Apr 9, 2016
April 9, 2016 Investigating Employee and Student Misconduct: Lessons from “Deflategate” Of course, being in Boston, they found a way to make this presentation about Tom Brady and the Patriots. East coast bias much? Being neither a New Englander nor a Patriots fan, I was only tangentially aware of the facts of this case. Turns out even school attorneys from the Midwest can learn a few lessons from “Deflategate”…other than to never bet against Tom Brady or the
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Apr 9, 2016
Friday, April 8, 2016 Is Big Brother Really Watching? Good morning! Today started bright and early with a presentation on schools’ use of surveillance cameras. A two-fold inquiry: can schools make audio and video recordings of school activities, and should they? The answer to the first part is a resounding yes. Courts are in agreement that there is no expectation of privacy in the classroom. Therefore, video or audio recordings in classrooms or other public areas does not
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Apr 7, 2016
Thursday, April 7, 2016 Early Bird Session: Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Workshop This is an opportunity for Council of School Attorneys (COSA) members to discuss recent experiences with OCR investigations. (Unofficial title: “The Airing of Grievances”) Comments from participants so far, regarding OCR: “They started investigating a single complaint and expanded it into a full compliance review.” “They demand information and expect us to make school personnel available for interviews ASAP, then you don’t hear from them for
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Apr 4, 2016
Missouri employers are currently facing conflicting guidance on how to confront LGBT discrimination issues in the workplace. In October of 2015, a Missouri Court of Appeals held that the Missouri Human Rights Act (“MHRA”)””the state law that governs employment discrimination””does not prohibit sexual orientation discrimination. In contrast, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the agency tasked with enforcing Title VII””the federal law that governs employment discrimination””has held that Title VII does prohibit sexual orientation discrimination and recently filed two lawsuits
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Mar 15, 2016
Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its final regulations on STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) Employment Authorization (EAD) Extension. The new regulations will go into effect on May 10, 2016 and allow certain foreign students with degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) from U.S. institutions of higher education to extend their STEM OPT employment authorization period from 17 months to 24 months. The 17-month STEM OPT EADs issued
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Mar 9, 2016
Today, Wednesday, March 9, 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released the much anticipated Optional Practical Training STEM Employment Authorization final rule. The rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Friday, March 11, 2016. As a background, the STEM OPT EAD Extension program was approved back in 2008 by President George W. Bush’s administration. The STEM OPT EAD Extension program allowed a 17-month extension of the Optional Practical Training (OPT) employment authorization program for international
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Dec 16, 2015
In a widely anticipated decision announced on August 17, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) unanimously voted to dismiss a petition seeking union representation for Northwestern University football players on scholarship. The decision, issued more than a year after the parties completed briefing in
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Mollie G. Mohan
Melanie Gurley Keeney