On May 7, 2021, the Connecticut Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities (CHRO) v. Edge Fitness, LLC, et al., SC 20538 (Conn.). The case presents an issue of first impression and arises out of the State of Connecticut’s claim that a separate women-only workout
Sex Discrimination
Pennsylvania Jury Finds Female Professor’s Retaliation Claims Pass the Test
A federal jury has awarded a female professor lost earnings and punitive damages on two counts of employment retaliation, despite rejecting her claim of sex discrimination in a university’s distribution of coveted teaching assignments. Baugh v. Robert Morris University, No. 2016-cv-430 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 11, 2018).
Jeanne Baugh, a computer programming professor at Robert…
No Horseplay Here: Jury Awards Employee $2.4 Million in Damages for Sex Discrimination
A company’s potential monetary liability for workplace discrimination can be crippling. A jury in the U.S. District for the Northern District of Illinois had awarded a male grocery store butcher $2.4 million in compensatory and punitive damages on his claim of sexual harassment against a small grocery store located in the south side of Chicago.…
$1 Jury Verdict Yields $300,000 in Attorneys Fees to Plaintiff’s Counsel
In a case alleging sexual harassment by a researcher against a research assistant, the trial court ordered more than $300,000 in attorneys’ fees after the jury awarded a mere $1 in damages to the plaintiff. Jenkins v. The University of Minnesota et al., No. 13-CV-1548 (D. Minn. Oct. 13, 2017). The court awarded attorneys’…