Potential clients have asked me about this scenario: if co-workers make racial comments about a well-known figure, do these comments help show racial animus toward his/her situation? This situation is presented in a case heard by the Eleventh Court Of Appeals. A black nurse heard racial comments about former President. Obama and about black patients.
I previously wrote about the first decision in Hamilton v. Dallas County here. That decision held that forcing female detention officers to work on weekends was not discrimination based on sex. The Fifth Circuit panel noted rightly that prior caselaw required an “ultimate employment action” to constitute discrimination. Prior caselaw defined ultimate employment action as
There are folks with disabilities who test websites to see if those websites are ADA compliant. I previously wrote about one tester, Deborah Laufer here. In Laufer v. Acheson Hotels, 50 F.4th 259 (2022), the First Circuit ruled that Ms. Laufer as a tester did have standing for her ADA lawsuit. Some of
In Spears v. Louisiana College, No. 20-30522, 2023 WL 2810057 (5th Cir. 4/6/2023), the appellate court addressed the situation in which an employee’s duties are are assigned to various employees. Some courts refer to this practice as “fractioning.” Carolyn Spears taught at Louisiana College for many years. She contracted cancer in 2012 and again
In Harmon v. Texas Southern Univ., No. 14-21-00125 (Tex.App. Corpus Christi 6/15/2023), the court denied the employer’s Plea to Jurisdiction. It also looked behind the employer’s weak arguments about what its supervisor knew. Ms. Harmon had taught at Texas Southern for some 16 years, when her knee gave her so much trouble that she
A little known fact is that many defense lawyers who practice employment law are actually political moderates. Many of my defense lawyer friends actually were appalled by former Pres. Trump. But, not all. Two lawyers resigned from the mega firm, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith in Los Angeles to start a new law firm that
An issue that has percolated for many years is whether an employer must offer a transfer to an open position as an accommodation to a person with a disability. Adrianna Cook worked for the Methodist Hospital for several years when she injured her back in 2012. She then worked in a light duty position for
The Dallas County Jail routinely assigned the female detention officers to work the weekend shifts. The supervisors claimed it was safer for the male detention officers to be off on the weekends. Not surprisingly, the female officers did not appreciate this policy. They filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging gender bias. In the resulting
There are folks with disabilities who test public accommodations like a hobby. They do this testing across the country, often from great distances. They justifiably want to see stores, hotels, banks and more satisfy the Americans with Disabilities Act requirement to make their places of business open to persons with disabilities. But, can a tester
A jury verdict for $366 million is very rare. It is especially rare for a single plaintiff case. It is even more rare in federal district court. Yet, that is exactly what happened in Harris v. Fedex, No. 21-CV-01651 (S.D. Tex.). Jennifer Harris sued Fedex for discrimination and for retaliation after she complained about