Recent Articles

Goodnight, Not Goodbye - CE Goes on Leave

Tim Eavenson
July 30, 2008 19:33

I have decided that the time has come to either put up or shut up on the changes promised around here, and so I'm pulling the parking brake on the blog for awhile, just while I figure out what direction we're headed.For those of you who are regulars, I will email you when the hiatus is over. If you...

Minimum Wage Goes Up Today! Buy Yourself 0.175 Gallons of Gas!

Tim Eavenson
July 24, 2008 15:34

The Federal minimum wage lurches up 70 cents today, from $5.85 to $6.55. As the title mentioned, that's about 1/5 a gallon of gas at $4/gallon. By next year, the minimum wage will be at a respectable $7.25 an hour. But given the rapid deterioration of the dollar and consumer confidence in a...

BREAKING: Sex Is A Major Life Activity

Tim Eavenson
July 21, 2008 18:03

(HT: LawMemo via Workplace Prof Blog)In order to prove you have a disability in federal court, you generally have to be able to show 2 things (and this is obviously generalizing a lot):1. You have some type of impairment.2. That your impairment substantially limits a 'major life activity'.Of...

7th Circuit: Woman Fired After In Vitro Treatments Has Valid Cause for Suit

Tim Eavenson
July 18, 2008 17:22

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals here in Chicago is known for having an aversion to the typical "bright line" rulings issued by other circuits (and, often, their bosses in D.C.). The judges say they like to think the cases through, instead of follow some "easy-to-follow" method spelled out in...

YouTube, Brute?

Tim Eavenson
July 09, 2008 02:12

Regardless of where you think their loyalty lies in the user privacy debate, it's hard to deny that YouTube is awesome.That's why, I assume, NY law firm Cohen & Grigsby thought it would be so awesome to put their immigration seminar on the super-popular site. Though, I doubt they thought it...

You Only Thought Things Were Bad: 2 Months of Job Rerports Adjusted Down

Tim Eavenson
July 03, 2008 21:00

The June jobs report (or "jobless report" depending on how pessimistic you are) came out today. The U.S. lost another 62,000 jobs last month. That's bad. But at least we expected it. Not like the rest of the numbers the government released today.Or, I guess, re-released.The Department of Labor...

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss?

Tim Eavenson
July 02, 2008 03:06

Replace my name with yours and my "name" with the ridiculous name of your choosing, and tell me you did not have this exact conversation at some point in your early teenage years:Tim: I hate my name. It's stupid. I don't want to be called Tim anymore.Mom/Dad/Gramma/Buddies: Well, what do you want...

Will Supreme Court's Reduction of Exxon's Damages Effect Employment Suits?

Tim Eavenson
June 27, 2008 20:07

A while back, Exxon lost a lawsuit over the notorious Valdez spill (shocker), and a jury said they had to pay $500 million to compensate the plaintiffs, and $5 billion in punitive damages. Yesterday, the Supreme Court said that award was excessive, and reduced the punitive damages to $500 million,...

Apologies

Tim Eavenson
June 26, 2008 17:29

Sorry it's been a while, everybody. New jobs can kind of pull you away from things like blogging, but I've been doing some "behind the curtain" stuff that will hopefully yield some fruit in the coming weeks, and all that we missed won't be in vain.Just to put your mind at ease, there will be...

Breaking: FBI Raids Office of Special Counsel

Tim Eavenson
May 07, 2008 03:33

The FBI raided the headquarters of the Office of Special Counsel today, and agents from the Office of Personnel Management siezed boxes of evidence from the Director's home. The OSC is responsible for protecting federal whistleblowers from retaliation.According to the Washington Post, the FBI...