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 Morris … Continue Reading
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. … Continue Reading
It is more important than ever that employers conduct internal investigations of workplace complaints and take appropriate action when there is cause to do so. Proper investigations and thorough pre-litigation assessments can help employers minimize exposure to unfavorable jury verdicts and awards. A case from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, in which … Continue Reading
A federal judge in New York has ruled that a plaintiff could recover only a small portion of the $2.5 million a jury awarded him, granting the defendant’s request for the reduction. Saber v. New York State Department of Financial Services, No. 1:15-cv-05944 (S.D. N.Y. July 20, 2018). Plaintiff Nasser Saber, who is Muslim, had … Continue Reading
Not only is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continuing to crack down on employers suspected of retaliating against employees who blow the whistle and will not hesitate to pursue litigation on behalf of employees, OSHA considers lawsuits against whistleblowers to constitute adverse action for purposes of finding unlawful retaliation. In a case brought … Continue Reading
