In Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders, __ U.S. __, 124 S. Ct. 2342, 159 L.Ed.2d 204 (2004), the U.S. Supreme Court decided how constructive discharge fits into the framework for determining employer liability in sexual harassment cases established in Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742 (1998), and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998). Ellerth and Faragher distinguish supervisory sexual harassment involving an adverse employment action, for which an employer is automatically liable, from that involving no such action, for which the employer’s liability is avoidable. In Suders, the Court decided that a resignation as the result of an alleged constructive discharge was not an adverse employment action.

Layoffs and abolishments are different ways of reducing the work force of an appointing authority. The term “job abolishment” contemplates the permanent elimination of a specific position. Permanent means the position must be deleted from the table or organization for a minimum of one year. An appointing authority may abolish positions in the state classified civil service for any of the following reasons:

Recently, the Employment Law Section, welcomed two new employees:

On August 23rd, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) updates to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) became effective. Many of our Employment Law News readers were able to attend the July 30th seminar presented by the Attorney General’s Employment Law Section and the Ohio Department of Administrative Services that highlighted some of the important aspects of the DOL’s new fairpay regulations. (If you were unable to attend, be sure to visit the DAS Policy Development Office’s web site to download and view a copy of the seminar materials at www.das.ohio.gov/hrd/emppol.html.)

The recent class certification in the Wal-Mart case sets the record, creating the largest employment discrimination case in the United States. On June 21, 2004, Judge Jenkins of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, granted plaintiff’s motion for class certification. The class is composed of “All women employed at any Wal-Mart domestic retail store at any time since December 26, 1998, who have been or may be subjected to Wal-Mart’s challenged pay and management track promotions policies and practices.” This class consists of approximately 1.6 million women. At about the same time, in July of 2004, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $54 million to settle a sex discrimination class action case. (The Baltimore Sun, July 16, 2004.)