Catherwood LibraryILR School

In the latest tactical advancement in the various areas of workplace law, workers, unions, regulatory bodies and consumer advocates are expanding their targets from companies and corporate officers, and setting their sights on the actions or inactions, and resulting liabilities of individual supervisors. This trend is supported by a series of recent court decisions---ranging from a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in an Americans with Disabilities Act discrimination case, to a California District Court of Appeals decision in an Age Discrimination in Employment Act retaliation case---in which courts have upheld the liability of supervisors. By putting corporate officers and company supervisors at odds as they try to incriminate each other to get themselves off the hook in workplace lawsuits, supervisor liability may become a highly effective and widely used divide and conquer strategy for wronged employees frustrated with employer stonewalling.