United States: “Smoking Gun” Comments Serve As An Important Reminder Of The ADA’s Protection Against Associational Discrimination

Most employers are well aware that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects qualified individuals with disabilities against discrimination on the basis of disability and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, if those accommodations do not pose an undue hardship for the employer. However, a recent court decision reminds employers that even individuals without disabilities may be protected from discrimination under the ADA due to their association with another person […]

By | March 25th, 2015 ||

United States: Mortgage Loan Officers Are Not Exempt Employees Per The DOL And The Supreme Court Says That Is Okay

The legal ping-pong match between the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) over whether mortgage loan officers are eligible for overtime appears to be at an end. The Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association, holding that the DOL’s amendment of its interpretive rules to provide that mortgage loan officers do not qualify for the administrative exemption—despite the fact that the DOL did not go […]

By | March 24th, 2015 ||

United States: Hawaii Supreme Court Says Employer Failed To Establish “Rational Relationship” Between Applicant’s Drug Conviction And Position Sought

Hawaii, like some other states, only permits employers to consider convictions that bear a “rational relationship to the duties and responsibilities of the position.” Recently, the Hawaii Supreme Court had occasion to decide an issue that few other courts have addressed—the relationship of an applicant’s drug conviction to the job sought.

In Shimose v. Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, No. SWC-12-0000422 (Jan. 16, 2015)—the plaintiff, Zak Shimose, claimed that the defendant, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, violated […]

By | March 24th, 2015 ||