New York Employment Lawyer Blog

Muslim transit employees being forced to wear an MTA logo on their turbans are arguing that they are being discriminated against by the MTA because of their religion. The employees have complained that the MTA’s forcing this imposition upon Muslims and Sikhs is disrespectful of their religious practices. Recently, the employees took action to try to get rid of the logo once and for all. On June 16, twenty-seven New York City Council members signed a letter sent to New York City Transit President Howard Roberts, calling for him to eliminate the requirement.
The logo requirement started as a compromise to allow Muslims to wear their religious turbans or scarves, but the workers see it as the MTA’s way of presenting an ultimatum that forces the employees to wear a corporate logo in their sacred space if they want to continue working.

Along with this letter from the City Council members, the MTA is also in the midst of a 2004 federal discrimination lawsuit with the U.S. Justice Department regarding employees and their religious headwear. It is still unclear whether the current situation will lead to court action against the MTA as well.
City Councilman John Liu referred to the rule as, “as backwards as you can possible imagine,” while City Councilman David Werpin said, “No one should ever, ever, under any circumstances, have to choose between their livelihood and their religion.”

A fired manager at Justin Timberlake's New York barbeque establishment, Southern Hospitality, has filed a lurid sexual discrimination suit. This is the second time in six months that Mr. Timberlake’s Upper East Side barbecue joint has been sued by a former employee. Previously, in a federal case filed in November, a busboy claimed Southern Hospitality employees weren't getting their fair share of tips and overtime. In this latest legal battle, aspiring actress Alison McDaniel, claims Timberlake business partners Eytan Sugarman and Ronnie Kaplan are guilty of "vile and discriminatory conduct." McDaniel, who worked at the Second Ave restaurant for a year, was fired after she wrote a memo complaining of the harassment. McDaniel, 29, said her job as manager of Southern Hospitality, became an X-rated nightmare in which she was spit on, pelted with expletives and subjected to porn. In at least one instance, McDaniels asserts, that she was locked in a room and forced to watch pornography with Sugarman, whom made fun of her when she began crying. McDaniel’s has filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court naming Timberlake and best friend Tracy Ayala as defendants. According to court papers, McDaniel also alleges other female workers endured racist comments, such as a hostess who was fired, whom was nicknamed "that ghetto girl at the door". No claim has been filed with the EEOC.

A federal judge in Newark, N.J., has construed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as
extending workers' time to sue only for claims based on pay bias. Michael Richards, a
48-year-old man of Asian descent alleged that he received unjustified low ratings in his job on
account of his race and age and in retaliation for his complaints about unfair treatment.

U.S. District Judge Katharine Sweeney Hayden wrote in Richards v. Johnson & Johnson,
"While the Act certainly contains expansive language ... it ... does not save otherwise untimely claims outside the discriminatory compensation context." However, while the act "does not save untimely discrimination claims outside the compensation context, the statute explicitly affirms the evidentiary principle ... that Title VII and the ADEA do not bar an employee from using time-barred acts as background evidence in support of other timely claims," she wrote.

Under the ruling, the plaintiff is still allowed to pursue his race and age discrimination
claims under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the New Jersey Law
Against Discrimination.

Domestic workers, including nannies, working in New York households, are fighting for a Bill of Rights in order to protect themselves from employment discrimination, among other things. Although the bill pertains to New York, if passed, it will be the first such bill in the United States to challenge the exclusion of domestic workers from the protection of national labor law and will set a crucial precedent for other states to follow suit.

Supporters of the bill claim that the domestic workers deserve special protection because they are the most invisible and vulnerable workers in the state. Currently, domestic workers are not covered by employment discrimination laws, occupational safety laws or the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

The RAISE Act, a new law proposed by Senators David Vitter, R.-La and Tom McClintock, R-Ca, changes the cap imposed upon Union employers. Currently, employers can pay their employees no more than the Union’s established ceiling, and no less than the set floor. The RAISE act would allow employers to reward exceptional employees by bumping up their hourly pay for deserving work.

An important provision, however, limits the threat of discriminatory pay. The Act contains a stipulation that prohibits employers from raising non-union employees’ compensation in hopes of undermining the union. The Act can bring significant change by encouraging employees to work harder towards the potential rewards. Under the RAISE Act, the typical union member could earn between $2,600 and $4,300 more per year.

Jane Collins, an employee of the luxury teddy bear company Steiff, has made allegations against Martin Frechen, the company’s CEO, claiming that he sexually harassed her for years, and raped her. Collins alleges that the sexual harassment began in September 2004. Frechen’s conduct included trying to get her to perform sexual acts, rearranging her schedule so that she was forced to work with him, repeatedly grabbing her and trying to force himself upon her and trapping her in a car and raping her. Collins says she didn’t report the rape because she is a single mother and was “terrified” of losing her job.

Collins is also bringing charges against Steiff’s North American CEO James Pitoco, claiming he ignored her complaints about Frechen. Chief Financial Officer Deiter Statzinger says the company “resolutely den[ies] the allegations in the complaint and will vigorously defend the claims in court.” Collins is bringing charges for $80 million in damages.

Melody Morales, a woman suing the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in New York for alleged racial discrimination, was accused of being a prostitute by defense counsel. After pictures surfaced on the internet of Ms. Morales on various websites, defense attorneys brought the matter to the attention of the presiding judge in an attempt to have the case dismissed.

Ms. Morales’ attorneys maintain that their client has never been involved in prostitution, and that the photos in question must have been lifted from her Myspace page and posted on other websites without her knowledge or consent.

Ms. Morales is suing the Hawaiin Tropic Zone for racial discrimination, alleging that they did not hire her for a position with the company due to her Latin accent.

In 2009, the New York Yankees opened a majestic new state-of-the-art stadium, replacing the legendary cathedral that had housed the team for over eighty years. The theme of replacing the old has not stopped there, according to a former long-time employee. JohnVendikos, who worked as a bartender at the old Yankee Stadium’s Stadium Club for twenty-seven years, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on May 26, alleging age discrimination by the Yankees.

Despite his long-time employment, the team informed the 73-year old Vendikos that he would be required to re-apply for his job when the new stadium opened across the street. He dutifully complied with the demand, since he wanted to continue to work for the Yankees.
Vendikos said that after waiting in line for three hours to be interviewed with Legends Hospitality, the new merchandising/concessions company co-founded by the Yankees, the interviewer asked him, “Why should I hire you? You’re an old man!” Vendikos thought the interviewer was joking, but when he found him to be serious, Vendikos was shocked and insulted. Then the veteran drink-server, who had been a bartending staple at the stadium since the early 1980s, never even received a phone call from the Yankees.

A Yankees spokesperson told the New York Post that the team has hired many people over the age of 65 at the new stadium and that the organization did not discriminate against Vendikos.

Vendikos’s attorney Lenard Leeds sees it differently, stating, “We can’t believe that after 27 years, that John was told you’re just too old. We wonder what George Steinbrenner would say. He used to serve George Steinbrenner.” Leeds says that this is a textbook case of age discrimination.

Oil giant, ConocoPhillips, which operates refineries around the world, agreed to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the lawsuit, ConocoPhillips unlawfully discriminated against Clarence Taylor, a pipe fitter, at its refinery in Linden, N.J. Taylor had served as a deacon in his congregation, and in May 2006, was informed by the company that he was required to work a schedule that would force him to miss Sunday mass or else he would be terminated.

“If reasonable alternatives exist, the law does not allow an employer to force an employee to choose between keeping his job and practicing his faith,” said District Director Spencer H. Lewis of the EEOC’s New York District Office.

ConocoPhillips actions, violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees’ and applicants’ sincerely held religious beliefs.

The EEOC had sought relief for Taylor and policy changes at ConocoPhillips, including: revised employment policies and new training for its managers. ConocoPhillips has agreed to the recommend changes by the EEOC and will provide $20,000 to resolve the ligation, including relief for Taylor and a donation to charity, as well as five days of additional leave for Taylor.

Duane Reade Inc., the well-known drug store chain that operates over 200 stores in the New York area, will pay $240,000 and furnish other substantial relief to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According the lawsuit, Duane Reade unlawfully created, maintained and failed to remedy a hostile work environment at one of its Bronx Stores by subjecting several female employees to sexual and pregnancy harassment. The lawsuit claimed that the store manager, Madiaw Diaw, frequently made vulgar remarks about women’s private parts, sexually propositioned female employees, made lewd comments about their pregnancies and bodies, assigned unfavorable job duties to pregnant employees, and repeatedly grabbed female employees, including grabbing their buttocks. Moreover, employees who complained and filed discrimination charges with the EEOC were retaliated against by being subjected to further harassment by their supervisors.

“This settlement achieves the EEOC’s objectives by providing appropriate relief to the victims of sexual harassment while implementing appropriate measures to prevent this kind of violation in the future,” said Spencer H. Lewis, director of the EEOC’s New York district office. The EEOC sought both money damages as well as improvements in training and other policies.

In the current economic climate, many people are finding themselves out of work. People who have spent years working for the same company are finding themselves spending their days searching for jobs. While many find the task difficult, those aged 45 and over have the hardest time landing that new job. A recent New York Times article found that not only did it take longer for this age group to find jobs, 22.2 weeks as compared to 16.2 weeks for their younger counterparts, but they also faced a much steeper drop in earnings once they found a new job. In 2005, a professor at Texas A&M University conducted a study in which she sent out 4,000 resumes for a hypothetical woman changing only the high school graduation year. She found that workers under 50 were 40 percent more likely to be called for an interview.

The article continued by documenting the plight of older, laid off workers, many of whom have children already in college or attending in the next few years. These workers are frustrated with their inability to change their situation. Some have resorted to thinking about a change in career, hoping that a different career will be easier to break into. Either way, these workers feel sure they are being discriminated against because of their age, something they recognize each time they interview.

In what may become a landmark case in employment discrimination law the Supreme Court is set to rule on the case of Ricci v. DeStefano by the end of this month. Making the case even more intriguing is that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, was on the three-judge panel that rejected the claim of three white police officers who argued that they were victims of racial discrimination when they were denied promotion.

