Recent developments in Equal Employment Opportunity

Recent developments in Equal Employment Opportunity
Source: EEO/iNews – iNews Related to Equal Employment Opportunity, © 2008 John D. Sargent, Esq., All Rights Reserved. Reproduced with permission. Please direct corrections, comments, questions, subscription requests and inquiries to Mr. Sargent at eeoinews@yahoo.com

EEO/iNews
iNews Related to Equal Employment Opportunity

Mr. Sargent advisers readers that EEO/iNews is a free publication of EEO Services by John D. “Jack” Sargent. Mr. Sargent retired as a Supervisory Trial Attorney from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2004. EEO/iNEWS is published on Thursday, or otherwise as necessary. EEO/iNews is not a publication of the EEOC. Mr. Sargent is not associated with the EEOC. This is information, not legal advice. Do not rely on EEO/iNews alone for analysis of any issue. We are not responsible for news content. Some links may have expired or require sign-up or subscription. Mr. Sargent is not compensated for news connected to a service or product. Mr. Sargent relies on free Internet sources for EEO/iNEWS. EEO/iNEWS contents do not necessarily reflect the views of Mr. Sargent. Please direct corrections, comments, questions, subscription requests and inquiries to Mr. Sargent at eeoinews@yahoo.com. Corrections will be published as soon as practicable. Mr. Sargent’s mailing address is PO Box 832, Geneva, Ohio, 44041.

EEO/iNews provides weekly links to Internet news related to employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, retaliation, FRD and LGBT. Some links may have expired or require sign-up or subscription. Links are sorted by

Ø U.S. Supreme Court
Ø Federal Appellate Court Decisions
Ø State Roundup
Ø Topical
Ø Articles/Reports/Books
Ø Foreign Spotlight

To begin, scan the link descriptions below and click.


U.S. Supreme Court

Ø Public Citizen’s most recent Sup Ct Watch List
Ø SCOTUSblog’s most recent Petition to Watch here
Ø Ross Runkel’s US Sup Ct Employment Law Cases– Pending and Decided here

Petition for Cert Granted:

Crawford v. Metro Gov't of Nashville & Davidson County, No. 06-1595
Title VII/retaliation
o October 8, 2008 Argument Transcript here
o SCOTUSWIKI here
o LIIBULLETIN here

14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, No. 07-581
Enforceability of collectively bargained arbitration clause
o Set for argument December 1, 2008
o SCOTUSWIKI here
o LIIBULLETIN here
o Noted here: AARP

AT&T v. Hulteen, No. 07-543
Title VII/Denial of pre-’79 pregnancy leave service credits in computing pension
o Set for argument December 10, 2008
o SCOTUSWIKI here
o LIIBULLETIN here

Selected Pending Petitions for Certiorari:

Ricci v. Destefano, No. 07-1428
Title VII/White/Hispanic firefighters challenge New Haven CT’s rejection of promotion exam results because of disparate impact on Blacks
o SCOTUS docket here
o Noted here: Connecticut Employment Law Blog

Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs, No. 08-441
ADEA/Must a plaintiff present direct evidence of discrimination in order to obtain a mixed-motive instruction in a non-Title VII discrimination case?
o SCOTUS docket here

Bowie v. Personnel Bd. of Jefferson County, Ala., No. 08-488
Title VII/ (1) Can a court-appointed receiver be sued as an employer under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for retaliatory employment decisions made during his receivership? (2) When a period of receivership ends during the pendency of a Title VII action, should the action continue with the original employer substituted for the receiver?
o SCOTUS docket here


Federal Appellate Court Decisions

Ø Paul Mollica’s Daily Developments in EEO Law here

6th Circuit
Madden v. Chattanooga City Wide Svc. Dept., No. 085082 (6th Cir. Nov. 25, 2008)
Affirming $120K bench verdict for Black crew worker who was fired for setting off firecracker but Whites weren’t; Plaintiff proceeded pro se at trial

