© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
(July 13) – Polsinelli recently announced that Dallas labor and employment expert Thomas Reddin has joined the firm as a shareholder.
Reddin was most recently at Winstead. He says he was drawn to the culture at Polsinelli.
“Polsinelli has at its foundation a spirit of entrepreneurship which I still see in practice today, from continuous process improvements to alternative fee arrangements,” he said.
“I’m now able to tailor my practice in ways that best suit my clients’ business needs and priorities.”
Reddin represents employers in a wide range of employee relations matters and workplace issues.
In one recent case, he successfully defended a client against a retaliatory hostile work environment claim. He says this case was interesting because there are few reported decisions analyzing the theory of retaliatory hostile work environment and, although various other jurisdictions have recognized it, the Fifth Circuit has not yet expressly recognized that cause of action.
Reddin notes that sexual discrimination is one of the hottest areas of employment law right now for two main reasons.
First, the supercharged transgender bathroom access debate and the Trump administration’s decision in February to rescind Obama-era guidance which held that Title IX grants transgendered students the right to use restrooms corresponding with their gender identity rather than biological sex.
Second, he points to the Seventh Circuit’s April decision in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana that created a split of authority on discrimination and harassment claims brought on the basis of sexual orientation.
The court held that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Reddin says the decision is consistent with the position the EEOC has taken on the issue over the past few years, but it is especially significant because the Seventh Circuit became the first federal court of appeals to adopt the EEOC’s position.
“This is still a highly unsettled area of law, so we are probably going to continue to see these types of cases being brought over the coming year,” he says.
One other area of the law he is seeing significant activity, particularly at the legislative level, is related to mandatory paid leave. While the Family and Medical Leave Act requires covered employers to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave every 12 months, there have been recent state and local legislative initiatives to require private employers to provide paid sick or family leave.
Reddin predicts there will be a number of cases filed by employees alleging their employers’ policies and practices aren’t up-to-date if and when new federal mandates are enacted. For example, he cited a proposal included in the White House’s budget request in May for a paid parental leave program to start in 2020, which would provide six weeks of paid leave for new parents.
Joining Reddin in the move from Winstead is associate Theanna Sedlock.
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