Posts Tagged ‘discrimination law’

U.K.: “School ‘no touch’ rules to be scrapped”

“‘No touch’ rules discouraging teachers from restraining and comforting children are to be scrapped, Education Secretary Michael Gove has said.” [BBC] And the incoming Cameron government is proceeding with a previously signaled broad effort to roll back excessive health and safety rules that discourage harmless goings-on in schools, workplaces and the community [BBC, earlier] On the other hand, the Conservatives intend to go forward with most of a package of new measures devised by the previous Labour government that would expand discrimination and harassment law in the direction of wide-open U.S.-style rights to sue [Telegraph, Daily Mail]

September 23 roundup

September 17 roundup

  • International House of Pancakes (restaurant chain) vs. International House of Prayer (church) [CNN]
  • “Law Schools Now Require Applicants To Honestly State Whether They Want To Go To Law School” [The Onion, satire]
  • “As ENDA Lingers in Congress, a [million-dollar verdict] in Maine” [Michael Fox]
  • Fear: On advice of FBI, cartoonist who organized “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” drops out and changes name [Seattle Weekly, Welch, Moynihan]
  • University of Windsor lawprof asks Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to overturn school’s decision not to make her dean [National Post]
  • Prominent Seattle lawyer arrested, and do-you-know-who-I-am-ery allegedly ensues [Above the Law]
  • “Man rushed to hospital after finding tampon in his cereal” [Obscure Store, Macon Telegraph] Update: suit dropped.
  • Manufacture iPhones in the U.S.? “I worry America has too many lawyers. I don’t want to spend time having people sue me every day.” [Foxconn’s Terry Gau, quoted in Business Week]

Shot if you do, sued if you don’t

“There’s no doubt delivering food is a risky job — it routinely ranks on the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s most-dangerous jobs list — and after last week’s much-publicized robbery of a Chinese food deliveryman, some restaurants might be inclined to avoid delivery to high-crime areas. But in doing so, restaurants might open themselves up to civil litigation regulating anti-discrimination practices, essentially creating a catch-22 for the businesses, legal experts said.” [Harrisburg Patriot-News]

Shirley Sherrod and a Pigford puzzle

“If there are only 39,697 African-American farmers grand total in the entire country, then how can over 86,000 of them claim discrimination at the hands of the USDA? Where did the other 46,303 come from?” [Zombie, Pajamas Media; earlier here and here] More: Dave Zincavage has been checking Wikipedia (“virtually automatic” $50,000 payouts); and lawyers for Native American farmers and ranchers want in too.

$13 million settlement for USDA-er Shirley Sherrod’s group

The immediate controversy over Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s removal of Sherrod from her post is interesting enough — both the NAACP and many conservatives withdrew their initial support for Sherrod’s firing and began defending her as more context emerged — but perhaps the more durable story worth public attention is the background, which includes a $1 billion lawsuit discrimination settlement of which $13 million went to Sherrod’s advocacy group [Rural Development Leadership Network via Tom Blumer, Examiner, h/t reader Aaron W.; ten years ago] More: FoxNews.com.