Ricci deals with two provisions of the Civil Rights Act, which in essence contradict each other. One part of the Act states that no employee may be discriminated against because of his or her race, sex, religion or national origin. Another part of the Act exposes an employer to liable for using a hiring or promotional standard that has a “disparate impact on the basis of race,” unless it can be defended as a “business necessity.” During oral arguments, Justice Souter, whom Sotomayer is nominated to replace, commented that these two provisions put the employer in a “damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation.”

In Ricci, the city of New Haven decided to throw out the scores of white firefighters, who were taking the exams to be promoted, because it feared that a potential lawsuit when no black firefighters scored high enough to be promoted. The outcome of this case will prove to have profound effects on employment discrimination practices across the country.

Howard Hoffman, a traveling salesman who resided in Atlanta, Georgia, brought an age discrimination suit against his former employer Parade Magazine, a New York State employer, after he was terminated and replaced by a younger employee. Hoffman received the phone call informing him of his termination from Parade Magazine while he was sitting on a plane in Atlanta.

Parade moved to dismiss the claim on grounds that New York court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, since the termination did not occur in New York City or New York State citing Shah v. Wilco Sys., Inc. 27 A.D.3d 169 (N.Y. App. Div. 2005). Shah had held that “the locus of the decision to terminate is of no moment, and that what was significant is where the impact was felt."

However, on appeal the Appellate Division, 1st Department on May 7, 2009, declined to apply Shah’s “impact rule” and instead chose to focus on whether the discriminatory action took place within New York, which was the reasoning applied in the federal district court in Rylott-Rooney v. Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane-Socita Per Azioni, 549 F.Supp.2d 549 (S.D.N.Y. 2008). The First Department held that “Shah could not be applied so broadly as to preclude a discrimination action where the allegations support the assertion that the act of discrimination, the discriminatory decision, was made in this state.” The court further declared that “application of logic and common sense alone would dictate that if an employer located in New York made discriminatory hiring and firing decisions, those decisions would be properly viewed as discriminatory acts occurring within the boundaries of New York.”

It has been reported that conservatives will attempt to use a recent ruling by Judge Sotomayor and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to support their veto of President Obama’s decision to appoint Judge Sotomayor as the Supreme Court Justice. Sotomayor would be replacing Justice Souter. The Second Circuit, along with Judge Sotomayor, recently ruled against the Plaintiffs in a reverse discrimination suit brought by Caucasian firefighters against the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The city disposed of the results of a promotion exam when no African American firefighters scored high enough to be promoted, which the Caucasian firefighters argued was clear reverse discrimination.

Conservatives are likely to attack Judge Sotomayor on the claim she is unwilling to fairly assess cases of parties whose claims she does not like. The United States Supreme Court will hear the firefighters’ appeal, and it may rule in June 2009, before the Senate will hold the confirmation hearing regarding Judge Sotomayor’s Supreme Court appointment. The ruling by the Supreme Court may bear heavily on how Judge Sotomayor is viewed and could effect her confirmation as Justice Souter’s replacement.

The second sexual harassment suit against Southern Hospitality, Justin Timberlake’s Upper East Side restaurant was recently filed in the New York State Supreme Court. The complaint alleges that Timberlake’s business partners, are guilty of “vile and discriminatory conduct” including, specifically, that Timberlake’s partners viewed pornography while locked in a room with the plaintiff and laughed at her when she began to cry.

The complaint also alleges race discrimination in that a hostess who was given the nickname, “that ghetto girl at the door” was terminated by the company.

There has been no comment on this issue by Southern Hospitality or their publicist.

Duane Reade, Inc. must pay $240,000 to female employees who suffered sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination while working at the pharmacy.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) filed suit against the popular New York City pharmacy on behalf of female employees for creating a hostile and threatening environment. A Duane Reade manager in a Bronx location sexually harassed the women by making inappropriate comments about womens’ private parts, sexually propositioning female employees, making explicit remarks about their pregnancies and bodies, repeatedly touching the female employees and grabbing their buttocks and assigning unfavorable duties to the pregnant employees.

A retaliation claim was also brought by the EEOC on behalf of the female employees because, after they complained about their supervisors’ unlawful behavior, Duane Reade allowed the discrimination to continue instead of remedying the hostile work environment.

In 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, _ U.S. __, 129 S.Ct. 1456 (Apr. 1, 2009), the United States Supreme Court determined that, as a matter of law, a union may, through a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”), waive an individual’s right to present statutory claims of employment discrimination to a jury. The concern, however, which the Court recognized, is that since the union has control over which claims go to arbitration and which claims do not, the union could effectively prevent the employee from any kind of trial, whether through arbitration or through court.

The courts are now beginning to define the limits of Pyett. In Kravar v. Triangle Services, Inc., No. 06-cv-07858 (RJH) (S.D.N.Y. May 19, 2009), a court issued one of the first decisions applying Pyett. In Kravar, the employee sought to submit her claims to a jury. She argue that arbitration was possible for her because she had tried to submit her claim to the union, but was told that she “could not do so because the union was most likely to dismiss [her] complaint.” Id. at pg. 5-6. The Court, denying the motion to compel arbitration, held that:

The current record is sparse, but it only supports a single conclusion: The CBA here operated to preclude Ms. Kravar from raising her disability-discrimination claims in any forum. As such, the CBA operated as a waiver over Ms. Kravar’s substantive rights, and may not be enforced.

The Court noted that these facts “falls within an exception to the enforceability of a union-negotiated arbitration agreement expressly noted in Pyett.”

Accordingly, while a waiver of a jury contained in a CBA is enforceable, a jury will remain available if the union, in deciding which cases go to arbitration, prevents the individual from having his or her claims heard.

On January 1, 2009 amendments made to the Americans with Disability Act (“ADA”) went into effect. The amendments significantly broaden the coverage of the ADA by overturning two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that had made it more difficult for individuals to establish they were “disabled” under and covered by the ADA. The new law strongly states that the definition of “disability” is to be interpreted “in favor of broad coverage of individuals . . . to the maximum extent permitted by the terms of [the ADA].” The bottom line is that many more people will be covered by the new, expanded definition of “disability.”

Under both the original ADA and the Amendment, a “disabled” person is one who has, “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,” a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. However under the Amendment, the “regarded as” prong of the definition of disability has been amended to require that the individual be regarded as having an impairment, without regard to whether it substantially limits a major life activity. The only requirement for the “regarded as” prong is that the impairment must not be minor (undefined) or transitory (lasting less than 6 months).

The Amendment also defines and vastly expands the term “major life activities” from the prior definition.

The Amendment further overturns two United States Supreme Court decisions: Sutton v. United Airlines, Inc., 527 U.S. 471 (1999) and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002). In Sutton, the Supreme Court held that the determination of whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity must be made considering the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures. The Amendment reverses this holding and requires that impairments be evaluated without regard to the ameliorative effects of mitigation measures (such as hearing aids and medication; however, normal eye glasses and contact lenses still should not be considered). The Amendment also overturns the holding in Toyota, which held that the ADA terms “major”and“substantial” were to be interpreted strictly under a demanding standard to prove one is disabled, and defining “substantially limited” as “severely restricts.” The Amendment states that the term disability is to be viewed broadly and that the EEOC should promulgate regulations redefining “substantially limited” in line with the original purpose of the ADA.

Another important change requires that impairments that are episodic or in remission qualify as a disability if they would qualify in their active stage. Thus, an individual with cancer that is currently in remission, would have their condition evaluated in its active stage. This change, along with the change regarding mitigating measures, moves numerous conditions (cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.) from a case by case determination to almost certain status as a disability.

A social work supervisor who was terminated in February of 2005, as a result of nine allegations of sexual harassment being filed against him, ultimately prevailed in a settlement that will allow him to truthfully say on future job applications that he quit and was not fired.

The supervisor, Cesar Bedroni, had worked in San Luis Obispo County, California and was terminated by the county to emphasize that sexual harassment would not be tolerated from county employees. Bedroni appealed his firing and, after hearing testimony from those involved, the Civil Service Commission ultimately suspended him for three months without pay and gave him his job back. This decision pitted the Board of Supervisors against the Civil Service Commission which meant that the county was suing itself. Despite that a Superior Court judge then ruled that the Civil Service Commission had not acted unreasonably in restoring Bedroni’s position, the County again fired Bedroni when he returned to his job.

Bedroni then filed the instant lawsuit alleging that he was retaliated against by the county for successfully challenging his first dismissal.

A federal jury recently awarded a Middle School Teacher on Long Island five million dollars after she was fired for making a complaint of sexual harassment against the school's principal, according to an article in the May 7, 2009 edition of New York Newsday.

The teacher claimed the principal had used sexist language in her presence and after her complaints were made, the principal would bet other staff members whether he would be able to "make her cry." In addition to the award to the teacher, her husband was also awarded $250,000 as compensation for his wife's emotional pain and suffering.

This case illustrates that retaliation in the workplace is often times more severe than the underlying discrimination. Judges and juries regularly believe that organizations should "know better" that once someone complains about discrimination they deserve protection, not retaliation.

The New York City Human Rights law which protects employees against all forms of discrimination, also has one of the broadest anti-retaliation provisions of any law in the country.

In order to have a claim of retaliation under the New York City Human Rights Law, an employee must complain about race, gender, age, sex, national origin, pregnancy or disability discrimination. The employee need not prove that the discrimination actually existed, merely that the employee had a good faith, reasonable belief that they were being discriminated against on one of those bases.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964, the federal anti-discrimination and retaliation law, an employer to be found liable for retaliation must take adverse employment action against an employee. Such adverse employment actions include termination, demotion, withholding compensation and others.

Under the New York City Human Rights Law, the conduct of the employer does not need to be adverse employment action, merely conduct that is reasonably likely to deter an employee from complaining of discrimination. This provides much broader protection.

The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) filed suit against Jon Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, Inc., an Atlanta-based home builder, for pattern and practice race discrimination. Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, Inc. assigned sales agents to housing communities based solely on their race. The African American agents were assigned to housing communities comprised of lower-priced homes while the Caucasian agents were assigned to housing communities of the more expensive homes. Accordingly, the African American sales agents were making significantly less commissions than their white peers.

