Atlanta, Georgia: “The Fulton County Commission has opted for an $18 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by librarians who claimed they were discriminated against because they are white. The settlement ends four years of litigation but represents more than half the entire library department’s budget for 2003, which was $29 million. It is also more than the county spends each year on functions such as planning and zoning, parks and recreation or family and children services.” The case was a reverse discrimination suit, which presumably means (or does it?) that conservatives are obliged to be happy about its success (“Fulton County settles $18 million bias suit by librarians”, AP/AccessNorthGa.com, Jan. 7). The “suit also accused the library system of shifting money away from ‘white’ libraries to ‘black’ libraries.” (“Librarians get $25 million in reverse discrimination case against Fulton”, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Jan. 16, 2002)(via George Lenard, who has additional comments).
Posts Tagged ‘workplace’
Killer nurse: hospitals didn’t share records
“‘What I’m coming to understand is that, short of an actual conviction or revocation of a license, none of that information gets shared,’ said Dr. William Cors, chief medical officer at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, N.J., where Mr. [Charles] Cullen last worked and where, prosecutors say, he may have killed 12 to 15 patients. ‘If anything good comes from this, it would be to reform the system where we’re prevented from telling one another what we know out of fear, quite frankly, of being sued.’ … Ms. Schantz, at St. Luke’s, said, ‘There is no record that anyone called here, ever, for any recommendation on him.’ And if someone had called? She said she was not sure what the hospital would have said. Hospitals are loath to say anything negative, she acknowledged, adding, ‘We’re a litigious society.'” (Richard P?rez-Pe?a, “Hospitals Didn’t Share Records of a Nurse Accused in Killings”, New York Times, Dec. 17). For more on reference liability, see Aug. 7; discussion of pilot and teacher cases from The Excuse Factory (link now dead). See also Mar. 23, 2000. More: Jan. 29, Mar. 3, Mar. 30.
UK: prolific race litigant restrained
Following up on an item from Jun. 12-15: “The reign of Britain’s most prolific race discrimination litigant could be over. After 82 employment tribunal cases, more than ?74,000 of public money and ?500,000 spent by companies defending themselves against him, Omorotu Francis Ayovuare has been stopped in his tracks by Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General. Lawyers for the Attorney General persuaded a High Court judge to issue a ‘restriction of proceedings order’ against Mr Ayovuare, whose litigiousness was revealed by the Telegraph in June. He must now get permission from a judge each time he wants to bring a new tribunal or continue an existing case.” American courts also have similar (though infrequently used) procedures by which judges can restrain inveterate litigants. (Adam Lusher, “Attorney General bans race litigant after 82 cases”, Daily Telegraph, Nov. 23).
You’d better watch out
At least if you’re a California employer: labor-law bounty-hunters are coming to town (see Oct. 20). The Ison Law Group sounds the alarm (“The New ‘Bounty Hunter’ Legislation: What Everyone Should Know”, undated). Be good for goodness’ sake — not that you won’t get sued anyway (via Tim Sandefur)
“Trend Is To Mediate, Not Litigate, Bias Cases”
Key factors: the disputants often wish to repair their relationship, and “many people who feel aggrieved want recognition from their employers rather than just money, officials said, noting that about 13 to 20 percent of all mediated cases involve nonfinancial settlements.” The EEOC is encouraging the trend. (Kirsten Downey, Washington Post, Dec. 3).
