Having recently settled a nasty harassment case on the day of trial, I read with great interest Molly DiBianca’s post, Why Employers Settle Lawsuits, at her Delaware Employment Law Blog. One of the key reasons Molly provides to consider settlement is the employer’s ability to return to normal:
Often times, employers find that the most attractive part of settlement is the ability to put an end to the drain on resources that litigation absolutely involves. Litigation is costly in attorney’s fees and other expenses. But there are other critical costs, too, including the time key decision makers must devote to the case and the general distraction that it causes in the workplace. Every hour spent in depositions and discovery is an hour that cannot be devoted to achieving the organization’s objectives. I’ve never had a client who didn’t take a deep sigh of relief once the case was resolved and they realize they’re able to return to running their business.
Molly’s thoughtful post is worth reading by any business facing the decision of whether to stand its ground and litigate, or move on and settle.
I’ve also previously covered this issue, in Fight or flight? When an employee sues you, should you litigate or settle?
Here’s the rest of what I read this week:
Discrimination
- Vance v. Ball State: the press miscoverage begins — from Walter Olson’s Overlawyered
- Are Employers Racist for Conducting Employment Background Checks? — from employeescreenIQ Blog
- The Government Checks Criminal Records. Why Can’t Private Employers? — from Forbes
- When a hostile work environment isn’t a hostile work environment — from Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
- Breast Feeding on the Job — Is a Mother Protected? — from Maryland Employment Law Developments
- What Not To Do When An Employee Is Pregnant — from Employer’s Corner Blog
- Q&A: Five Areas of Employment Discrimination Law Sparking Scholarly Interest — from Bloomberg BNA
- The Employment Non-Discrimination Act might actually pass in 2013 — from Employment Law Bits
- Paula Deen, Racism and Employment Lawyers — from The Cynical Girl
Social Media & Workplace Technology
- Facebook Introduces Instagram Video Which Promises New Social Media Headaches for Corporations — from from Technology Law Source
- Can You Control Your Employees’ LinkedIn Profiles? — from Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
- “Tweet” becomes an official word — from Ragan
- The Five Rudest Things You Can Do Online — from Wall Street Journal
- Laid-Off ESPN Employee Of 26 Years Fights Back On Facebook — from AOL Jobs
HR & Employee Relations
- Can I fire an employee by phone or email? — from Ask a Manager
- The Internal Struggle When We Must Make Make Ridiculous Terminations — from TLNT
- The New Rules of Tattoos In the Workplace — from The HR Capitalist, Kris Dunn
- How to “Listen In” to Workforce 2.0 — from Fox Business
- Rogue Employees - What to do? — from Smooth Transitions
Wage & Hour
- If Unpaid Interns Don’t Like Their Bosses, They’ll Hate Justice Alito — from Above the Law
- Smartphone Overtime: The FLSA Knows No Bounds — from Corporate Counsel
- The Perils of “Rewarding” FLSA Exemption — from Compensation Force
- Why the New Internship Ruling is Bad For College Students — from Inc.
- Employer Obligations Under the Affordable Care Act — from Inhouse Blog
- How Does the Fall of DOMA Impact the FMLA and Other Employee Benefits? — from Jeff Nowak’s FMLA Insights
Labor Relations
- The Next Frontier for NLRB: Videos & Photos in the Workplace? — from Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
- Union 2.0: how a browser plug-in is organizing Amazon's micro-laborers — from The Verge
- SCOTUS to Decide Noel Canning (NLRB Recess Appointments) — from Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space
- Cheat Sheet: A guide to the NLRB recess appointment controversy — from Inside Counsel