The management expressly stated that the goal of such assignments was to hire and assign employees whose race corresponded with the predominate population of each community. The EEOC became involved when a human resource representative refused to participate in this discriminatory process. The complaint alleges that the company’s discriminatory conduct violated Title VII and seeks back pay and compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the affected African American sales agents. Additionally, the EEOC seeks injunctive relief in an effort to stop the company’s racial discrimination.

A former Bay Minnete, Alabama employee, Deanna M. Rider, has brought a sexual harassment and workplace retaliation suit under Title VII of the Equal Pay Act, alleging that Public Works Director Lamar Hadley propositioned her for sex, slapped her on the rear and tried to feel her breasts. The suit also alleges that upon receiving her complaint of the alleged sexually harassing acts, the city fired her from her position.

Among the allegations contained in the complaint were that Hadley called Rider at home, made numerous advances toward her and, on one occasion, asked Rider to take off her panties and show Hadley her private area.

National Equal Pay Day is designated on a Tuesday each April to remind people that on the time line of a pay period that starts on Monday, women’s wages do not catch up to men’s pay, from Monday through Friday, until the following Tuesday. This means that on average, female employees have to work more than six days to earn what men earn in five days. This demonstrates the underlying trend that female workers earn about 80% of what men earn for comparable positions and work, which is blatant gender discrimination.

The disparity between male and female compensation is not as stark in the public sector as it is in the private sector. A recent study conducted by the Government Accountability Office concluded that women who worked in Federal government positions have improved their relative position vis a vis their male counterparts in recent years, to the tune of earning 89% of what male employees earn (compared with 72% approximately 20 years ago). Providing for considerations of women choosing less lucrative positions and taking more time out from employment, this study reported that women actually earn 93% of men’s earnings, implying that their “catch-up clock” actually rang on Monday at 2pm, as opposed to their privately employed female counterparts.

The report emphasized two factors that have helped spur women’s gains (1) the characteristics of the female employment pool, including educational advances which now closely resemble those of me and (2) changes in the occupational mix including less female employees working in clerical positions than 20 years ago.

The discrepancy between the gaps in private and public earnings may suggest that hiring and promotion policies play an important role in this outcome. Whereas it is not the case in private employment, job descriptions are more standardized for government employment and pay scales are a matter of public record.

A woman has sued ABC and ‘Lost’ actor Henry Ian Cusick claiming that the actor sexually harassed her, and that ABC fired her in retaliation after she complained. The lawsuit claims that Cusick, who stars as Desmond Hume on ‘Lost,’ fondled the woman’s buttocks and breasts, and kissed her on the lips in October 2007. The woman alleges that when she reported the incident to her supervisor, she was told to avoid Cusick, and then was fired 12 days later. She had worked for ABC since 1997. The complaint did not specify the amount of damages the woman is seeking.

The Illinois Supreme Court has held that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office is liable for damages and legal costs in a sexual harassment case brought by a records clerk. The clerk, Donna Feleccia Scroggin, alleged that she was sexually harassed by sheriff’s Sergeant, Ron Yanor. Scroggin claimed that Yanor had invited her to come to a bar, showed up at her house uninvited, tried to kiss her and sent her a letter written on Illinois Department of Public Health stationary that falsely indicated that she had been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease. The Illinois Human Rights Commission awarded Scroggin $10,000 in damages and $13,400 to cover her legal fees. The Commission held that the sheriff’s office response to Scroggin’s claims were reprehensible, as they only suspended Yanor for four days and told Scroginn not to go public with her charges. The appellate court had reversed the Commission’s ruling, holding that the sheriff’s office was not responsible for Yanor’s actions because Scroggin was not under their direct supervision. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed and reinstated the Commission’s ruling, finding that the evidence of the forged letter, together with the other conduct that was proved by Scroggin, was sufficient to establish a hostile working environment and sexual harassment claim.

A cell biologist is seeking tens of thousands of dollars in damages from the University of Chicago, her former employer, for gender discrimination. According to a recent article in the Chi-Town Daily News, the biologist lost her job in 2006, when she ran out of grant money. She claims that during the 10 years she spent at the university, she was given low-level tasks and experiments that could have been performed by students and non-technical personnel. Her complaint alleges that she was passed up for promotions and paid less than her male peers. The complaint also states that the university used $143,000 in grant money, that she procured for her own research, on a male colleague’s research.

Sex or gender discrimination occurs when an employer treats an employee or prospective employee differently solely based upon his or her gender. The law against sex or gender discrimination covers a number of issues that employees may face in the workplace, such as sexual harassment, difficulties with equal pay and the existence of a "glass ceiling" that prevents women from reaching the highest level positions in a company.

Executive Officer Leanne Siri, the highest ranked civilian woman at Dallas Fire-Rescue, filed a Federal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission on Friday, April 24, 2009. Siri, alleged that she was demoted, losing 30% of her current pay, after complaining of “lewd emails and sexual harassment form higher-ups.”

Dallas City Attorney Thomas Perkins, speaking on behalf of the city and the department, refused to address Siri’s allegations, but did state that the fire department chief, Eddie Burns, has expanded opportunities for women within the fire department, and made it easier to file employment discrimination complaints.

In addition to Siri’s complaint, the fire department also faces two other gender discrimination complaints and a lawsuit.

The Waterford Township of Michigan has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former Waterford Police Department clerk against the township and its police department. Penny Jo Dye alleged that she was subject to degrading and inflamed comments made about her breasts and tight pants after she gave statements backing a sexual harassment claim brought by a co-worker against the police department. After Dye filed a complaint with the township’s Fiscal and Human Resources Department about sexual harassment, she alleged that the township refused to interfere and instead, retaliated against her. The retaliatory conduct included isolating Dye by taking her job responsibilities away from her, withholding training and commencing unwarranted internal investigations to discipline her. Dye was ultimately terminated from her position.

The Township agreed to settle her case for $325,000 in exchange for dismissing the lawsuit. Under the settlement agreement, Dye is prohibited from applying to future employment opportunities with the Waterford Township.

According to a recent article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a male registered nurse, Roy E. Dreshman, Jr., has filed a claim against his former employer, Henry Clay Villa, in the United States District Court in Pittsburgh for sexual harassment, gender discrimination and age discrimination. In the complaint, Dreshman alleges that soon after two of his co-workers recognized him to be a former stripper, some employees began to pass around photographs of him as a dancer, solicited lap dances, asked him to perform at bachelorette parties and groped him. One employee even decorated her office with a poster of Dreshman as a male stripper. Residents of the nursing home also participated in discriminatory conduct against Dreshman by telling him, “Oh, my gosh, you are one of them go-go boys,” and calling him a “hootchie-kootchie dancer.”

Dreshman also alleges that the nursing home discriminated against him based on his gender and age by favoring female nurses for full-time positions over male nurses. Dreshman was told that he was a "pretty boy" and that "males did not ‘belong’ in the nursing field.” In the complaint, he also alleges that instead of launching an investigation after receiving his complaint, the management of the nursing home retaliated against him, leading to his ultimate termination.

In a complaint filed in September 2007 with the New York State Division of Human Rights, a former sheriff’s confidential executive assistant in Tompkins County claimed she was sexually harassed and subjected to gender discrimination by the Sheriff over a period of two years and then was retaliated against after complaining about the alleged behavior. Robin Korherr claims the sexual harassment began in 2005 while she was going through a divorce. Tompkins County Sheriff Peter Meskill allegedly tried to grope and kiss Korherr on several occasions. Korherr also alleges that Meskill often called her after he had been drinking to tell her how beautiful she was.

Korherr says she asked her boss several times to rectify the situation and that Meskill would initially apologize, but then become aggressive in his harassment again. In early 2007, Meskill took away her privileges and enforced new rules which made it impossible for Korherr to work. Korherr believes that these actions were retaliation against her for refusing to sleep with Meskill. In late 2007, Korherr left the job to work for the New York State Office of Homeland Security.

On March 26, 2009, the New York State Division of Human Rights found probable cause to hear Korherr’s case. Korherr provided testimony for her case during a hearing on April 23, 2009 after two hours of private negotiations in an attempt to reach a settlement. Meskill is expected to testify at a later date.

This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Ricci v. DiStefano case. The case centers on whether a city may decline to accept the results of a civil service exam in which there were no minority candidates eligible for promotion. Ultimately, the City of New Haven did not accept the results of the exam which impacted the white firefighters who had passed the test. The City argues that the act was “race neutral” as both minority and non-minority applicants were not promoted and thus no one was harmed.

According to a recent New York Times article, Chief Justice Roberts raised the question that if the City does not like the results of an exam, whether that gives them a “blank check to discriminate.” This case is unique as it presents issues of race discrimination from both sides. The minority candidates can argue that they were disadvantaged by a biased and flawed exam and the non-minority candidates can claim that there was reverse race discrimination by the City when it chose not to accept the results of the exam. Whatever the outcome, this case presents very relevant issues of race discrimination in the employment law context.

In response to a harassment suit filed by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Palm Beach Division, Nordstrom, Inc. agreed to pay $292,500 in damages to 10 former employees. The suit alleged that the department store manager “harassed Hispanic and black employees based on their national origin, race and color, and retaliated against those who complained about the harassment” in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

According to a recent press release issued by the EEOC, the lawsuit contained allegations that the alterations department manager made statements that she “hate[d] Hispanics,” and that they were “lazy” and “ignorant.” EEOC Regional Attorney Nora E. Curtain explained one of the major problems was that “instead of dealing with the despicable racial and ethnic comments, Nordstrom management allowed the harasser to retaliate against the employees for complaining.”

In addition to damages, Nordstrom also agreed to distribute its policy addressing unlawful harassment to employees, provide harassment training, post a notice of the lawsuit resolution and submit semi-annual reports to the EEOC on all harassment complaints received.

In a stark reversal of both its own prior decisions and the majority of the lower federal appellate courts, in the case of 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, (April 1, 2009), the U.S. Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, held that a union, through a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”), may waive the rights of its members to bring claims of employment discrimination in court. Union members, therefore, are only entitled to assert claims in a union-sponsored arbitration, and not in court before a jury.

