As I previously discussed, protection for disabled employees was vastly expanded on January 1, 2009, when the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), a law expanding the scope of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), went into effect. On March 25, 2011, the United States Equal Employment Commission (EEOC) established…
A group of six female employees of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals recently filed a class action lawsuit claiming the company discriminated against them because of their gender. The case, which was filed in the United States District Court in Newark, New Jersey on March 21, 2011, seeks $100 million in damages.…
On March 22, 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”) prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who make oral complaints about violations of the FLSA. The FLSA is a federal law that sets minimum wages, maximum hours, and overtime pay requirements.…
In January, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) began requiring early mediation in all employment discrimination cases other than cases brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Mediation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) in which a lawyer, retired judge,…
Earlier this month, New Jersey’s Appellate Division reduced a punitive damages award in an age discrimination case in which the jury had awarded $10 million, to slightly less than $2.5 million. Punitive damages are awarded to punish a defendant when its actions are especially egregious. The Evidence of Age Discrimination…
On February 28, 2011, New Jersey’s Appellate Division issued an unpublished opinion ruling that a jury should decide whether the New Jersey Department of Corrections (“DOC”) retaliated against one of its employees, Bienvenido Montalvo. Mr. Montalvo Filed a National Origin Discrimination Complaint With the EEOC Mr. Montalvo worked for DOC…
Yesterday, the United Supreme Court decided an important employment law case. Specifically, in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, the Supreme Court ruled that companies can be held liable for an adverse employment decision, even if the employee who actually made the decision did not discriminate, when another supervisor’s discriminatory actions or…
On February 9, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that an arbitrator, rather than a judge, must decide whether an arbitration agreement allows the parties to have a class action arbitration. As a result, it reversed the District of New Jersey’s decision which had…
On February 8, 2011, New Jersey’s Appellate Division ruled that an employee is entitled have a jury decide whether to award punitive damages against her former employer. Prior to the appeal, a jury had awarded the plaintiff, Judith Rusak, $80,108.80 in wages she lost because she experienced sexual harassment and…
Last Wednesday, a mascot who worked for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees minor league team filed a federal lawsuit claiming the team violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and state law because it failed to pay him for his overtime hours. Specifically, Brian Bonnor’s lawsuit alleges the team improperly designated him…