Martin v. Toledo Cardiology Consultants, Inc., No. 073724 (6th Cir. Nov. 21, 2008)
Reversing dismissal of fem ee’s age/retaliation claims; dissent disputes majority’s application of “honest-belief” rule

11th Circuit
Lawver v. Hillcrest Hospice, Inc., No. 08-11626 (11th Cir. Nov. 24, 2008)
Affirming dismissal of fem Medical Director’s gender/RIF + wage claims; reversing award of atty fees to defendant

DC Circuit
Royall v. Nat'l Ass'n of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, No. 07-7165 (Nov. 21, 2008)
Affirming dismissal of Black Accounting Manager’s race/discharge claim

Commentary on previously reported Federal Appellate Court decisions

[4th Cir.]
o Plaintiff's Allegations of Cover-Up Dooms His Title VII Case
Lightner v. City of Wilmington


State Roundup

AL
Ø NEWS
· EEOC Commish: Discrimination claims up sharply
· Judge sets deadlines for Birmingham to correct data interface problems with Jefferson County Personnel Board

AZ
Ø SETTLED
· Automated Control Technologies pays $50K to settle EEOC’s retaliation/discharge lawsuit

CA
Ø DECIDED
· St Ct App: Lesbian flips dismissal of her orientation/discharge suit vs Washington Mutual; dismissal of claim against supv and request for punitive damages affirmed
Ø FILED
· NELP targets Lowe’s; files EEOC race (B) charge challenging policy barring employment because of minor criminal record; NELP press release here
Ø NEWS
· Costco trial underway: HIV+ gay employee suing for workplace discrim and humiliation
· UC Irvine Prof refuses state mandated sex harass training
· Trial underway in fem prosecutor’s gender discrim suit vs Fresno County DA
· Recent Developments Regarding Internal EEO Complaint Procedures

DE
Ø FILED
· Fem frmr State Trooper claims false accusations and retaliation for earlier complaints
Ø NEWS
· EEOC And State Of Delaware Enter Mediation Partnership

DC
Ø DECIDED
· DC Ct App: Affirming dismissal of age and retaliation/discharge claims vs Howard University, pursued by children of deceased employee

GA
Ø FILED
· Accidental store-wide sexuality/religion comments over intercom lead to discrim suit vs PETCO
Ø NEWS
· Black fem candidate for Albany Deputy Fire Chief told department was seeking a white man

HI
Ø NEWS
· Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office: 2 ex-male investigators claim sex discrim by fem supervisors

ID
Ø FILED
· Fired Hayden PW Dir tells IHRC that he was fired for accommodating employee w/ cancer

IN
Ø FILED
· Elkhart fem firefighter sues for gender/failure-to-promote discrim

IA
Ø DECIDED
· Jury tells Iowa State to pay $287K to fem softball coach fired for complaining about wage discrim, etc.
Ø SETTLED
· Hunt Forest Products pays $300K to women, Blacks, to settle hiring discrim claims; 24 to get jobs

MA
Ø FILED
· Holyoke Tax Collector named for email sex harass in MCAD charge

MN
Ø NEWS
· Somali Muslim ex-Gold’n Plump wrkrs push for unemployment comp
Ø SETTLED
· Star Tribune settles EEOC sex harass suit for $300K+ to mail room fems; more here

MT
Ø SETTLED
· $135K settles 3 fem Billings cops’ gender discrim claims; more here

NJ
Ø DECIDED
· St Ct App: Employee Can Prove Termination Was Discriminatory Even If Ultimate Decisionmaker Had No Discriminatory Animus Kwiatkowski v. Merrill Lynch

NY
Ø NEWS
· Retiring NFHRC head: Pending lawsuit chills Niagara Falls response to discrim complaints; Incoming NFHRC head speaks
· Trial underway in race/discharge suit by 4 Blacks vs Bernard Spitzer, father of ex-guv Elliott Spitzer; Bernard denies discrimination here
· 2 White Plains ticket officers complain of age (46.65)/discipline discrim