Despite the Supreme Court’s holding in Pyett, many issues remain unresolved. For example, the union, in a brief submitted to the Court, argued that the CBA provision at issue was never intended to limit a union member’s right to go to court for an employment discrimination claim. In fact, the union submitted evidence that during the negotiations for the CBA, management sought language that would clearly place such a limit on union members, which the union rejected. The Supreme Court, however, did not address this issue.

The Court also did not address the fact that the arbitration provisions could effectively deny union members the right to assert claims in any forum. Under the CBA, only the union, and not the individual employee, may bring a claim. If the union desires not to bring an employee’s claim, for whatever reason, that employee will have no remedy whatsoever. Even if a claim is brought to arbitration, it is the union’s claim, and not the employee’s claim, so that the union could settle the claim or even withdraw it, without the individual’s consent. The employee does not even need to be at the arbitration. The Court did not hear this issue, however, sending the case back to the lower courts to decide this issue and others.

The Supreme Court, in Pyett, clearly wanted to hold that, as a matter of law, a union may waive an individual’s right to a jury in employment discrimination cases. It remains to be seen, however, whether this particular CBA waiver, which clearly has a negative impact on an individual employee’s rights, will stand.

According to recent articles in The Washington Post and on CNN.com, two U.S. Army recruits of Sikh faith have filed complaints with the Army and U.S. Department of Defense for religious discrimination over policies requiring them to cut their hair and beards and prohibiting them from wearing a dastaar, which is a turban worn as part of the Sikh religion. Captain Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, a doctor specializing in emergency medicine, and Second Lieutenant Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, were told that their hair and dastaars would not be a problem at the time they were enrolling in the Army’s Health Professional Scholarship Program, which pays for medical education in return for military service. However, they are now being told that to become eligible for active duty in the Army in July 2009, they must cut their hair and beards and remove their dastaars. They are both fighting against the military regulations because it is preventing them from serving their country as medical personnel for soldiers.

The miliary regulations implemented by the Department of Defense permit religious headgear to be worn only if it can be completely covered by the military headgear. Since other headgear is not allowed to be worn on top of the dastaar, Sikhs cannot abide by the regulations. The two Army recruits, who are represented by the Sikh Coalition, a New York-based national advocacy group for the Sikh community, are asking the military to respect their religion and to not make them cut their hair and beards and remove their dastaars because those are mandatory articles of faith according to their religion. If the two Army recruits are unsuccessful, they will be honorably discharged and required to pay back their medical and dental school loans.

On April 13, 2009, Federal District Court Judge, Lawrence O. Anderson, entered a judgement of over $267,000 as well as significant injunctive relief in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in an employment discrimination lawsuit against Sunfire Glass Inc. The lawsuit charged that Sunfire’s owner, Paul McBride, subjected a class of female employees to severe physical and verbal sexual harassment in violation of Federal law.

Judge Anderson found that McBride sexually harassed two female glassblowers by touching the women on their breasts and between their legs, hitting the women on the buttocks, making obscene gestures and verbally harassing the women by talking about their bodies and using vulgar language. The two women, Tineke Meyer and Karina Mercado, complained repeatedly to management, but no action was taken to stop the sexual harassment. As a result of the severe abuse, the women were left no choice but to resign.

In addition to the monetary damages awarded, Judge Anderson also ordered Sunfire enjoined from engaging in sex discrimination and ordered the company to train employees on employment discrimination and sexual harassment, to post notices about sex discrimination and to create anti-discrimination policies and procedures.

Without the courage of these two women to stand up for themselves, the heinous conduct at Sunfire would not have been exposed. Perhaps their courage will stand as an example, and empower people to stand up for themselves, and for each other when confronted with employment discrimination or sexual harassment.

According to a press release issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. and its related affiliates, operators of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, have settled a suit brought by the EEOC in 2005 against the company alleging national origin discrimination. Skilled Healthcare Group will pay approximately $450,000 as well as provide substantial remedial relief to a class of Hispanic workers employed at its nursing and assisted living homes.

The EEOC filed suit in response to Skilled Healthcare Group’s implementation of an “English-only” rule that was allegedly only enforced against Hispanic employees. In its complaint, the EEOC identified more than 50 Hispanic employees at Skilled Healthcare Group facilities who were subjected to different terms and conditions of employment, harassment, as well as differing standards for promotion and compensation. The suit initially arose out of a charge of employment discrimination by a Spanish speaking janitor who was fired from one of Skilled Healthcare Group’s facilities in California for violating the company’s English-only policy while other employees were permitted to speak their respective native languages without repercussion. The EEOC further alleged that some of these Hispanic works were prohibited from speaking Spanish to Spanish speaking residents and were even disciplined for speaking Spanish on their breaks while in the parking lot. Moreover, the EEOC alleged that the Hispanic workers were promoted less than their non-Hispanic counterparts, paid less and consistently given less desirable work.

As part of the remedial measures being provided by Skilled Healthcare Group, employees will receive annual national origin discrimination training, patients and facility residents will receive education regarding employee’s rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the company will designate an Equal Employment Opportunity monitor to more closely supervise any future employment discrimination complaints, and the company will report their employment practices to the EEOC annually.

A group of employees have initiated a lawsuit against Dell Inc. on claims of age discrimination and sex discrimination. The suit was initiated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and was later moved to the Western District of Texas. According to a recent article on ComputerWorld.com, the plaintiffs, who include four former human resources executives, allege that Dell discriminated against women and workers over 40 years of age in numerous areas, including pay, promotion and layoffs. The lawsuit claims that Dell’s executive management team included 14 males and no females, and that women were given lower level positions with less pay than men. Dell has denied the claims and says that the layoffs were consistent with the company’s business needs, and not aimed at particular employees. The company also argues that any losses or damages that were suffered by the plaintiffs were caused by their own actions or conduct. The plaintiffs are currently seeking class-action status, while Dell has moved to dismiss the suit.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, Inc. will pay $255,000 in order to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit. As part of the settlement, it will also investigate anonymous sexual harassment claims, conduct more employee training and report instances of sexual harassment claims for three years.

Cracker Barrel was accused of allowing sexual jokes and lewd remarks to be made to seven female employees at one of its locations in Cedar Bluff, TN. The company did not take action when the women complained to managers and the Cracker Barrel complaint line. According to a recent article in The Tennessean, Cracker Barrel decided to settle the sexual harassment suit in order to maintain a good relationship with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

This is not the first time Cracker Barrel was accused of allowing workplace discrimination practices to occur at one of its locations. In 2006, Cracker Barrel paid $2 million in a consent decree to resolve a race discrimination and sexual harassment suit involving 51 employees at three Illinois restaurant locations.

Sexual harassment can include any unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or verbal or physical conduct that creates an offensive or sexually charged work environment for employees of either gender.

In two recent sexual harassment cases in New York, one state and one Federal, the Courts reinforced the broadening of the protection of the New York City Human Rights Law in sexual harassment cases. In Williams v. The New York City Housing Authority, 872 NYS2d 27 (1st Dept. 2009) and Zarkzewska v. The New School, 06 Civ. 5463 (LAK), the Courts addressed The Restoration Act of 2005 amendments to the New York City Human Rights Law, which refer to the Act’s “uniquely broad and remedial purposes.”

In Williams, the Court determined that under the New York City Human Rights Law, a sexual harassment case should not be analyzed under the traditional framework set forth by the Federal courts in determining what is actionable harassment. Further, the Court noted that the classification of conduct as “severe and pervasive” does not apply to claims brought under the New York City Human Rights Law.

In Zarkzewska, the Court ruled that under the New York City Human Rights Law, defendants are not entitled to an affirmative defense that exists under the Federal law.

The decision in Williams is perhaps most significant because now, when analyzing a case of sexual harassment under the New York City Human Rights Law the question is not whether the conduct is severe and pervasive but rather “the primary issue for a trier of fact in harassment cases...is whether the plaintiff has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that she has been treated less well than other employees because of her gender.”

The New York City Council, by its enactment of the Restoration act of 2005, has once again established itself as a leader in the preservation of an individual’s human rights in the workplace. The Court’s interpretation of the Restoration Act has sent the clear message that sexual harassment in the workplace of any kind will not be tolerated.

Two New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) employees recently filed a troubling sex discrimination lawsuit. According to a recent article in the New York Daily News, the two female employees, Lillian Padilla and Magda Rodriguez, claimed they are subjected to entirely different conditions than their male counterparts. The allegations state that the women are consistently given the hardest and dirtiest jobs, are victimized by a barrage of threats and insults, and are denied showers or changing rooms after spending hours working in sewage. The complaint further alleges that the women, both of whom are lesbians, are subjected to derogatory slurs attacking their sexual orientation, and have also been unwillingly exposed to pornographic materials.

According to the complaint, this is not the first instance of sex discrimination committed by the DEP. The women claim that other female employees have left the company because of similar treatment, causing a shocking disparity in the male to female ratio at the DEP, with only five female laborers out of the 426 currently employed. Furthermore, when attempting to assert their rights, the female employees were threatened by management and continued to receive harsh treatment. However, despite these acts, all Padilla and Rodriguez are seeking is the same treatment as their male co-workers. Says Rodriguez, “I just want the policies changed so that women have equal rights. I have no shower. She has no shower. We work in sewage. That’s what we do all day.” The DEP is said to be currently investigating the claim.

Age discrimination complaints were up 30% in the 2008 fiscal year compared to 2007 according to statistics compiled by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The vast majority of age discrimination complaints involved layoffs. Evaluating just how pervasive age discrimination is in the current job market is difficult, although older workers obviously believe it is rampant. Sixty percent of workers 45 to 75 said they had seen or experienced age bias according to a 2007 AARP survey.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, as a result of our current economic crisis, more older workers are trying to either stay in the workforce or return to it, but with great difficulty. Older workers must battle stereotypes about their energy and adaptability, as well as the reality that their healthcare costs are greater. Interviews conducted with older, out-of-work executives reveal heart breaking stories regarding their efforts to secure new employment after being laid off. Many have considered taking positions that are far below their experience level in order to remain in the workforce.

A recent article in New York Metro discussed the impact of the recession on women and how it is a misconception that the downturn has only significantly impacted men. There are many studies, reports and statistics that discuss how many jobs have been lost - for instance, 80% of “on the books” jobs lost between November 2007 and November 2008 were held by men.

