New York Employment Lawyer Blog

Sports Illustrated reports on June 12 that a former employee of NASCAR has filed a $225 million lawsuit against NASCAR, citing sexual, racial, and gender discrimination.

The plaintiff, a former Nationwide Series inspector, alleges atrocious behavior from her co-workers, alleging that they called her a “Nappy-Headed Ho,” made repeated references to the Ku Klux Klan, and stating that two went as far as exposing themselves to her. NASCAR has suspended the two accused employees without explanation.

The plaintiff called NASCAR an “old boys club” and went to great lengths in describing the insular nature of the company. “They need to stop hiring ignorant sisters, cousins and uncles [of theirs] and start hiring qualified, educated people to work their billion-dollar business,” she said in an interview.

NASCAR has responded, saying that the plaintiff never filed a complaint, and therefore could not blame NASCAR for not being able to stop the behavior. The CEO of NASCAR said that he had not been aware of the situation and the claims would be immediately investigated.

The fact is, racial, sexual, and gender discrimination is never to be tolerated. If you feel as if you have been subject to any of these types of unfair treatment, please feel free to contact us for an initial consultation without charge at which time we would be pleased to discuss your issue.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination , Racial Discrimination , Sexual Harassment

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The 2008 presidential election is extraordinary in many respects. It marks the first time that an African-American, overcoming racial discrimination, has secured the nomination of a major party. It also has had a woman, in spite of an unfair gender bias, advance far beyond anyone’s initial predictions. In addition to these two stereotypes, the New York Sun reported on June 18th about another issue that has permeated the race: the issue of age.

The Republican contender, John McCain, and Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, have begun to exchange barbs over the John McCain’s age. The McCain camp alludes to the fact that Obama may be too young, calling him inexperienced. In return, the Obama campaign has suggested that Mr. McCain may be “confused,” or “has lost his bearings.”

Schwartz & Perry’s Managing Partner, Murray Schwartz, commented on the issue in the June 18th edition of the New York Sun, stating “Age discrimination is an insidious, egregious disease. Age should not be a factor in any employment decision that’s made,” he continued. “Not in hiring. Not in firing.”

Mr. Schwartz, while refraining from making any political observations, continued, saying “If someone is going to be ignored as a viable candidate because of age, besides it violating the law, it would be shameful. Experience is a major component of everything.”

Schwartz & Perry specializes in age discrimination suits. If you feel that you have been treated in an unjust manner as a result of your age, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

The text of the article can be found at the following link: http://www.nysun.com/opinion/john-lalanne-mccain/80217/.

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Posted In: Age Discrimination , Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination , Racial Discrimination

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In a recent blog entry, we discussed the prevalence of gender discrimination on Wall Street. This was further demonstrated in a story that was recently covered in many news outlets regarding a multi-million dollar class action settlement involving Citigroup.

As Portfolio.com reports, the action was brought on behalf of female financial advisers who had worked in Smith Barney retail brokerage branches. The nature of the claim was that males were treated differently than females in terms of compensation and business opportunities presented to them.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination

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Over the past several months, we have discussed several significant issues in the field of employment discrimination. We have touched upon everything from evidence in discrimination cases to recent verdicts and decisions to emerging trends and ideas in the field.

But, perhaps, the most significant item that had been discussed were the recent statistics regarding claims filed by employees in the workplace. This means that employees are further realizing and becoming aware of the rights they have against discrimination in all its forms. This is particularly gratifying.

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Posted In: Age Discrimination , Employment Discrimination , Employment Law , Evidence , Gender discrimination , Pregnancy Discrimination , Racial Discrimination , Retaliation , Sexual Harassment , Sexual Orientation Discrimination

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In a recent article in the National Law Journal from May 5, 2008, the results of a recent survey revealed differences in the amount of post-law school debt among gender and races.

The survey put forth data stating that women generally are in greater debt than men and minorities are likely to have a larger debt than Caucasian law graduates. One can come to their own individual conclusions regarding this data, but perhaps disparities in hiring after law school among genders and races may force some students to carry this debt longer and not be able to pay it back sooner or that even among those who attain gainful employment shortly after graduating, still suffer the effects of a glass ceiling in the salaries they are able to earn.

