Articles

Justices: Evansville, Fort Wayne partly liable for police sex assaults

The Indiana Supreme Court affirmed two cities were entitled to summary judgment on the common-carrier theory, but not on the issue of liability under respondeat superior’s scope-of-employment rule in a consolidated civil lawsuit involving two women who were sexually assaulted by on-duty police in Evansville and Fort Wayne.

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7th Circuit reinstates UPS worker’s disability complaint

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a decision denying a UPS employee’s claims of disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, and retaliation when she requested accommodations, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Labor laws revisited: Unions regroup after SCOTUS ruling

It was a decision that surprised few, but disappointed many. The United States Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), delivered a victory to right-to-work advocates but a blow to labor unions, holding that public sector, non-union employees cannot be forced to pay union dues.

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Cotterill: Reinforcing corporate culture with personnel policies

Everyone’s talking about corporate culture and employee engagement these days because talent attraction and retention are so critical to the success of every company. So much goes into developing culture, and lawyers can have a positive impact on their company’s culture just by modernizing the old, boring personnel policy manual.

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Same-sex marriage could cost Catholic school counselor job

A guidance counselor at an Indianapolis Catholic school could lose her job after administrators learned that she was married to a woman. The employee who worked for the school for 15 years and has been with her partner for 22 years says she has hired an attorney.

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Judge: IPS leader may be named in firing suits in student sex case

A federal judge has ruled that Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lewis Ferebee and other high-ranking IPS officials may be named as defendants in lawsuits by two former school employees. The employees claim they were wrongly fired after IPS botched a response to reports of a sexual relationship between a student and a school counselor.

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SCOTUS tackles big docket, pace likely to persist

In reviewing the recently ended U.S. Supreme Court term that included several landmark cases and three reversals of precedent, retired 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Tinder finally had to quote baseball legend Yogi Berra as to what might happen in the 2018 term.

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Hoosier law firms promoting women leadership before, after #MeToo

Across Indianapolis, women were being tapped to lead their law firms before the #MeToo movement, either as practice group chairs, committee leaders, managing partners or a combination. But the movement has sparked additional conversations in their law firms, giving credence to gender equality efforts that were already in place.

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Lawmakers skip assessment of unemployment fund

Despite Indiana’s unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, the General Assembly is still required by law to perform a yearly checkup of the unemployment fund to make sure the nest egg is strong and healthy enough to support Hoosier workers who are laid off. However, at present, no examination has been scheduled.

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