However, these statistics do not show the true impact of the downturn. There are many women who are employed in jobs or categories of jobs which are not reported. Some examples of these jobs are household help, nannies and other caretakers. Women in these job categories are often ineligible for unemployment insurance as well. Additionally, many part-time jobs are not included in these studies and women are generally more likely to hold these positions than men.

A recent New York Times article noted that millions of Americans have delayed their retirement due to plummeting 401(k)s, lack of confidence in Social Security benefits and increasing health care costs. Due to the increase of older workers in the labor market, younger workers are facing a scarcity in available jobs in certain industries.

According to recent reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of employed workers ages 16 to 24 has fallen by two million over the past two years. Yet, the number of working Americans age 65 and over has risen by over 700,000 over the same time span. In a decade perspective, the number of working Americans age 65 and over has risen 11% from 10 years ago. The number of working Americans age 16-24 has fallen 10% from a decade ago. The employed number for Americans in the age range of 25-29 has fallen 7% from a decade ago.

Recent college graduates are finding it hard to break into certain industries. Younger males with little or no college education have felt the harshest employment impact because they often are the first to be laid off in an economic downturn. People in this category found jobs easily when the economy was healthy, but they now face the greatest competition from older, more experienced workers. At the same time, many older workers say they suffer from age discrimination in certain industries as some employers tend to favor more youthful and energetic employees. “In a bad labor market, different groups perceive that they’re being discriminated against when the real problem is they’re being mistreated by the overall economy,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, an economics professor at the New School of Social Research and author of “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

The Florida Department of Corrections faces a lawsuit from more than 100 female employees alleging sexual harassment from male inmates under the Civil Rights Act, which provides the right for employees to be free from sex discrimination and harassment in the workplace. According to a recent article in The Miami Herald, the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, described “conduct so hostile, notorious and commonplace that it is referred to by prison staff and inmates as ‘gunning.’”

The suit follows a recent jury award of $1.6 million for female workers who faced similar treatment by inmates. Walter McNeil, Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, acknowledged that such incidents do occur in the workplace, but assured that steps were being taken to protect female employees. For example, last year, the Florida Department of Corrections changed its rules to make intentional exposure of genitals or masturbating by an inmate result in 60 days in disciplinary confinement and the loss of 90 days of gain time.

A recently published study initiated by a coalition of legal, civil rights and industry leaders who created the Madison Avenue Project in 2008 in conjunction with the NAACP highlighted the bias against African-American professionals in the advertising industry in all areas including pay, hiring, promotions, assignments and other areas. The study, entitled “Research Perspectives on Race and Employment in the Advertising Industry,” found that racial discrimination is 38 percent worse in the advertising industry than in the overall U.S. labor market. In addition, the study found that the “discrimination divide” between the advertising industry and other U.S. industries is more than twice as bad now than it was 30 years ago.

One of the most surprising statistics highlighted in the report was that approximately 16% of large advertising firms employ no African-American managers or professionals, a rate that is 60% higher than in the overall labor market. It was also found that African-Americans working in the advertising industry earn $.80 for every dollar earned by their equally-qualified white colleagues.

The study suggested that systemic barriers to equality in the advertising industry have not budged in the last 40 years. It was concluded that appropriate responses to racial discrimination within the advertising industry included rooting out stereotypes which determine employment potential and eliminating assumptions that racial minorities cannot succeed in non-ethnic markets. The NAACP plans to circulate the report to its members, as well as Fortune 100 companies in an attempt to urge them to stop aiding and abetting racial discrimination in the advertising industry.

A U.S. Air Force reservist who lost his job after being called to active duty has just won an award of at least $1 million dollars. The plaintiff, Michael Serricchio, worked as a financial advisor for Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, when he was called to active duty in 2001. By the time he returned to his job, his clients had dispersed and Mr. Serricchio was offered a position on far less favorable terms.

A jury had determined in June 2008 that Wachovia had violated Mr. Serricchio's rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act, which requires employees returning from service be given a comparable position. The jury in New Haven, Connecticut, awarded Mr. Serricchio approximately $400,000 in back pay and interest and $300,000 in punitive damages and legal fees, which could reach $500,000. Mr. Serricchio will be awarded these damages, in addition to being reinstated.

This award properly confirms the protections that are so essential for employees who must leave to serve on active duty in the armed services.

A Federal District Court in Minnesota granted privileges to employees in two religious discrimination suits brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that sought the right to pray during the day against a leading Minnesota chicken processor, Gold’n Plump Poultry, Inc., and an employment agency, The Work Connection. The court held that providing Muslim employees with a break that would coordinate with the timing of prayers was required to accommodate those employees’ religious beliefs.

In addition, the EEOC had alleged in EEOC v. The Work Connection that, in order to be referred for work at two Gold’n Plump’s facilities, applicants were required to sign a form stating that they would not refuse to handle pork during their jobs. In addition to discontinuing use of the “pork form,” The Work Connection will provide 28 class members, job seekers previously turned away for refusing to sign the “pork form,” with an offer for placement at Gold’n Plump. The decrees in both cases prohibit retaliation by the employers and provide for training and reporting to the EEOC.

As additional remedies, Gold’n Plump will provide $215,000 to a class of 128 Somali American Muslims who claimed religious discrimination. An additional $150,000 will be paid to the 28 class members under the consent decree entered in EEOC v. The Work Connection.

“Employers need to recognize the increasing diversity of religion in our country and provide accommodations as required by Federal employment discrimination laws,” stated EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. “Systemic cases such as these make workplaces better for many individuals.”

Claims of religious discrimination and charges filed with the EEOC have been on the rise in recent years and the issue of religious discrimination is becoming more prevalent in the workplace.

In a suit initiated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of a female education professor and attorney who still teaches at Adelphi University, the university has agreed to pay in excess of $300,000, in addition to other remedial measures, to settle a pay discrimination case brought in 2007.

According to a recent article in The Garden City News, the terms of the consent decree, which settled the suit, calls for Adelphi University to pay slightly more than $300,000 to 37 claimants, increasing the salaries for 30 of the claimants, as well as, in an effort to avoid future pay discrimination at the school, providing monitoring and training for faculty and staff members on anti-discrimination laws. In addition to the salary increases that many of the female claimants will be receiving, they will also receive back pay in compensation for the lower salaries as compared to their male counterparts.

Pay discrimination cases are offspring of gender discrimination cases in which female employees are compensated at lower levels for performing the same functions and having an equal to or greater rank with male employees at the same institution or company. Pay discrimination represents a violation of both the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

According to a report released by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, a workers’ rights advocacy group, occupational segregation and wage inequality are preventing many minorities and women from obtaining the best-paying jobs in New York City’s high-end restaurants. The report defines fine dining restaurants as those that charge at least $40 per guest for a meal.

According to an article in Crain’s New York Business, the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York conducted a study in which two sets of applicants with similar resumes were applying for the same restaurant positions. One set of applicants were white and the others were minorities. The report found that the white applicants were more likely to receive job interviews, and twice as likely to receive an offer. The study also found that minorities and women earned less than white men.

While the restaurant industry has provided many opportunities for both minorities and women, they are usually offered low-paying positions such as runners, bussers and barbacks and not better-paying jobs, such as maitre’d, manager or bartender. The report is asking legislatures to enact laws requiring restaurants to have better hiring policies and practices and to protect potential and current workers from violations of employment discrimination laws.

On March 16, 2009 Lambda filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut, in the case of Luis Patino v. Birken Manufacturing Co. According to an Echelon Magazine article, Luis Patino alleges that he was subject to harassment during his employment, and that the harassment included derogatory language. Lambda’s brief argues that Patino’s trial court award, which is now being appealed by Birken, should stand. Birken argues that employers should not be liable for anti-gay intimidation. Lambda seeks to ensure that the court rigorously applies state anti-discrimination statutes, and that employers do not allow work environments that are hostile to gay employees.

Sexual orientation discrimination occurs when an employer treats an employee differently solely because of his or her sexual orientation, whether homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual. A growing number of state laws prohibit discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation, or perceived sexual orientation.

Elizabeth Williams, a Major Gifts Officer for Binghamton University athletics, filed a sexual harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on March 17, 2009. According to a recent New York Times article, the complaint alleged that there were “egregious acts of sexual misconduct” committed by Jason Siegel, the Senior Associate Athletic Director, and Chris Lewis, the Assistant Athletic Director for Development. Williams claims that Siegel had physically and verbally harassed her since she started working with the university’s athletics department on January 5, 2009.

In one incident, Williams claims that Lewis told her that she needed to entertain a donor at a Binghamton game because he liked “chesty, loudmothed women.” Williams also alleges that one night, at a dinner with major donors, Siegel and Lewis speculated on her bra size, and suggested that she strip for a donor who was going to have a bachelor party. Among other things, Williams said that Siegel had grabbed her breasts, and told her that she was “not hired to have opinions," but rather to "look good and flirt with donors." Williams said that she reported the sexual harassment to the school over a month ago, but nothing has been done, and her role has since been diminished.

Williams claims that she has been removed from her office, had the pass code to her voicemail changed and been stripped of nearly all of her responsibilities. Binghamton’s Athletic Director, Joel Thirer, said that he had “no knowledge and no comment” regarding the complaint. The EEOC has not yet reviewed the complaint.

For years, it has been a constant struggle for plaintiffs in New York to recover when claiming discrimination in the workplace. However, a recent decision in the matter of Williams v. New York City Housing Authority should change that. In Williams, the Court interpreted the New York City Human Rights Law, specifically the local Civil Rights Restoration Act of 2005, very broadly, making it easier for discrimination victims in New York City to successfully sue their employers.

Surprisingly, the Court ruled in favor of the defendant in Williams, however, in doing so, the court outlined new standards that employees must meet when making claims of employment discrimination. In the past, to recover on a discrimination claim, an employee had to be a victim of “protracted and pervasive” harassment. Conversely, to recover now, the employee must show that the harassment was little more than “petty slights” and “trivial inconveniences.” In fact, the reason the suit was dismissed in Williams was that the Court found that the alleged discrimination was just that – nothing more than petty slights. However, only in such an instance will the suit be dismissed, and the burden is actually now on the employer to show the harassing conduct alleged was actually petty. So not only did the Court lower the standard that an employee must meet to prove discrimination, but it also took away their burden and shifted it to the employer to prove that the harassment was of no consequence.

