Brian Rochel Named Author of the Year by FBA L&E Section

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Brian Rochel was presented the “Author of the Year Award” by the Labor & Employment Section of the Federal Bar Association’s (FBA) at its annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. The award was given to Brian “in recognition of deep appreciation for outstanding contributions to Section publications.” Brian served as a volunteer editor of the Section’s monthly Circuit Updates, co-authored the Circuit Update for the Eighth Circuit along with Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochel partner Phillip Kitzer, and also co-authored an article for the Labouring Oar in spring 2015, also in conjunction with Phillip Kitzer. 

Brian was also named the Co-Chair of the Publications and Public Relations Committee of the Labor & Employment Section at the FBA annual meeting as well. Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochel congratulates Brian for his hard work and dedication to the labor and employment field. 

BTR FBA

Phillip Kitzer Named “Up & Coming Attorney” by Minnesota Lawyer

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Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochelpartner Phillip Kitzer was recently recognized by Minnesota Lawyer as an Up & Coming Attorney for 2015, an honor bestowed on a select group of attorneys who have demonstrated outstanding work within the profession and who have fewer than 10 years of experience. This year’s award was limited to 28 attorneys throughout Minnesota, and Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochel is proud to have Phillip stand among this outstanding group. 

Click here to learn more about Phillip’s recognition and click here to access the digital edition of this year’s Minnesota Lawyer Up and Coming Attorneys & Unsung Legal Heroes.

Rochel Co-Organizes and Moderates FBA Labor & Employment Seminar

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On August 26, 2015, the Federal Bar Association’s (FBA) Labor & Employment Section hosted a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar. The seminar was co-hosted with the Minnesota Chapter of the FBA, and was held at Faegre Baker Daniels in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Brian Rochel of Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochel helped organize the event along with fellow Labor & Employment Committee members Corie Tarara, of Seaton Peters Revnew and  Joel Schroeder of Faegre Baker Daniels.

The seminar featured three separate panels: (1) What’s New at the EEOC in the Wake of Recent Supreme Court Decisions; (2) Employment Law Implications following the 2014 U.S. Supreme Court Term: Integrity Staffing, UPS, Abercrombie & Obergefell; and (3) Improving Collegiality and Civility in Employment Litigation. Brian Rochel moderated the first panel which featured the new Director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chicago District, Julianne Bowman. Ms. Bowman presented along with long-time EEOC Trial Lawyer Nicholas Pladson out of the Minneapolis office. 

The seminar featured several prominent panelists, including Chief Judge John R. Tunheim of the United States District of Minnesota and The Honorable Steven E. Rau, who currently serves as Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota. Click here for a full agenda of the seminar.

Contact Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochel for more information.

Rochel FBA Seminar

Supreme Court Recognizes Constitutional Right to Marriage Equality

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Today, the United States Supreme Court agreed that the Constitution granted the liberty “to define and express their identity” by “marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages deemed lawful on the same terms and conditions as marriages between persons of the opposite sex.” The groundbreaking decision, available here, recognized that the personal choice of who to marry is “inherent in the concept of individual autonomy,” a central concept of the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections of life, liberty and property. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the Court, eloquently summed up the matter in his concluding statement:

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say that they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

The Minnesota Human Rights Act has long recognized the right to equal treatment of individuals regardless of their sexual orientation and sexual identity. It is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee based on the employee’s sexual orientation, self-image, and identity. In fact, recognizing that discriminators often try to stigmatize people based on sexual orientation and identity, Minnesota law also prohibits discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation and identity. And, if an employee complains about sexual orientation discrimination, Minnesota law protects them from retaliation.

For more information about the impact of the Supreme Court’s ruling, or employment law protecting the LGBTQ community, please contact us.

Brian Rochel Named North Star Lawyer for Pro Bono Service

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Brian Rochel has been designated as a North Star Lawyer for 2014.

The North Star Lawyer designation is awarded to Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) members who provided 50 or more hours of pro bono service in 2014.  Click here to see the entire list of recipients.

Phillip Kitzer Recognized as Up & Coming Attorney by Minnesota Lawyer

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Phillip Kitzer, partner at Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochel, has been named an “Up & Coming Attorney” by Minnesota Lawyer.

The Up & Coming Attorneys recognition is a prestigious honor awarded to a select few attorneys in Minnesota. Recognition is limited to lawyers in their first 10 years of practice who have already distinguished themselves by their achievements. The criteria for selection are: professional accomplishment, leadership service to the community and the profession or achievement as in-house counsel.

