Weekend File - October 2, 2020
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Weekend Thoughts
Newsletter Changes
I have been doing this newsletter for just a few weeks now and we are still working out the kinks. One thing that we have had a lot of requests for from lawyer readers is a little bit of actual legal content. Well, OK. So, while I don't want this to become just another boring legal newsletter, I will be adding some legal content into a new legal reading section.
Additionally, the "Things to Do" section has been pretty pitiful this year because, well, its 2020 and there is not much to do during this year of Coronavirus lockdown. So those items will no longer be a distinct section. Instead, I will mix in links to interesting things to do or see into the Weekend Readings & Entertainment section.
Please feel free to drop me an email to let me know what you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see more of, etc. The newsletter is still a work in progress and hopefully will get better and better.
Happy weekend everyone!
(Extra Credit if you can identify the owner of the study pictured above and why the room is historically significant. I'll give the answer next week.)
Weekend Legal Readings
That time when Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett upheld a plaintiff’s $300K discrimination win
Interesting discussion of how Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett may handle employment-related cases that come before her. In the case discussed in this article, Circuit Judge Barrett noted that, in a Title VII case, all that matters is whether a reasonable juror could conclude that the plaintiff would have kept her job if she had a different ethnicity, and everything else had remained the same.
Judge Barrett also recognized that plaintiff does not need direct evidence of discrimination. It’s not as if HR will drop a truth bomb that the company is firing her because she is Hispanic. So, circumstantial evidence will generally suffice too.
3rd Cir. OKs firing of Boeing worker who failed to return after FMLA leave
A former helicopter mechanic for The Boeing Company was fired because he violated a "last chance agreement," not because he took Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, a federal appeals court ruled (Alkins v. The Boeing Co., No. 20-1233 (3rd Cir., Sept. 23, 2020)).On appeal, the 3rd Circuit affirmed, finding no FMLA interference because he never notified Boeing that he was unable to come to work.
Weekend Readings & Entertainment
If traumatic brain injuries can impact the parts of the brain responsible for personality, judgment, and impulse control, maybe injury should be a mitigating factor in criminal trials — but one neuroscientist discovers that assigning crime a biological basis creates more issues than it solves.
The Oral History of ‘Best in Show’
Looking back at the dog show–centric successor to the mockumentaries ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ and ‘Waiting for Guffman’ on its 20th anniversary. You can watch Best in Show on Hulu.
Restaurant Adjacent Businesses - How are they coping?
Eight million Americans are employed in restaurant-adjacent industries, from linen washers to accountants to exterminators. How are they coping now?
Book festivals are online this year and this one looks especially good. Award-winning author S.C. Gwynne will talk about his book "Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War" will be interviewed on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. And it is FREE to view.
For the Family: New Movie "Enola Holmes" on Netflix
"On the surface, “Enola Holmes” is about a young woman in search of herself, but the film’s value comes from a deeper investigation of power, familial bonds and the risks of changing a world determined to stay the same."