Such a decision will likely lead to an increase in employment discrimination suits in New York City. With a more relaxed standard, employees cannot be expected to tolerate any harassing conduct in the workplace, since they know that their employers will have to prove the conduct was petty. It would be a good idea for employers to proactively counsel their employees as to what is acceptable workplace conduct, in order to avoid employment discrimination suits.

For years, companies have been paying female workers less than their male counterparts for the same work. Two women, Lilly Ledbetter and Betty Dukes, are leading the way in the ongoing battle for equal pay for equal work. Their persistence over the last eight years may help to explain a 14% increase from preceding years in sex or gender discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2008.

Lilly Ledbetter filed a complaint with the EEOC in 1999 when she discovered that her male co-workers at Goodyear Tire were being paid substantially more than she was. In May 2007, a Supreme Court majority had ruled that she had no grounds to sue for unfair treatment because of a small technicality in the law; she had failed to file a complaint within 180 days of receiving her first unfair paycheck. Congressional Democrats were outraged at the result and promptly wrote new legislation to close this interpretive loophole. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law by President Obama in January 2009.

Betty Dukes is still in the midst of an uphill battle for equal pay. After Ms. Dukes complained to her supervisor at Wal-Mart about sex discrimination, she was demoted to cashier and discouraged from applying for managerial positions. In 2000, she and six other women filed the largest class-action sex discrimination suit in American history, Dukes v. Wal-Mart. This case is probably destined to reach the Supreme Court. In the court of public opinion, the women may persevere. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which would substantially strengthen the Equal Pay Act by making class-action suits easier, is now under consideration by Congress.

According to Bloomberg.com, The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced its total claims filed for the year ending September 3, 2008. There were a total of 95,402 claims filed. This includes claims for employment discrimination and retaliation in the workplace.

This amount represents an increase of 15% over the amount filed in 2007. Interestingly enough, over 25% of the claims filed were for age discrimination. As the population ages, in conjunction with employers feeling pressure to reduce their workforce, employers must be ever-vigilant in ensuring that all employment decisions are made in a non-discriminatory manner. Where a discriminatory bias enters the process, a plaintiff may then work to assert their protected human rights by making a complaint of employment discrimination.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Law.com, Congress recently enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Amendment Act of 2008 to reverse the holding of several United States Supreme Court cases which narrowed the ADA’s intended scope of protection.

Under the ADA, “disability” is defined as:

1. a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
2. a record of such an impairment; or
3. being regarded as having such an impairment.

Under the first prong, the Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted the meaning of “substantially limits” to mean that the impairment must “prevent or severely restrict” the employee from performing a major life activity. With the amendment, Congress has abandoned the Supreme Court’s strict interpretation and has given the EEOC the power to give a broader interpretation to the phrase “substantially limits.”

The Supreme Court has also narrowly interpreted the term “major life activities” by stating that it only covered activities “that are of central importance to most people’s daily lives.” Until now, activities like running and climbing the stairs were not considered “major life activities.” Because of the amendment, a broad range of activities are now considered “major life activities,” including thinking, communicating and the operation of a major bodily function, such as respiratory and reproductive functions.

Under the third prong, in the past, employees had to show that their employer mistakenly perceived them to have an impairment that limited a major life activity. After the enactment, all the employee needs to show is that the employer believed that he or she had an impairment before being subjected to an adverse employment action. There is no need to show that this perceived disability affected the employee’s ability to perform an activity.

Through this enactment, which has explicitly expanded the ADA’s scope of coverage, more Americans will be able to bring forth disability discrimination claims against their employers.

Brenda Keys, a former State Attorney’s office employee has been permitted, by the Florida Commission on Human Relations, to file a suit against her former employer on the grounds of workplace retaliation and hostile work environment. However, based on Keys’ allegations, the Commission disallowed the possibility of a sexual harassment suit.

The allegations involve incidents between Keys and former State Attorney Steve Meadows in which Keys alleges that she was demoted and had her bonus halved by Meadows because he learned that she was aiding some of her co-workers in the pursuit of sexual harassment complaints against Meadows. Central to the Commission’s finding was its conclusion that Meadows had no credible evidence with which to refute allegations that Meadows had sex with an employee in his private office. An additional Commission finding that gave weight to the potential hostile work environment claim was that Meadows seemed to prefer his female staff, particularly those female employees who wore revealing clothing.

Meadows unsuccessfully attempted to complain of a bias on the part of the Commission’s review, pointing to an alleged 60 claims from other female employees who contended that the work environment was “professional and positive,” which the Commission allegedly failed to recognize. His request that the review be forwarded to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in order to obtain a supposed unbiased review, was refused, according to Meadows.

In these difficult economic times, many employees in various types of organizations are being terminated as part of reductions in force. What has remained constant, is that at the upper echelons of many top companies on Wall Street and elsewhere, the “Boys Club” remains intact.

Companies are restructuring and downsizing often at the expense of top female executives, in some cases even if the female executives happen to be exceedingly well qualified. Lawsuits against companies for gender discrimination are on the rise because many women feel they are being selected for downsizing not based on productivity or skill set, but because of gender.

While not to say that a struggling economy effects women more than men, it seems as if companies are using the recession as an excuse to perpetuate the “Boys Club” at the top levels of their organization.

On December 3, 2008, a jury awarded Juan I. Valera $420,000 for being subjected to a hostile work environment. Valera, an employee of Costco for 20 years, is gay and is also HIV-positive. Valera’s attorney alleged that a Costco General Manager casually used the word “queer” around Valera, which caused him to take a leave of absence. To rectify the situation, Valera asked the Assistant General Manager to protect him from insensitive remarks. The following day, Valera was demoted and received a pay cut.

A report on MSNBC.com noted that, in February 2009, Valera is suing Costco again. Valera alleges in his new Los Angeles Superior Court complaint that the company’s failure to reinstate him to his old position is an act of retaliation that stems from both the previous jury award and his sexual orientation.

After a seven week trial in a sex discrimination and sexual harassment case brought by a female neurosurgeon, Dr. Sagun Tuli, against her boss, Dr. Arthur Day, the Chairman of the Neurosurgery Department, a jury awarded the Plaintiff $1.6 million in damages. According to a recent article in The Boston Globe, the jury found that Dr. Tuli was subjected to harassment, ridicule, intimidation and other abusive conduct that was motivated, in part, by her gender. An example of the discriminatory conduct was the repeated demeaning remarks made to Dr. Tuli by Dr. Day while she was operating, such as, “You are just a girl. Are you sure you can do that?” On another occasion at a hospital dinner, Dr. Tuli testified that Dr. Day asked her whether she would “get up on the table and dance for [them] to show the female residents how to behave.” The jury also awarded damages because it found that the hospital retaliated against Dr. Tuli after she complained about sex discrimination.

Robertson Sanitation, a Georgia trash and recycling company, has been forced to pay $475,000 to settle a class action suit from the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in relation to its discriminatory hiring practices.

The company, according to the EEOC, regularly hired less qualified males instead of females who were better qualified. In addition to the monetary damages, the EEOC will also monitor Robertson Sanitation’s hiring practices for the next four years.

This case raises significant issues related to employment discrimination. It is a further example of just how differently women are treated, not only while they are working, but also during the hiring process. While many employment discrimination claims arise during or after one’s tenure with an employer, claims in relation to an employer’s failure to hire an employee for discriminatory reasons are of great significance as well.

The New York Times recently published an article detailing the effects that the financial crisis is having on women on Wall Street. The article references a piece from Forbes Magazine which cites figures estimating that roughly 72 percent of the more than quarter-million financial sector jobs lost were held by women.

As a result of the loss of jobs falling seemingly disproportionately on women, many of these women are responding by bringing gender discrimination suits against banks and brokerages, including against giants such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, claiming that they have been unfairly singled out for layoffs. Moreover, already thinly represented among the upper management of financial firms, Wall Street recently lost three of its most powerful female executives as a result of the recent downturn.

While it is unclear whether any of the recent suits will be successful, and naturally the financial firms dispute the allegations, there is belief that this may be the beginning of a larger trend. It is widely believed that women in the financial sector have, in the past, been hesitant of suing for fear of being ostracized in their industry, and bearing the brunt of heavy lay-offs within the financial community may prove to be the opening of the floodgate for future gender discrimination suits against employers in the financial sector.

This week, the San Francisco Chronicle and Law.com reported that Maya Perez, a transgender woman, filed a sexual harassment and gender discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, Burlington Coat Factory, claiming that while she was a sales associate in their San Francisco store, she had to endure seven years of physical and verbal abuse from her supervisors, colleagues and customers after undergoing sexual reassignment surgery. Perez is one of a handful of transgender people who are litigating such employment discrimination matters.

Perez began working at the San Francisco store in 1996. Perez alleges that after she transitioned from a man to a woman in 2001, fellow co-workers and customers harassed her by pushing and groping her, showing her pornographic magazines and photographs, and calling her names such as “he-she.” The managers and security guards failed to intervene and protect her after they heard and saw the incidents either in person or on the store’s security cameras. The store also prevented her from changing her name tag from “Stevie,” her male name, to “Maya,” her current name. After legally changing her name from “Steven Perez” to “Maya Perez” in 2003, the store forced her to reapply for her position with her new name, even though she had already worked in the store for seven years.

Burlington Coat Factory’s company policy prohibits discrimination based on sex, but it does not make reference to sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes. After Perez complained to her supervisors and the regional human resource director about the harassment, neither took any steps to investigate the issue, as required by company policy. Perez is seeking punitive damages, emotional distress, back pay and a change in employment policies to ensure that managers and employees are more sensitive toward gender identity matters.

Recently, The New York Times wrote a piece detailing a somewhat predictable side effect of the current economic downturn, predictable in the sense that recessions of years past have resulted in a similar trend: men are feeling the brunt of lay-offs, creating a higher percentage of families being supported by women breadwinners. In fact, women workers are poised to comprise a majority of the American workforce for the first time in the country’s history.

