Employment Law Daily - October 18, 2011

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Christopher McKinney

Daily Update for October 18, 2011

  • SCOTUS grants cert on federal employment jurisdiction issue

    Yesterday the US Supreme Court granted certiorari in Elgin v. The Department of the Treasury, which raises the issue of whether the Civil Service Reform Act precludes federal district court from having jurisdiction over constitutional claims for equitable relief brought by federal employees. Read the entire story at LawMemo.com.

  • Connecticut Becomes First State to Mandate Paid Sick Leave

    While many employees do enjoy some form of paid sick time, the law does not mandate that any paid sick leave be granted to employees… at least until now. Connecticut’s paid sick leave law (Senate Bill 913, Public Act 11–52) is set to become effective on January 1, 2012. The law will make Connecticut the first state to mandate paid sick leave for employees. You can read Jeffrey Mogan’s complete analysis of the new law at the Connecticut Labor & Employment Law Journal. Will other states follow?

  • Romney Legal Advisor Robert Bork: Women 'Aren't Discriminated Against Anymore'

    Last August, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork as the co-chair of his "Judicial Advisory Committee." Bork's selection was a clear sign that, if elected, Romney will appoint hard right justices with little regard for how the Constitution protects ordinary Americans. Bork once described the federal ban on whites-only lunch counters as "unsurpassed ugliness." He believes that the government is free to ban contraception outright. And in a recent interview, he stated that he doesn’t believe that the 14th Amendment should protect women because they aren’t discriminated against anymore. Elections have consequences - every woman in the U.S. (and any man that cares about the rights of women) should think really hard about whether Mitt Romney is who they want picking judges in this country. Read the whole story here.

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President Obama Selects Sotomayor for Supreme Court

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Christopher McKinney

 According to reports, President Obama has chosen Judge Sonia Sotomayor of a Federal Court of Appeals based in New York as his nominee for the Supreme Court.  If confirmed, she will become the Court's first Hispanic Justice.  

Judge Sotomayor as authored numerous opinions on civil rights and employment law issues.  Recently her opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano (2009) has been getting a great deal of attention as it is currently on appeal to the Supreme Court.  Ricci concerns white firefighters in New Haven who were denied promotions after an examination yielded no black firefighters eligible for advancement. Joining an unsigned opinion of a three-judge panel of the appeals court, Judge Sotomayor upheld the rejection of a lawsuit by white firefighters, one of them Hispanic, claiming race discrimination and, as part of the full appeals court, she declined to rehear the case. The Supreme Court is currently considering the case, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is the likely swing vote. Among the questions in the case is whether the law should treat diversity in the work force differently from diversity in the classroom.

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