government misconduct. The plaintiff in this case…
If Missouri’s Governor Jay Nixon signs SB 510 into law, it could make it more problematic for workers who are terminated from their jobs to get unemployment benefits. Under provisions of the bill, the definition of the word “misconduct” will be changed regarding the reasons why employees can be turned down for unemployment benefits. The new definition will include committing…
Recently, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in a 5-2 vote to give more legal protection to those employees who are injured and subsequently terminated from their employment. This expansion of employee rights overturned three decades of legal precedent. Workers no longer must prove their workers’ comp claims were the sole cause for their separation from employment to prevail in litigation…
In 1993, Congress enacted the Family and Medical Leave Act, giving employees who are eligible the right to take up to 26 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave in a year for certain medical, family and military-associated reasons. Employers may lack understanding of an employee’s decision to take leave if it is suspected that said employee is abusing the leave. One…
The recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board’s Chicago division that football players at Northwestern University are actually university employees has some far-reaching ramifications for athletes all over the country, including Missouri. Given this clarification of their status, Northwestern football players now have employee rights, including the right to organize as a union and engage in collective bargaining with…
A Missouri National Guardsman recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Western Missouri wherein he claims that his job as shop manager for Stone County was not held for him when he returned from active duty with his Guard unit. According to his petition, the employee had been with the Army National Guard for 16 years. He…
A former server at Gusano’s Chicago-style Pizzeria filed a collective action lawsuit against the pizza restaurant chain, which has a location in Joplin, Missouri, near Missouri Southern State University. The former employee claimed that, as a condition of her employment, she was forced to become part of an illegal tip-pooling agreement with certain kitchen staff. Her attorney contends these allegations…