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Posted In: Employment Law , Gender discrimination , Racial Discrimination

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There is no denying that Gender Discrimination exists in many industries but nowhere more prevalent than on Wall Street. The past ten years have seen more gender discrimination lawsuits brought by women against financial institutions than any other type of discrimination lawsuits and yet the problem persists.

The high power and high paying jobs are still filled predominately by men. Often times women find it challenging to break into that next level because of the glass ceiling that exists and inaccurate stereotypes about women that have been perpetuated for many many years.

The EEOC has reported that the percentage of women in senior positions is the lowest in the securities industry. The EEOC further indicated that it is more difficult for women to gain entry into management positions than their male counterparts.

Despite the lawsuits and the statistics reported by the EEOC, the demographics of Wall Street Firms have not changed much with respect to women. Women continue to be relegated to the lower level, more administrative oriented jobs and are denied the opportunities that men are afforded simply because of their gender. WHEN WILL THIS CHANGE?

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination

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The New York Times reported on April 24, 2008 that the US Senate fell four votes short needed to begin consideration of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, named for an Alabama woman, who lost her case against the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, because she had not filed her complaint within six months of the initial instance of discrimination.

Ms. Ledbetter had often been paid 40% less than her male counterparts and continues to suffer from that pay disparity in her retirement because that disparity has affected her pension and social security payments. Perhaps this issue may be reconsidered in the next Congress.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Employment Law , Gender discrimination

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In a recent decision, in the case of Weiss v. Morgan Stanley, 05-cv-3310, the Court clearly pointed out that, “A plaintiff may prevail on a claim for retaliation even when the underlying conduct complained of was not in fact unlawful so long as she can establish that she possessed a good faith, reasonable belief that the underlying challenged actions of the employer violated [the] law.”

It is, therefore, essential that we keep in mind the fact that, although, the plaintiff may prevail in the underlying discrimination claim, there is a reasonable basis to pursue a retaliation claim so long as the sentiments expressed in the Weiss case quoted above, exist.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination , Sexual Harassment

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Recently, it has been sad to witness the frequency in Reductions in Force (RIF) which seem to be increasing in intensity. We do wish, however, to point out that there have been occasions, where the “reduction” although identified as such, was, in some part, motivated by age discrimination.

It becomes necessary, therefore, that when a potential client discusses termination as part of a reduction in force, we inquire further to determine whether he or she was identified in the reduction in a fair and appropriate fashion. We have, on occasion, identified instances, in which, during an appropriate and acceptable “reduction” we have found that discrimination existed. When such is found to be the case, the courts have responded by labeling the discriminatory conduct as such, despite the label that was affixed to it by the employer. We believe, therefore, that we must be vigilant in order to identify unlawful conduct, as such, despite the label that may be affixed to it. We would invite our colleagues to review Ferguson v. Lander, 3:06-CV-0328, with respect to this subject.

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Posted In: Age Discrimination , Employment Discrimination , Employment Law , Gender discrimination

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A state Judge in Brooklyn has re-confirmed the broad goals of the New York City Human Rights Law. In Bumpus v. New York City Transit Authority, 18 Misc.3d 1131(A) (N.Y. Feb. 13, 2008), the plaintiff was a transgender woman, who had been born anatomically male, but lived her life with a female identity and lived each day as a woman. She complained that she had been discriminated against by a Transit Authority employee, who had harassed her and made “transgender-phobic epithets” to her for a period of approximately 10 minutes.

The court denied the Transit Authority’s motion to dismiss the case, reaffirming that “[t]he Human Rights Law affords protection to transgender people in New York City.” The Court noted that “[t]he New York City Human Rights Law was intended to be more protective than the state and federal counterpart,” and that “[t]he legislative history contemplates that the Law be independently construed with the aim of making it the most progressive in the nation.”

