Andrew Baugher and Cathy Welsh defended Valley Health System in federal court in this employment action arising from an administrative assistant’s claim that she was terminated in retaliation for taking FMLA leave and in violation of the ADA. The employee sought an award of damages exceeding $300,000. The hospital system had actually terminated this employee after a history of poor performance and because she had been accessing her supervisor’s email account and reading emails about her own personal personnel situation without permission. The court granted summary judgment for the defense less than one month prior to trial. Andrew Baugher, lead trial counsel said, “Although we were looking forward to our day in court, we are ecstatic that the court dismissed this action short of trial and in the hospital’s favor. We are confident that a jury would have returned the same decision.”

Cathy Welsh gave a presentation to the Shenandoah Valley Society for Human Resources Management (SVSHRM) regarding the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s recently issued Pregnancy Discrimination Guidance. Through this guidance the EEOC significantly expanded employer obligations to accommodate pregnant employees. Legal challenges to the guidance are expected.

Cathy Welsh presented a seminar regarding Contractor/Employee Misclassification to the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of the American Payroll Association (SVCAPA).

Cathy Welsh was a guest lecturer for the Transactional Law Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law. Cathy walked business-oriented law students through employment law questions and issues they will face in private practice.