However, looking beyond this fact of increased representation in the workforce, reveals the ominous reality facing families in this economic climate. While women may seem more secure in their jobs in the recession, as the vast majority of layoffs have fallen on male dominated industries such as manufacturing and construction, women tend to find it more difficult to solely support a family because, in general, women who hold full-time positions generally earn only 80 cents for each dollar that their male counterpart earns.

In the face of a deepening recession, we may see challenges to presumed gender roles if layoffs continue to disproportionately fall on men with a new female dominated labor force. It is our hope that women will soon be treated more fairly in the workplace and not be subjected to sex discrimination or sexual harassment as women gain increased representation in the workforce.

Over the past decade, obesity in the United States has been gaining more and more attention. In addition to health concerns, there are legal implications to this growing epidemic. Specifically, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may provide legal redress for the growing number of individuals for whom obesity has threatened employment. Generally speaking, while it may be difficult for an obese person to prevail on a disability discrimination claim absent a physical reason for the disability, such as a gland problem, it may be easier for an obese person to prevail on a claim of perceived disability discrimination; that an employer made assumptions about his or her capabilities based upon stereotypes associated with weight.

For an individual to prevail under the ADA, he/she must meet one of three requirements: (1) that he/she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity; (2) that he/she has a record of such an impairment; or (3) that he/she is regarded as having such an impairment. In EEOC v. Watkins Motor Lines, Inc., 18 AD Cases 641 (6th Cir. 2006), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals stated that morbid obesity alone does not constitute a physical impairment that an employer could regard as substantially limiting a major life activity. However, the Sixth Circuit stated that obesity resulting from a physiological cause might qualify as a disability. In other words, a plaintiff with a gland problem, hormone imbalance or other physical problem that could trigger obesity, may be able to prevail on a disability claim for obesity.

A plaintiff may be more likely to prevail on a claim under the third prong, that he/she is regarded as disabled by an employer. In Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc., 527 U.S. 471, the Supreme Court stated two conditions for being perceived as disabled: (1) a covered entity mistakenly believes that a person has a physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities or (2) a covered entity mistakenly believes that an acutal, non-limiting impairment substantially limits one or more major life activities. To prevail, an employee must show that the employer believes that the employee has a substantially limiting impairment that the employee does not actually have, or that the employee has a substantially limiting impairment when, in fact, the employee's impairment does not actually significantly limit him/her. In other words, perceived disability discrimination tends to result from an employer's assumptions about an employee's capabilities based upon a stereotype, and such assumptions are not tolerated under the law.

Age discrimination is a problem that is widely acknowledged to be spreading throughout workplaces all over the country. Its effects can be felt by everyone from bankers to doctors to lawyers to business executives and it also has reared its ugly head in the realm of professional sports.

Former Los Angeles Clippers General Manager, Elgin Baylor, has sued the NBA franchise, the league and the team owner, alleging that he was subject to age discrimination and race discrimination. Baylor, a hall of fame player, had been with the Clippers organization for 22 years and alleges in his lawsuit that he was “grossly underpaid during his tenure with the Clippers.”

Age discrimination has the ability to impact all industries and individuals and, as indicated by recent statistics put out by the EEOC, claims of age discrimination are on the rise. It therefore falls to the lawyers who represent the victims of this despicable form of discrimination to act as “private attorney generals” and police the workplace to eradicate age discrimination once and for all.

Cancer patients and survivors may find that apart from their battle with cancer, they may need to fight to regain or keep their employment. Whether based on an inability to work during treatment or termination due to a discriminatory bias by an employer, persons diagnosed with cancer may have difficulty holding on to employment. In a system where health insurance is linked directly to employment, the loss of a job can significantly impact health care. For persons looking for work when diagnosed with cancer, the situation can be much more difficult.

A recent report by The Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that cancer survivors in the United States and Europe were 37 percent more likely to be unemployed than their healthy counterparts. The perception that cancer patients are disabled and unable to work may play a significant role in that figure.

While the law is not perfect, it does afford protections for cancer patients and survivors. The Americans with Disabilities Act and other similar laws clearly find cancer to be a disability, so that employees with cancer are protected against employment discrimination. Even if a patient is cancer-free, the law protects discrimination against employees based on a history of cancer.

According to a recent article in the New York Daily News, a female police officer has sued the New York Police Department (NYPD), claiming that she was passed up for a promotion to Sergeant because she had previously complained about gender discrimination within the NYPD, and because her supervisor “didn’t think that women could do the job.” Police Officer Robin Marable also claims that her supervisor said that he could not have two women working together, as they would be more prone to on-the-job injuries than male officers. Marable says that when she initially complained to the NYPD about her treatment, her supervisor filed for an internal investigation of her, alleging that Marable had used an NYPD E-ZPass for personal errands. Marable has successfully sued the NYPD before, and was awarded $16,000 in a gender discrimination suit by the Latino Officers Association in 2004.

It is abundantly clear that the intensification of job cuts, which has broadened during the past year, has devastated the workplace. One of the direct results of this fact is that lawsuits by employees who have been terminated have markedly increased. With the increase in the number of terminations, employees have carefully considered the circumstances for their termination and a good number have alleged that their terminations were unjustified under the law.

It is evident that the workforce has accepted the fact that, in most cases, employment is “at will.” They recognize that the employer can terminate them for a poor reason, in fact, for no reason at all, other than a reason which would violate their human rights. However, some terminated employees have claimed that when there is a reduction in force, those who should not have been included in the reduction in force find that they are terminated nevertheless. Therefore, they find it difficult to accept the fact that they were properly named among those who must leave. Our experience confirms that, oftentimes, there is an inordinate amount of “older” employees who have been asked to leave and in some of those cases, the “older” terminated party believes that his/her termination was not truly consistent with the purpose of the reduction in force. When that occurs, they frequently question the selection process.

In many instances, we have been faced with statistics provided to us by the terminated employee which, on their face, seem to suggest that it is appropriate to question how the selection process was actually enforced. Clients recognize that the employer has a right to embark upon a reduction in force when business reasons dictate, as painful as that may be. But frequently, when they review the ages of those that are retained and those that are selected to leave, they sometimes find that there is an unfair percentage of “older” employees who have been terminated. It would be appropriate, therefore, in some cases, for employees who have been selected for departure to review carefully the statistics that are provided to the terminated employees. By so doing, they may then be in a reasonable position to question the propriety of the process that was used in establishing who “goes” and who “stays.”

On February 12, 2009, it was announced that JCPenney will pay $50,000 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC) brought the suit on behalf of Reinell Singh, an African American employee who worked as a greeter at the company's store in the Staten Island Mall in New York.

"All employees have a right to be judged by their work performance and not their race," the trial lawyer who represented the EEOC in the case said, according to The New York Times. "This consent decree will help make sure that what happened to Ms. Singh does not happen to any other JCPenney employee."

The EEOC had charged that a supervisor referred to Ms. Singh with racial epithets and subsequently fired her for race-related reasons. In addition to the $50,000 in compensatory damages to be paid to Ms. Singh, JCPenney also agreed to a three year consent decree that requires adoption of a non-discrimination policy and procedures for handling complaints of employment discrimination. They will provide anti-discrimination training, post a notice about the EEOC and its lawsuit, provide a memorandum setting forth the requirements of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to all store employees and improve monitoring and reporting of employment discrimination.

Spencer H. Lewis, Director of the EEOC’s New York District Office, made a statement saying, "In spite of advances since Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was enacted 44 years ago, race discrimination still remains one of the most pervasive problems in today’s workplace. Racial slurs must simply not be tolerated, and the EEOC will fight to eradicate any such discrimination from the workplace."

A recent article by Andrew McIllvaine in Human Resource Executive Online entitled, "Layoff Lawsuits," discussed the increase in workplace discrimination claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Apparently, in the last fiscal year, there was a 15% rise in charges filed for a total of 95,402 which was a 26% increase from fiscal 2005. There have been ebbs and flows in the amounts of claims filed over the last several years. In 2001-2002, which was during an economic downturn, the EEOC saw an increase from prior years. However, in 2003, during a period of prosperity, fewer claims were filed.

The article also discusses the implications that employers face in conducting mass layoffs and reductions in force. The author notes that in addition to state and Federal anti-discrimination laws, employers must also take notice of other Federal acts such as the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), which also regulate actions employers can take in the workplace. Finally, it is noted that while there are several regulations in place in terms of employee protections, employers should continually be mindful to make their decisions in a fair, legitimate, non-discriminatory manner.

On February 5, 2009, a Texas man filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in Federal court against Hooters of America, Inc. (“Hooters”) after the chain restuarant denied him a job as a server in May 2008. The claim seeks an injunction to stop Hooters from “discriminating against male applicants for the [server] position,” as well as an unspecified amount of money, including emotional and punitive damages.

The claim challenges an 11-year-old agreement, in which Hooters paid $3.75 million in a 2007 employment discrimination class action suit settlement. Although Hooters agreed to create gender-neutral positions such as kitchen staff and bartender positions, the 1997 settlement allowed Hooters to continue to exclusively hire women as servers. The current suit alleges that the adopted policy remains discriminatory, and even though Hooters servers are referred to as “Hooters Girls,” the positions should not be limited to women.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. However, if Hooters can prove that it is a bona fide occupational qualification for a server to be female, then it is legally permissible for Hooters to discriminate against males for positions as servers.

The bill that President Obama recently signed into law significantly increases the protections that employees have against discriminatory pay differences. Women who are paid less than their male counterparts, for example, will now have greater opportunities to seek remedies in court.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 states that an unlawful employment practice, such as a female being paid less than male co-workers, occurs not only when the discriminatory decision is made, but also “when an individual is affected by application of a discriminatory compensation decision . . .” This means that instead of looking at when the discriminatory decision was made, courts will now look at when the impact of the discriminatory decision occurs.

Accordingly, employees like Lilly Ledbetter, who unknowingly suffered years of discriminatory pay discrepancies based on her gender, will be able to seek relief, regardless of the fact that the discrimination occurred years ago. The courts will now – more appropriately – focus on the discriminatory conduct that is actually occurring.

