Employee Rights Post : Ellen Simon's Employee Rights Post : Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Workplace Discrimination & Harassment Advice & Consultations

Here's a few Short Takes worth sharing:

Supervisor Liability

 Payne v. U.S. Airways, Inc. (Reprinted from Westlaw with permission of Thomson Reuters) :The Court held, in a matter of first impression, that a former employee's supervisor was an agent of the employer and individually liable for sexual harassment under the Vermont Fair Employment Practices Act. While the opinion only pertains to Vermont, the language may be helpful in states with similar statutes.

Constructive Discharge

Klein v. Raytheon Co. (Reprinted from Westlaw with permission of Thomson Reuters): A California federal judge allowed a constructive discharge lawsuit to proceed based on a physics engineer's claim that his supervisor told him his mental disability was a "load of crap". His supervisors also called him a "liar," "thief" and "fraud", threatened to strip him of his security clearance, and told him that he would never be able to work in the aerospace industry again.

The Court rejected Raytheon's motion to dismiss the suit on the grounds that harsh or threatening language used in a single instance is insufficient to support a constructive discharge claim under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. There aren't many cases that address the "single instance/incident" argument, so this one helps.

Age Discrimination

Law Firm Sued By EEOC For Age Discrimination: The EEOC filed a suit against the  New York law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren claiming that it significantly underpays attorneys who practice law past age 70 compared to similarly productive younger attorneys in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Here's the complaint. It's not the first time law firms have been in trouble for age discrimination. The EEOC got a whopping $27.5 million dollar consent decree in a similar case against the Sidly Austin law firm in 2007.

Sexual Harassment

King v. McMillan: The Fourth Circuit affirmed a jury award to the plaintiff of $50,000 in compensatory damages on her Title VII sexual harassment claim, $175,000 on her sexual assault/battery claim (remitted to $50,000) and $100,000 in punitive damages. It's a very helpful case to read regarding evidentiary questions and jury instructions for those involved in cases of both sexual harassment and battery. It's also helpful on the issue of punitive damages.

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There have been a number of good articles this week which reported the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's news that discrimination charges are on the rise. including the Workplace Prof Blog  the Connecticut Employment Law Blog,and The Wall Street Journal. There's also some debate as what these new statistics mean.

These are the statistics:

• Overall discrimination charges are at a record high up 15%
• Age discrimination charges are at a record high up 29%                               
• Sex discrimination charges are up 14%                                                
• Religious discrimination charges are up 14%
• National Origin discrimination charges are up 13%
• Race discrimination charges are up 11%
• Disability discrimination charges are up 10%

I think it's pretty obvious that discrimination is going to occur in a time of economic distress.  When managers are given the opportunity to let people go, it is an opportunity to discriminate for:

• younger managers who don't like or who are uncomfortable with the "old timers" and replace them with younger cheaper workers
• men who think women should be at home instead of work
• whites who don't like blacks and other minorities

I wrote about this topic last  week in an article about the hidden dangers of workforce reductions.  My opinion comes from thirty years of representing employees in discrimination claims and both proving and winning those cases.

Not surprisingly, those who represent managers have a different perspective. I just read an article on Job-Bias Claims Soaring  to Record Highs in 2008 which quoted a management lawyer with one of the top firms in the country.  His opinion was that there really is very little discrimination and that people are just looking for money:

Someone who has lost his job is in a very tough situation and may be looking for a number of avenues where he can replace revenue, said Gerald Hathaway, and employment lawyer with Littler Mendelson in New York.  But true victims of discrimination are rare.  Most commonly, someone files a claim thinking he's a victim of discrimination, but is not.

I had lunch a couple of weeks ago with a very well regarded insurance executive who handles discrimination claims nationwide and she sincerely expressed a similar view.

Obviously, there is a real difference of opinion.

Those of us who represent employees and have done so over time have seen the patterns of a spike in discrimination claims when downsizing takes place.  We have scrutinized the documentation, explanations, and business justifications for the decisions that have been made.  Often times the objective support for the termination decision simply does not exist.  In other cases we find that the particular manager has a history of racist, ageist, or sexist remarks, or that other minorities, women, or older workers were selected in disproportionate numbers by the same manager or management group.

Certainly there are some employees who believe that they were discriminated against when they were not.  Many do not understand what the term means or how discrimination is proven.   Many believe that they were treated unfairly, and perhaps they were, but an unfair decision is not necessarily a discriminatory one.  There is no doubt that some of the charges filed with the EEOC have no merit.

On the other hand, there is real discrimination that takes place in the workplace.  If these prejudices did not exist, there would be no need for civil rights laws to protect these groups.  These claims do rise in times of economic distress when people are being singled out for termination or layoff.The news from the EEOC this week is no surprise.

Certainly everyone is entitled to their opinion. But it seems to me the belief that little discrimination occurs, or that most of the claims have no merit, or that people are just looking for money  is a belief that may not fully appreciate the real prejudice which still exists and is patently manifested in  times of economic distress.  

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