Canada: What it takes to get fired from a public service job
New Brunswick, Canada: “The City of Moncton thinks that showing up drunk at work toting a loaded, sawed-off shotgun in search of the boss is a firing offence. The city’s union disagrees. Seven days after George Pavlovsky was fired from his job as a senior tree cutter with the City of Moncton, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 51 filed a grievance to his employer challenging the dismissal.” Mr. Pavlovsky is unavailable for immediate service since he is currently serving a two-year prison term over the incident, but he “is hoping to get his job back when he is released.” (Shawna Richer, “Gun-toting, drunk Moncton employee grieves firing”, The Globe and Mail, Nov. 28)
Great moments in discrimination law
In Peterson v. Wilmur Communs., Inc., 205 F. Supp. 2d 1014 (E.D. Wis. 2002), a telemarketing firm demoted an employee when it discovered through a newspaper account that he was a “reverend” in the virulently racist World Church of the Creator, which preaches “racial holy war” and instructs its adherents that virtue consists in advancing the interest of the white race. The employee supervised eight workers, including three non-whites, and the employer said it felt that the latter employees would not be confident of having their work evaluated objectively under his supervision. A federal court held that although the man’s “church” professes no belief in a god, supreme being, or afterlife, what matters was that it holds itself out as religious and inculcates moral and ethical precepts which its adherents sincerely embrace with an intensity comparable to religious belief. The court concluded that the employer had violated federal law against religious bias. A law firm newsletter comments that henceforth employers “may risk allegations of religious discrimination if they fail to protect employees’ religious rights to believe in white supremacy. At the same time, they may risk allegations of race discrimination by nonwhite employees supervised by white supremacists. The decision also opens the door for other groups to reformulate themselves into religions.” (“White Supremacy Held To Be Religion Under Title VII”, McLane law firm newsletter, Nov. 2002 (PDF); Wimberly Lawson newsletter, Sept. 2002, GoogleCached; Holland & Knight Employment, Labor and Benefits newsletter, Jul. 29, 2002 (PDF); HRCalifornia.com (California Chamber of Commerce), “Can You Believe This? Truth Beats Fiction in Employment Law” (list of strange and unusual labor law cases), Nov. 2003) (via Employer’s Lawyer). An account from the Southern Poverty Law Center downplays the significance of the ruling (“Race as Religion“, undated).
Update: Christian Curry case
The New York Observer a little while ago followed up on some of the doings of celebrated ex-Wall Streeter Christian Curry. A few years back, it will be recalled, Mr. Curry filed an employment-bias case against Morgan Stanley, which had fired him after nude pictures of him were published in a sexually explicit magazine (see Nov. 20, 2000). At the time, one bit of mystery stirred comment, namely that Mr. Curry appeared to be flush with money shortly after the settlement even though the parties contended that “no payment” had been made to him for dropping his suit. According to the Observer piece, “several published reports that followed Mr. Curry’s free-spending post-scandal ventures indicated that he had gotten tens of millions of dollars — the figures have ranged from $15 million to $52 million — via some confidential arrangement (the scenarios have varied as well) with his former employer. The February 2001 issue of Brill’s Content, for example, cited ‘a source familiar with the agreement’ who claimed that Morgan Stanley ‘circumvented any direct payment to Curry by compensating three other litigants, all of whom were also suing the firm for discrimination in actions filed shortly after Curry’s, and all of whom were represented by Curry’s attorney Benedict Morelli.’ The source contended that it was left up to Morelli ‘to parcel out the money among his clients.'” (Frank DiGiacomo, “Where is Curry? Man Who Sued Morgan Vanishes”, New York Observer, Aug. 4). More on attorney Morelli: Robert Kolker, “Benedict Morelli Feels Your Pain”, New York, Mar. 13, 2000.
Church bulletin smackdown
Milwaukee paper reports on the unpleasant two-year litigation that resulted after two employees of Liturgical Publications Inc., the country’s largest publisher of church bulletins and newsletters, departed to form a start-up competitor. The case ended with a jury’s rejection of allegations that the former employees stole trade secrets; a judge had earlier ruled a noncompete agreement unenforceable (David Doege, “Bulletin publisher leaves fold, beats lawsuit”, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 11; Lisa Sink, “Most bulletin publisher’s claims against ex-workers dismissed”, Dec. 30, 2002) (via Employer’s Lawyer (Nov. 11), which says the story provides “a good picture of what I call the soft dollar cost of litigation”)
Shoplifting fired cop sues for $40M
John Intermor was fired after being caught shoplifting in 1999. “He admitted to shoplifting $88 worth of electronic equipment, but pled guilty to a lesser charge.
“But his lawyer, Lawrence Gordon of Westbury, said village officials took advantage of his client.” (Sid Cassese, “Fired Cop Files $40 M Lawsuit”, Newsday, Nov. 10).