NC
Ø NEWS
· Negotiations stall on Black cops’ EEOC charge vs Greensboro; more here

OH
Ø NEWS
· ODAS report: OIC ignored EEO officer’s complaints of race discrim and punished her for saying so
· Cleveland considering whether to protect transgender persons from discrim

OK
· Ex-Chesapeake Energy Hr Mgr sues for harass and retal for complaining of sex and age discrim

PA
Ø FILED
· EEOC sues Dart Container for race (Black) and NO (Sudanese)/failure-to-promote discrim
Ø NEWS
· Justice O'Connor Sits on 3rd Circuit Panel Hearing UPS Challenge to ADA Class Action
Ø SETTLED
· Black Ellwood Borough Police Chief settles race discrim charge; alleged use of N-word

TX
Ø DECIDED
· Rhodes v. Curascript: Fem’s gender/discharge claim dismissed; no gender discrim in her being fired for an assault while male not fired for oversleeping
· EEOC suit: Sonic Drive-In subjected teen fems to manager/co-worker sex harass

VA
Ø FILED
· Fired Black, deaf Fort Defiance HS wrestling coach files EEOC charge

WV
Ø DECIDED
· Terex Superior Highwall Miners takes a $1.8M hit from jury for firing 62yo HR Mgr/Acct because of age


Topical

Disability – ADAAA
Prepare for more ADA claims

Disability - Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers (DBTAC)
Check here for DBTAC-sponsored 2008-09 ADA Employment Webinar Series
Check here for DBTAC-sponsored 2008-09 ADA Audio Conference Schedule
Visit your Regional DBTAC website here for ADA news and information

Disability – General
Employment gap widens for workers with disabilities
USDOL/Office of Disability Policy (ODEP) issues 3 new fact sheets:
> Creating a Path to Employment
> Essential Skills to Getting a Job
> Shaping Tomorrow’s Workforce

EEOC
Check here for periodically posted EEOC Informal Discussion Letters
EEOC National Headquarters + Washington EEOC Field Office move
Record number of EEOC charges filed in 2008; and here, here

Gender
A main source of the wage gap between men and women is job segregation
Holiday Pitfalls: Time Off from Work and Marital Status Laws

Harassment
The sham of sex harassment training - It's little more than politically correct indoctrination
No Safe Harbors!
What employers should do when they hear it through the grapevine
Sexual harassment in the workplace: Don't take it

The Office TV Series: Blogging about discrimination issues
That’s What She Said
Manpower Employment Blawg

POTUS 2008 CAMPAIGN
Why the New Administration Should Focus on Workplace Equality: Some Easy Fixes for Important Problems
Transition To A New (Work) Day: An Initial Look at Workplace Change in the Obama Era

Race
Study: White adults who see discrimination often overweight

Religion
Treat holidays with care to avoid religious discrimination, harassment

Retaliation
Best approach to retaliation suit: Don't let it happen
Harvard Law Review evaluation of SCOTUS decision in Gomez- Perez v. Potter

Workplace
Have You Prepared Your Termination Checklist?



Articles/Reports/Books/Etc.

Reports
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: History, Funding, and Current Issues
Federal Civil Rights Statutes: A Primer
EEOC 2008 Performance and Accountability Report; noted here



Foreign Spotlight

Canada
COACH: Another Human Rights Violator
Tis the Season to Accommodate
CHRC: Policy and Procedure on the Accommodation of Mental Illness; noted here

England
A new leaf: Why businesses need to invest in disabled employees
Sex Discrimination Commish: Male MPs get away with sexist behaviour that would be unlawful in any other workplace
London police settle discrimination claim by highest ranking Asian policeman
Gender Identity Disorder

United Nations
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): Congressional Issues


Corrections

· Our November 20, 2008 article about a fired deaf custodian’s lawsuit in MA should have named the defendant as Westboro, not Waterboro

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