A California police officer has settled a lawsuit against his employer for $50,000. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy says he faced workplace discrimination because of his religious views after arresting the actor Mel Gibson for driving under the influence in 2006.
The deputy said that his superiors in the department told him to remove anti-Semitic remarks from his police report about the DUI incident. He then faced negative performance reviews, an accusation the department denies.
Continue reading Officer settles workplace discrimination suit in Los Angeles
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Doing the right thing isn't always easy. When someone suspects illegal behavior, especially when involving a child, it is important that the person tells the proper authorities. Being fired for reporting illegal activity shouldn't happen.
Unfortunately, one teacher at a Los Angeles elementary school says she reported signs of illegal sexual behavior by another teacher toward students and the reporting teacher was wrongfully terminated as a result of her actions. She has now filed a lawsuit against she school district after she says they told her that her performance was fine until she started investigating the incidents with the other teacher.
Continue reading Los Angeles elementary school teacher sues for wrongful termination
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HSKRR's Anne Richardson and Virginia Keeny were named two of the top 50 women attorneys in Southern California for 2012 by SuperLawyers.
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When something terrible and unlawful happens and a victim comes forward to tell their story, the thing they fear most is being ridiculed and harassed concerning disclosure of the events. A Los Angeles firefighter filed a sexual harassment complaint against the Los Angeles Fire Department with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after he was harassed for a sexual abuse lawsuit he was involved in.
The man filed the complaint after fellow firefighters started harassing and mocking him with religious and sexual references coinciding with his lawsuit against the Catholic Church for sexual abuse. He faced continued harassment, from 2006 until the complaint in 2007. This week the department settled the case for nearly $500,000.
Continue reading Los Angeles Fire Department settles sexual harassment suit
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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a government agency that works to promote fair employment standards and enforce federal laws regarding employment issues. This week the EEOC settled a lawsuit with a restaurant chain for what it called "egregious acts of sexual harassment."
The suit claimed that female employees were repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment by male employees in the restaurant's kitchen. The actions the men took included making inappropriate comments, requesting sexual acts from the women, and using vegetables to simulate sexual acts and hitting the victims with the vegetables between their legs.
Imagine working hard to make ends meet, and not getting paid even the minimum amount of money required by law. California wage and hour laws are in place to prevent employers from abusing their workers and to provide an opportunity to employees to earn a fair wage. Last week, eight car wash companies in California agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging the companies failed to pay employees minimum wage, overtime wages, and wages owed after employees quit or were fired.
These allegations stem from interviews by investigators of over 80 workers from the different car washes. The lawsuit filed by the Attorney General's Office resulted in a settlement of $1 million that will go toward unpaid wages of workers and employment taxes. During the investigation, investigators say the some employees even quit their job because of poor working conditions and then their employer refused to pay wages for hours they worked before quitting.
Employees got a boost this week in their right to file claims against their employers. The National Labor Relations Board said that under the historic National Labor Relations Act of 1935, employees are able to use litigation collectively to resolve grievances. Brought to the Board by through a wage and hour laws dispute, this decision will likely upset companies across the country because it provides more legal options for employees to resolve employment disputes.
This ruling will broadly affect the American workforce, as it applies to everyone in non-management positions no matter their union status. One expert said that out of nonunion workers, 25 percent of people have signed agreements saying they would resolve disputes in arbitration rather than a courtroom.
Continue reading Labor Board says employees can sue companies collectively
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HSKRR filed a lawsuit on behalf of Lt. Jeff Bardzik of the Orange County Sheriff's Department alleging that Bardzik's First Amendment freedom of political speech rights were violated when he was retaliated against by former Sheriff Michael Carona for supporting Carona's opponent in the election for Sheriff. After securing a published decision from the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit finding that Carona is not entitled to qualified immunity for retaliating against Bardzik, HSKRR successfully opposed defendants' second motion for summary judgment. Additionally, Senior Associate Joshua Piovia-Scott recently deposed Carona in federal prison in preparation for the April 17, 2012 trial.
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January 11, 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. HSKRR attorneys Anne Richardson and Cindy Pánuco are part of a broad national coalition which is using that day to speak out against the erosion of civil liberties both there and domestically that is being justified in the name of fighting "terrorism."
"We must not repeat the mistakes of the past, in which a legitimate concern gives way to an irrational frenzy which cuts back on due process and the right to be heard," stated Anne Richardson. "No one, no matter what the charges against them are, should be held indefinitely without trial. Make no mistake, we will regret this era in our nation's history, just as we regret the Japanese Internment and the McCarthy era." The recent passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) only serves to underscore the fact that the frightening constrictions of civil liberties that began after 9/11 are showing no signs of slowing down.
Along with many other local lawyers and organizations, HSKRR is taking part in a day of action, starting at 9 a.m. on January, 11 at the Los Angeles Federal Center on Temple and Los Angeles Streets and continuing with a press conference at 10 a.m. There is also a silent vigil and rally at 4 p.m. at the Westwood Federal Building at Wilshire and Veteran.
For a link to an interview of Anne Richardson on the Lawyers' Guild radio show on KPFK 90.7 FM from January 5, 2011, click here.
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With the start of a new year, many people who have been financially strapped and looking for work may have just been given a new advantage. Effective on January 1, employers have been banned by the State of California from using credit checks to decide who to hire, making the practice employment discrimination.
In the past employers were allowed to use credit checks on potential new hires, to decide whether to hire the person. Credit checks contain important financial history information, including how regularly you make payments on certain debts. Many people may not have even conducted a credit check on their own, so they might not be aware of mistakes in the report that could adversely affect their job search.
Continue reading California makes checking credit score employment discrimination
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