Sunday, August 23, 2020
- First Circuit: District court erred when it instructed the jury that, for a disabled employee to make out a failure-to-accommodate claim, he must demonstrate that he needed an accommodation to perform the essential functions of his job, meaning the employee must demonstrate that he could not perform the essential functions of his job without accommodation; rather, an “employee who can, with some difficulty, perform the essential functions of his job without accommodation remains eligible to request and receive a reasonable accommodation”
- Maine Supreme Judicial Court: Maine Rules of Electronic Court Systems promulgated, which set forth the standards for access to electronic court records and efiling processes available through Maine eCourts, the Judicial Branch’s new online court case management and eFiling system, which will be implemented on October 5, 2020 for most new and pending civil cases and family matters in the Bangor District Court and Penobscot County Superior Court as well as the statewide Business Consumer Docket
- Law Court: When a final judgment is entered in a subsidiary Probate Court docket, the time to appeal that judgment pursuant to M.R. App. P. 2B(c) begins to run even if there are other pending proceedings involving the same estate or the estate has yet to be fully administered
- First Circuit: Preliminary injunction prohibiting public high school from suspending student who posted sticky note on mirror in girls’ bathroom that stated “THERE’S A RAPIST IN OUR SCHOOL AND YOU KNOW WHO IT IS” affirmed because the school did not show that the restriction on protected speech was justified as bullying under the school’s policies
- First Circuit: Dismissal of Title IX sexual harassment claim reversed where student plausibly alleged that school failed to protect her from subsequent harassment by older students after she reported to the school that a 17-year-old student had sex with her on school grounds when she was 13 years old
- First Circuit: Denial of motion for judgment as a matter of law following $78,000 plaintiff’s verdict affirmed; there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find that the three defendant troopers reached an agreement to deprive plaintiff of his Fourth Amendment rights and that one carried out that deprivation by using excessive force
- EEOC: Charge closure documents no longer suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic
- EEOC: Two new technical assistance documents released that address concerns about the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the opioid epidemic
- EEOC: Newest edition of the federal sector Digest of Equal Employment Opportunity Law released
- MHRC: Minutes from August 10th Commission Meeting include that the Governor’s appointment for a new Commissioner for the seat held by Chair Arnold Clark has been withdrawn and the Commission is preparing proposals to address the Governor’s requirement that all state agencies cut 10% of General Fund monies in their budgets