- Bill Tucker | February 26, 2008 1:20 PM |
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MiscellaneousA Florida jury awarded $5.4 Million to a female employee who filed claims against her employer for sexual harassment and battery. The employee had worked for the employer for fourteen years, during which the employer admittedly sought more than a professional relationship with the employee, and even kissed her on the lips at a public function. The employee also alleged that the employer had...
- Bill Tucker | February 25, 2008 10:00 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesA recent Department of Labor investigation against a Municipal Sheriff's Department illustrates how requiring employees to perform work-related activities prior to "clocking in" violates the unpaid overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Sheriff's Department required its deputies to attend meetings at the start and end of the workday, but did not include this time in...
- Bill Tucker | February 21, 2008 11:42 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesA significant trend in wage and hour law is the number of Computer and IT workers, particularly those in the service industry, who are filing lawsuits seeking to recover unpaid overtime. Many employers mistakenly regard overtime pay as a benefit available only to "blue collar" workers, and misclassify high-tech employees as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards...
- Michael Phelan | February 18, 2008 8:37 PM |
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MiscellaneousAge discrimination is a hot topic these days, with several cases pending for decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects employees age 40 and older from discrimination in employment based on age. Age discrimination can include discrimination in hiring, promotion, pay, benefits, and discharge. The Act also protects against retaliation for...
- Bill Tucker | February 15, 2008 8:00 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesLoan Officers for American Equity Mortgage recently filed a national class action lawsuit alleging that their employer misclassified them as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, and seeking recovery of unpaid overtime compensation. This lawsuit is part of a growing trend of lawsuits filed by "white collar" workers in the financial, pharmaceutical, computer, IT, service and other industries...
- Bill Tucker | February 14, 2008 11:30 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesA Texas woman has filed a class action against Lowes Home Center alleging Lowes violated the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The woman, who was a warehouse employee at a regional distribution center, claims that Lowes owes her unpaid overtime, and did not credit her for time that she performed required work for Lowes before and after her scheduled shift, including...
- Michael Phelan | February 14, 2008 9:51 AM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesThe American Academy of Neurology has expanded the definition of the acute or immediate signs of concussion. Symptoms of brain injury can be mild to severe with some symptoms showing up immediately and others not appearing until several days or weeks after the injury. The AAN categorizes the signs of concussion as follows:Immediate Signs of Concussion(Seen within seconds/minutes):* Any loss of...
- Bill Tucker | February 13, 2008 10:13 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesMcLane Co., Inc., a wholesale distributor of food and grocery products, has agreed to pay $1,559,316 in unpaid overtime wages to 570 current and former employees after the Department of Labor found that the company had misclassified the employees as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company had erroneously classified the employees, who were "retail...
- Bill Tucker | February 11, 2008 2:47 PM |
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MiscellaneousThe First Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a public employee's sexual harassment lawsuit claiming that her supervisor created a hostile work environment by staring at her chest. The employee also claimed that the supervisor, the Town Administrator, retaliated against her by transferring her to another job after she complained to the Town Board. The decision of the Court of Appeals appears to...
- Michael Phelan | February 09, 2008 5:07 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesNo matter how politicians view the war in Iraq, they all say publically that they support the troops. The signature injury of this war, brain damage, results in a host of symptoms including depression, suicidal ideation, and post traumatic stress. In opposing a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the government of illegally denying mental health treatment to troops returning from Iraq and...
- Bill Tucker | February 08, 2008 2:19 PM |
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MiscellaneousThe former head of a local Boys & Girls Club filed a "retaliation" lawsuit alleging that she was wrongfully terminated after reporting that the organization had inflated the number of children enrolled in its programs in order to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal government. All federal employment statutes contain an anti-retaliation provision that is designed to protect...
- Michael Phelan | February 04, 2008 10:10 AM |
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MiscellaneousFor generations, the hourly billing business model for law firms has forced plaintiffs involved in commercial litigation to pay attorneys by the hour regardless of the outcome of the litigation. A better business model for plaintiffs seeking to hire counsel to initiate business litigation may involve contingency fees, fixed legal fee pricing or a combination of a diminished hourly rate and a...
- Michael Phelan | February 04, 2008 1:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousEven in 2008, sexual assault continues to haunt the workplace. Since 1964, when sex and gender based harassment were outlawed with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, some male employers and supervisors have continued to use the workplace as a trolling ground for sexual gratification. More often than not, this is much, much more than about sex - it's about raw power. When an employer...
- Michael Phelan | February 03, 2008 10:07 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesA number of pharmaceutical companies, including Roache Laboratories, Inc., Abbot Laboratories, Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer, Inc., Merck & Co. Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, are facing wage-and-hour suits filed on behalf of their sales representatives. Our firm recently filed such a case against Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. claiming the company failed to pay hundreds of sales representatives...
- Michael Phelan | February 02, 2008 9:01 AM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesResearchers studying brain injury believe that people with unrelated social or cognitive problems may have something in common: a long-forgotten blow to the head. It is widely accepted that severe head injuries can lead to cognitive and behavioral problems. What is new, according to brain researchers Wayne A. Gordan, M.D. and Mary Hibbard, Ph.D., is the contention that there are many other...
- Michael Phelan | February 02, 2008 9:01 AM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesA study published in the New England Journal of Medicine represents the military's first large-scale effort to gauge the effect of mild head injuries -concussions (many from roadside blasts)- that some experts worry may cause a host of undiagnosed neurological problems. My last blog reported on a study concluding that undiagnosed head trauma is the cause of a host of later cognitive and...