New York Employment Lawyer Blog

Nicole Sutton, a former employee of an Apple Computer Store in New York City, has filed suit against the company for perceived disability discrimination. The plaintiff is bringing her federal claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In her complaint, Ms. Sutton claims that she had undergone psychological treatment for a nervous disorder and had taken a company approved medical leave of absence. However, upon her return, she was the subject of in-store gossip, loss of her position - as it had been taken over by another employee, and being placed at a desk in the basement of the store with no work to do.

Ms. Sutton claims that although she was cleared to return to work and capable to perform her duties, Apple perceived her as disabled due to her hospitalization. Sutton is seeking back pay, front pay, and punitive damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The full text of the article can be found here.

The City of New City recently settled a religious discrimination claim against a New York City hospital after it withdrew a job offer because the applicant was unable to work on the Sabbath.

Alisa Dolinsky, the plaintiff, is an Orthodox Jewish nurse who was unable to work from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday due to her religious beliefs. This incident occurred in 2007 and Ms. Dolinsky brought her claim before the New York City Human Rights Commission and it was ultimately settled for $40,000.

This case raises an interesting question as to the burdens on the plaintiff in establishing discrimination in the context of a failure to hire situation. Most employment discrimination cases are brought by employees who are presently with the company or those who have been fired. It is a much less frequent claim when someone has never been employed by a particular company or organization.

The Wall Street Journal article reporting this is available here.

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to review a major class-action gender discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart which may involve anywhere from 500,000 to 1.5 million women.

The case at issue originally involved six female Wal-Mart employees who brought gender discrimination claims regarding unequal compensation and failure to promote as compared to male employees. The case then began to grow into a major class action law suit which could potentially include 1 million current and former female Wal-Mart and Sam's Club employees.

The Supreme Court will not review the facts of the case and determine any liability, rather, its inquiry will be limited to whether such a large number of potential claims can be joined together in a single litigation.

The decision of the Court, which will likely be handed down in the Spring of 2011, is one that is eagerly anticipated by those with interests on both the employee and employer sides of employment litigation due to its potentially significant impact.

Major New York City Restaurant, the Saigon Grill is presently the subject of protests and pickets by its employees. The employees of the Vietnamese restaurant are claiming they are being treated unfairly as a result of their age.

One of the protesters claims they fired him after complaining about alleged age discrimination. They also claim that waiters and busboys who were over the age of 40 were fired, as well, because of their age. Both age discrimination and retaliation after complaining of discrimination are protected under the employment discrimination laws.

In 2008, thirty-six Chinese employees of the restaurant were awarded a $4.6 million settlement for labor law violations such as failure to pay overtime and paying some employees less that $2 per hour.

The full text of the article can be found here.