In its decision regarding the New York City Human Rights Law, the court relied on the case of Selmanovic v. NYSE Group, a case in which, we are proud to say, our office participated. We remain committed to fighting to ensure that the New York City Human Rights Law remains one of the most stringent and protective human rights laws in the country.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination , Sexual Harassment , Sexual Orientation Discrimination

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On March 6, 2008, an article appeared in the New York Times, reflecting the increase in complaints of discrimination in the workplace. The article went on to state that, “federal job discrimination complaints by workers against private employers rose by 9% last year, the biggest annual increase since the early 1990s.” According to the statistics, this was the most filed since 2002.

Based on the article, one might reasonably conclude that job discrimination has intensified. Another reasonable conclusion might also be that more individuals who suffer discrimination in the workplace have been able to observe, from their experiences, that those who complain of discrimination do not suffer the results of reporting discrimination to the same extent they did previously. They have had an opportunity to witness friends and colleagues in the workplace who have reported discrimination but somehow did not suffer the results of discrimination for reporting what they recognized was a violation of their human rights.

There is a reasonable likelihood to believe that it is not necessarily the increase in discriminatory conduct that caused the number of individuals who report discrimination to be greater than before. Instead it will be that they have learned that reporting discrimination does not necessarily produce retaliation. The strong retaliation laws that our lawmakers have enacted throughout our country have, in large part, effectively protected those who report discrimination from the retaliatory conduct they feared in the past. This is certainly a hopeful result.

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Posted In: Age Discrimination , Employment Discrimination , Employment Law , Gender discrimination , Racial Discrimination , Retaliation , Sexual Harassment , Sexual Orientation Discrimination

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On Thursday, March 6, 2008, the attorneys of Schwartz & Perry were honored to serve, once again, as judges in the New York Law School Moot Court Association’s Wagner Moot Court Competition. The competition featured law students from all over the country arguing an issue dealing with employment law.

The issue, this year, involved two issues in employment law: (1) whether the federal law of Title VII protects persons who identify themselves as “transgender” and (2) whether a company should be liable for employment decisions that are made by persons without a discriminatory bias, but who are influenced by persons who hold, but do not reveal, a discriminatory bias, also known as the “cat’s paw” theory of liability. Both of these issues are hotly contested in the federal courts throughout the country, and resulted in a fascinating oral argument.

Needless to say, given our own experience in this field, the attorneys of Schwartz & Perry present a formidable panel for these law students. We were happily impressed with the performance of all the students who participated, as they were concise, thorough and extremely well prepared for the competition. As Mr. Schwartz noted to the students, “It is always a pleasure to see how much we practicing attorneys can learn from law students.”

We look forward to seeing these young students grow as the field of employment law continues to evolve.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination , Sexual Orientation Discrimination

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Personalities from basketball courts have made appearances in courts of law lately. A New York federal jury handed down an $11.6 million verdict this past October in the Isiah Thomas harassment case. On Thursday, Dec. 6, a California state court jury awarded a former Fresno State women’s basketball coach just over $19 million in damages on her gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation claims.

Many civil verdict awards are comprised of both economic and non-economic components, both of which are sometimes broken down even further. In the case of the Fresno coach, plaintiff Stacy Johnson-Klein’s award broke down into four components: Past economic losses, future economic losses, past non-economic losses and future non-economic losses.

Ms. Johnson-Klein’s past economic losses component of the award, $634,254 , covers the period between the coach’s firing in 2005 until the commencing of the trial. Past economic losses typically includes lost wages and benefits. Ms. Johnson-Klein’s future economic losses component, $4,440,419 , projects the plaintiff’s losses if she had not been fired, and typically includes lost wages and benefits measured from the trial through the plaintiff’s work life expectancy. This point is usually the plaintiff’s retirement age, typically between age 65 and 70.

The non-economic components are awarded to the plaintiff for pain and suffering that she experienced as a result of the defendants’ conduct, independent of economic damages. Ms Johnson-Klein was awarded $3 million for past non-economic losses and $11 million for future non-economic losses. In some cases, the jury may award the plaintiff punitive, or exemplary, damages in order to punish the defendants’ willful misconduct which led to the suit. However, in the Johnson-Klein case, there was no punitive damages award against Fresno state; this is because in California, punitive damages may not be recovered by a plaintiff against a defendant that is a public entity.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Gender discrimination , Retaliation , Sexual Harassment

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