Up & Coming Attorneys are nominated by colleagues, supervisors and peers, and chosen by a panel of prior winners of the award. Mr. Kitzer will be recognized along with the other award recipients, and attorneys who have been named Unsung Legal Heroes, at an event on September 10 in downtown Minneapolis. Minnesota Lawyer will publish a special section on September 14 profiling Mr. Kitzer and the rest of the honorees.

Click here to read more.

Kitzer & Rochel Publish Article in FBA Labor & Employment Magazine

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Teske Katz Kitzer & Rochel partners Brian Rochel and Phillip Kitzer co-authored an article in the Spring issue of The Labouring Oar, published by the Federal Bar Association’s (FBA) Labor and Employment Law Section. Phillip and Brian wrote the article along with Frances Baillon, partner at Baillon Thome. The article, titled “Is McDonnell Douglas Too Burdensome? Circuits Question the Utility of the Decades Old Burden-Shifting Model,” analyzes recent court decisions calling into question the usefulness of the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting scheme.

Noting the varying approaches in the federal circuits of applying the McDonnell Douglas test to employment claims, at least two judges have advocated for doing away with burden shifting, otherwise called the indirect method, altogether because of the confusion caused by its application.  District Judge Paul Magnuson, sitting on the Eighth Circuit panel by designation, provided a lengthy exposition of McDonnell Douglas in Griffith v. City of Des Moines, 387 F.3d 733 (8th Cir. 2004), calling the direct/indirect evidence distinction a “legal fiction,” and opined that it “should have fallen into disuse after Congress amended the Civil Rights Act in 1991.”  Likewise, Seventh Circuit Chief Judge Diane Wood provided a well-reasoned critique of the indirect method in Coleman v. Donahoe, 667 F.3d 835 (7th Cir. 2012).  Judge Wood wrote, “Courts manage tort litigation every day without the ins and outs of these methods of proof, and I see no reason why employment discrimination litigation (including cases alleging retaliation) could not be handled in the same straight-forward way.” The article concluded by suggesting the United States Supreme Court may ultimately take the issue to resolve the confusion within the circuits.

Click here to view the full article.

Kitzer Rochel, PLLP Defeats Summary Judgment in MHRA Disability Claims

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In Oliver v. MCTC, Kitzer Rochel attorney Brian Rochel, along with co-counsel Michelle Dye Neumann, successfully argued against the employer’s motion to dismiss Ms. Oliver’s Minnesota Human Rights Act claims. Ms. Oliver suffered a disabling injury at work and alleged that she was terminated because of her disability, and because she requested reasonable accommodation for her disability. The Minnesota District Court denied the motion, ruling that a jury could find in Ms. Oliver’s favor on her claims. The case will now proceed to a jury trial.

The court’s opinion is important because it held that Karst v. F.C. Hayer Co, 447 N.W.2d 180 (Minn. 1989), a case long used by employers to fend off liability for disability discrimination, did not apply to Ms. Oliver’s claims. In doing so, the court narrowed the application of Karst and called into question whether it is still good law.

Rochel Moderates Panel of Federal Law Clerks

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Brian Rochel moderated a panel of federal law clerks discussing practice pointers for employment and labor attorneys. The panel, entitled “Federal Law Clerks’ Tips on Trial and Dispositive Motions,” featured Katherine Bruce, law clerk to the Honorable Donovan W. Frank, Mark Betinsky, law clerk to the Honorable Richard J. Kyle, and Elizabeth Welter, law clerk to the Honorable Patrick J. Schiltz. The panel was part of the Federal Bar Association Labor & Employment Section‘s fall seminar. For more information on the seminar, including the federal law clerk panel, click here.

 

Minnesota Supreme Court Issues Landmark Ruling Ensuring Jury Trials in Retaliation Claims

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Phillip Kitzer and co-counsel Michelle Dye Neumann received a favorable decision in a landmark decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court. In Darrel Schmitz v. United States Steel Corporation, Schmitz alleged he was terminated in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim.  Schmitz requested a jury trial for his workers’ compensation retaliation claim under the Minnesota Constitution, but his request was denied.  Schmitz appealed the decision to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, arguing that he was entitled to a jury under the Minnesota Constitution.  The Court of Appeals ruled in Schmitz’s favor, and U.S. Steel appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court.  The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the decision, holding that the Minnesota Constitution guaranteed the right to a jury trial for employees claiming that they were terminated for seeking workers’ compensation benefits.