This week, The New York Times published an article reporting that on February 5, 2009, President Obama signed an Executive Order to revamp the White House’s office for religious-based and neighborhood programs. The Executive Order will expand the office, which provides government support to religious organizations and charities that provide vital social services to its surrounding neighborhood communities, an initiative launched under the direction of former President George W. Bush.

Obama’s expansion of the office, however, has not settled the ongoing debate over whether these faith-based organizations that receive Federal grants for their social service programs may legally discriminate on the basis of religion, hiring only those individuals whom share their faith.

The former administration held the firm belief that faith-based organizations could indeed hire based on religious belief, a position that elicited fierce debate between religious groups and other interested groups and individuals concerned with keeping church and state separated. There is obvious potential for employment discrimination on the one hand, and religious groups that wanted to preserve their right to use religion as a hiring criterion, have threatened to discontinue their participation in the government program if they are forced to change their policies. However, the current administration has taken the position that the faith-based policy should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis prior to the determination of whether a particular group can receive Federal funds and hire employees based on their religious beliefs.

Joshua DuBois, Director of the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, acknowledges the need for case-by-case review due to the lack of clarity in this policy field. However, DuBois leaves the door open for possible recommendations from the administration for legislative action on the issue of the legality of religious-based hiring discrimination upon receipt of Federal funds in the future, in the event that his office consistently comes up with the same findings in its reviews.

According to a recent article published in The New York Times, the rise in layoffs has also coincided with new laws that give employees more legal arguments to draw from in initiating a lawsuit. There also seems to be a sense that President Barack Obama will be more proactive in enforcing employment laws than President Bush’s administration was. He recently signed legislation that overturned the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Company, Inc.

Both class-action suits and individual claims are being filed with increasing regularity. Terminated employees of Ethan Allen and Dell have filed age discrimination suits, and a veteran has sued Lockheed Martin, alleging that they discriminated against veterans. Some employees are also investigating whether their former employer violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, or the WARN Act, which requires 60 days notice before laying off employees. WARN Act violation lawsuits have been filed against Lehman Brothers, an airline company and two law firms. New York has similar legislation that provides that companies must give 90 days notice. Lawsuits alleging WARN Act violations do not require that the government investigate a claim first, like many employment discrimination claims require, which could lead to a rapid escalation of WARN Act suits.

Last week, the New York Post published an article about a New York woman who applied for a job as a waitress at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Times Square and was repeatedly denied employment by a manager who ultimately stated that she was too “ghetto,” and that he did not wish to “ruin [his] business with [her] Latin accent.” She was also told that she did not “speak white.” The woman was born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican and Dominican parents and speaks English fluently. She was initially told by the manager that there were no jobs available, despite being informed by other employees that the restaurant was hiring.

Under both Federal and New York State law, it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a prospective employee on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Refusal to hire based on stereotypical differences, traits or assumptions about the individual based upon race or national origin is also prohibited under the law.

The woman is seeking $500 a day - or $130,000 a year - for every year she could reasonably be expected to have worked there, plus punitive damages. Punitive damages are granted both as a means of punishing employers for their discriminatory conduct and as an effort to signal to other employers that they should not engage in similarly unlawful conduct.

Last week, The New York Times published an article about the United States Supreme Court ruling in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn., No 06-1595, to expand the protection of Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Crawford was a case of workplace retaliation brought by a witness in a sexual harassment investigation who was terminated after cooperating with the investigator. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether someone who was not complaining about employment discrimination that they themselves suffered was entitled to be protected from workplace retaliation.

In Crawford, Justice Souter, writing for the majority noted that “[N]othing in the statute requires a freakish rule protecting an employee who reports discrimination on her own initiative, but not one who reports the same discrimination in the same words when her boss asks a question.”

The Crawford decision is very significant in that it shows a shift in the interpretation of the Federal Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation laws to mirror more closely the New York City Human Rights Law which was amended in 2005 to broaden employees’ protection from workplace retaliation.

On January 30th, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) reached an agreement with the Puerto Rico Police Department (“PRPD”) resolving a claim that the PRPD engaged in unlawful employment discrimination and workplace retaliation based on gender. The complaint, which was filed in March 2008, alleged that the PRPD engaged in discriminatory practices toward Officer Jeannette Carballo Lopez on the basis of her sex. According to the DOJ, the PRPD required Lopez to perform secretarial tasks that were not required of male officers, and the PRPD subjected Lopez to discriminatory remarks. Lopez was told that the Division of Investigation of Stolen Vehicles, which she was working for, was "not for females." Furthermore, the PRPD engaged in retaliation toward Lopez because she opposed employment practices that she reasonably believed to be unlawful, and because she filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Title VII. Under the terms of the agreement, the PRPD will pay Lopez $125,000, including attorney’s fees, and will reinstate her to an agent-investigator position.

This case presents most unfortunate circumstances because it involves a government agency engaged in gender discrimination and workplace retaliation. Though just a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico still must answer to the DOJ, and it is troubling that the Puerto Rican Police Department would engage in gender discrimination. As a law enforcement agency, we expect the PRPD to set a positive example in the workplace. Though the case did not go to trial, and thus no form of punitive damages were imposed on the PRPD, it is hopeful that this will deter similar conduct in the future so both men and women can feel comfortable working in an environment free of employment discrimination.

The New York City Human Rights law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. This ban includes perceived sexual orientation as well, meaning that an employer may not discriminate against an employee that it simply senses is homosexual. Recently, the Court of Appeals in the United Kingdom found that a man forced to leave his job because of merciless taunting by his colleagues who took him to be a gay, won the right to claim compensation from his employers. In this case, a married man with children alleged that he was tormented by his coworkers because he had attended an all-boys boarding school. His coworkers knew that he was not gay, but taunted him nevertheless because of homophobia and associated stereotypes. In finding that the victim’s claims came within the United Kindom’s regulations, the Court held that the legislature in prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace could not possibly have intended that a victim be required to declare his sexual orientation in order to establish that harassment was based on sexual orientation.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision on January 26, 2009, which is sure to be the subject of man future blog posts. In Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, the plaintiff was a former municipal employee who had been terminated. The company stated that it had fired the employee for “embezzlement.” The employee, however, believed that she was terminated because she participated in an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint asserted by a co-worker. Crawford stated that she was being punished for having confirmed that the complaining employee was actually sexually harassed.

The issue, therefore, was not whether the employee who asserts a claim was protected by workplace retaliation laws – which she would be – but whether an employee who does not herself assert a claim but merely participates in the investigation is also protected.

The Court unanimously agreed that such an employee was protected. Justice Souter wrote that “When an employee communicates to her employer a belief that the employer has engaged in a form of employment discrimination, that communication virtually always constitutes the employee’s opposition to the activity.” The Court recognized, therefore, that just by confirming that sexual harassment occurred, the employee was opposing it.

While this decision has long been the rule in New York, both the district and appellate courts in Crawford had reached the opposite conclusion. We are pleased to see that the U.S. Supreme Court is ensuring that employees who in any way oppose discrimination in the workplace are protected against workplace retaliation.

In an earlier blog, we discussed two proposed Federal laws which were intended to address the issue of equal pay for both men and women. As could be expected, management and employee attorneys view the passage of this legislation very differently.

Management attorneys argue that equal pay legislation will result in more litigation. Employee attorneys supporting the passage of the proposed legislation believe it is essential legislation, long overdue.

The bill referred to as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, was designed to address the result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult to seek equal pay between men and women.

The other bill, The Paycheck Fairness Act, would require an employer to more fully validate the reason for any pay difference. Another purpose of the law would be to prevent employees who reveal pay information from being punished.

All of the above represent significant benefits to employees. This fact is quite important because, we trust, it reflects in some manner, the attitude of Congress. For that reason alone, we wait, watch and will report further as the proposed legislation moves forward.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Ricci v. DeStefano, will address the question of whether municipalities may decline to certify results of a civil service exam that would make disproportionately more white applicants eligible for promotion than minority applicants, as a result of concerns that certifying the results would lead to charges of racial discrimination.

In a case brought by a group of white firefighters and a Hispanic firefighter in New Haven, CT, the employees argued that they were discriminated against because they were not black. The firefighters believed they would have been promoted for captain and lieutenant positions if the city did not invalidate the test results soon after it had learned that no black candidate scored high enough to be considered for the management positions. When defending its decision, the city argued that it rejected the exam because, if certified, it would create a disparate impact on black candidates and the city would face potential employment discrimination lawsuits.

The federal trial judge upheld the city’s decision and dismissed the case. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal.

Reverse discrimination cases present highly sensitive issues employers face in an effort to promote diversity in the workplace. Courts may hear more reverse discrimination cases in the future as affirmative action programs become more prevalent.

There are various Federal, New York State and New York City laws that protect employees from religious discrimination on the basis of their religious beliefs. Even if a particular employee’s religious beliefs are not entirely compatible with work hours, workplace practices or certain days of the week, employers MUST work with the employee to try and accommodate him/her.

The reasonable accommodation standard under the framework of a religious discrimination claim is somewhat different from that analysis under a disability claim. An employer has an obligation to reasonably accommodate a "sincerely held" religious belief. The difficulty arises in determining what exactly is or is not "sincerely held."

The reasonable accommodation standard is subject to an employer claiming undue hardship, which means that it would conflict with legitimate business interests.

Religious discrimination in the workplace does not happen openly in front of many witnesses. It does, however, still exist and we must work to put an end to it and to celebrate the concept of religious freedom on which our country was founded.

According to a recent article published in The New York Times, Merrill Lynch paid $1.55 million to settle a lawsuit brought by an analyst who claimed he was terminated because he is an Iranian Muslim. Majid Borumand, a quantitative analyst, claimed that Merrill Lynch discriminated against him on the basis of his religion and national origin when he was terminated and that a less qualified employee was retained and promoted. As an additional obligation under the settlement agreement, Merrill Lynch agreed to improve employee training on employment discrimination.

We are encouraged to report that on Friday, January 9, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives confirmed its support of the need to broaden the ability of our courts to enforce the laws against gender discrimination. A New York Times article published on January 10, 2009 discussed the two related bills passed by the House.