It seems common sense that a lawyer or witness would not answer a ringing cell phone in the middle of a court proceeding, but it happens enough that judges now have to have rules about it.
Molly DiBianca at Delaware Employment Law Blog takes on the entitlement mentality of some employees who think they should be
"Is Summary Judgment in Employment Cases a Myth"? So ask attorneys Teresa Ride Bult and Kate Summers in an excellent article published last month in Law 360.
The authors contend it is becoming more difficult for employers to win on summary judgment, 
particularly in state court. Nonetheless, they believe the benefits of filing a
Update-January 6, 2010: For information on how employee handbooks, and particularly safety plans, can contribute to lower insurance costs, see Lara Utter’s recent post in Iowa Biz.
There is no federal or Iowa law that requires an employer to have a handbook–but most of us do anyway. While handbooks can be quite useful for communicating information
This is the time of year for reflection–when we look back on what happened during the past year, 
and look ahead to the coming year. There are many commentaries and opinions on what was good and bad about 2009, but there is no doubt it was an eventful year for those of us in the labor and employment law
There is an interesting op-ed in today’s Des Moines Register concerning religious discrimination in the workplace. The author, Lake Lambert III, is a professor of Religion at Wartburg College in Waverly. He contends employees are subject to religious tyranny because Title VII does not give enough protection to employees’ ability to practice their religion at work.
On November 30, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion on the remand of Gross v. FBL Financial Group, Inc. We have discussed the Gross case in several previous posts (here, here, and here). The case has particular local interest because it was tried in