Retaliation Cases after Burlington Northern: Does the Tail Now Wag the Dog?
Why Attend?
The program will provide practical advice for employers, plaintiffs' and defense counsel to analyze and litigate retaliation claims. The series Planning Chairs/Moderators also provide a summary of recent employment law developments in the final 30 minutes, including any regulatory developments and groundbreaking opinions. As an interactive seminar, the program affords the opportunity to submit questions for faculty discussion in advance of and during the event.
What You Will Learn
The Supreme Court's 2006 decision in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway v. White purported to provide an objective test to define "adverse action" for retaliation claims. That objective test looked to whether an employer's action "might well have" discouraged a reasonable employee from engaging in protected activity. This program examines the practical effects of the Burlington standard on the ever growing crop of retaliation claims and other key retaliation issues including:
Is the Burlington test really an objective test -- or is someone's "petty slight" another's "materially adverse" response?
What actions have the courts actually found "might well have" discouraged protected activity?
Are retaliation case summary judgment motions still viable in practice after Burlington?
What is the standard of proof in a retaliation case?
Did Burlington affect the standard of proof in mixed motive retaliation claims?
What are the practical effects of the Burlington holding that even an employer's response that does not affect an employee's terms and condition of employment can be retaliation?
Are employees who participate in an EEOC proceeding absolutely protected against retaliation?
Are negative job evaluations alone an "adverse employment action?"
Does the Burlington Title VII retaliation standard apply to age, disability and FMLA and ERISA retaliation claims?
Are compensatory and punitive damages available in retaliation cases under the ADA, ADEA and ERISA?
Planning Chairs
Robert B. Fitzpatrick, Robert B. Fitzpatrick, PLLC, Washington, D.C.
Frank C. Morris Jr., Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., Washington, D.C.
Faculty
Eric Schnapper, Pendleton Miller Professor of Law, University of Washington, School of Law, Seattle
Additional Faculty to Be Announced
Program Schedule
All Times Eastern Daylight
12:00 noon Examination of Retaliation Cases after Burlington Northern - Panel discussion
1:30 p.m. Recent Developments in Employment Law; Questions and Answers -- Robert B. Fitzpatrick and Frank C. Morris, Jr.
2:00 p.m. Adjournment
Total 60-minute hours of instruction: 2
Times
Eastern 12:00 noon-200 pm
Central 11:00 am-1:00 pm
Mountain 10:00 am-12:00 noon
Pacific & Arizona 9:00 am-11:00 am
Alaska 8:00 am-10:00 am
Hawaii 6:00 am-8:00 am
