Lawyer Suing for Sex Discrimination Says She Was Fired; Firm Calls It ‘Facilitating Her Transition’

New salvos have been shot in a much-watched legal battle between a highly credentialed female lawyer and the Silicon Valley venture capital firm for which she has been working as a junior partner while simultaneously pursuing a sex discrimination suit. Ellen Pao, a highly credentialed former BigLaw attorney, says, through…

Oct 4, 2012 3:30 PM CDT

Lawyer Disciplined for Using Personal Laptop at Work to Earn Extra Bucks from JustAnswer.com

A Kentucky lawyer has been reprimanded for using his personal laptop computer during downtime at work to earn extra income by answering legal questions on JustAnswer.com. Matthew Scott Finley also got into hot water by occasionally using his state computer at his job in the public protection cabinet of Kentucky’s…

Oct 1, 2012 5:47 PM CDT

Prison Guard Reinstated After Investigation Shows Other Guards Were Friends with Inmate on Facebook

After being fired in May for violating Texas prison policy by friending an inmate on Facebook, a Huntsville corrections officer has been reinstated. The reinstatement comes after an investigation showed several others at the prison, including the prison’s chief financial officer, were associated on Facebook with the same convicted murderer.…

Oct 1, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Hearsay: Short Takes and Fast Facts on the Law

Oct 1, 2012 8:10 AM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Questions Employment Law Bloggers Would Like to See the Candidates Debate

In anticipation of the first presidential debate on Wednesday and the vice presidential debate on Oct. 11, five employment law bloggers joined forces this week to share what labor and employment-related questions they would ask the candidates. In “Face the Bloggers”—as Employment & Labor Insider blogger Robin Shea, a lawyer…

Sep 28, 2012 2:00 PM CDT

Former Programmer Accused of Stealing Source Code Wants Goldman Sachs to Pay $2.4M Legal Fees

A former computer programmer for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. who has now been charged in state court in Manhattan related to his alleged theft of confidential source code from his ex-employer to use in a new job has filed suit seeking over $2.4 million in legal fees. Sergey Aleynikov says…

Sep 26, 2012 8:07 PM CDT

2nd Venture Capital Firm Faces Suit re Claimed Discrimination Against Female Partner

For the second time in less than six months, a venture capital firm in the San Francisco area has been sued for alleged discrimination against a female partner. Such litigation by high-profile women working in the male-dominated field is unusual, and the previous suit, by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers…

Sep 25, 2012 6:56 PM CDT

As More Companies Recruit with Pre-Employment Tests, Questions of Bias Percolate

Companies are increasingly relying on pre-employment testing to find the employees with the right fit for the job. But as the testing becomes more common, so are complaints about bias and possible risk to employers. “The bigger the data set, the more people being pushed through these assessments, the greater…

Sep 25, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Medical Pot Law Doesn’t Protect Fired Wal-Mart Worker, 6th Circuit Rules

A federal appeals court has ruled for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the case of a worker who claimed he should not have been fired for using medical marijuana. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Michigan’s medical marijuana law does not protect Joseph Casias, who was fired after…

Sep 21, 2012 10:50 AM CDT

Hospital OKs Language-Discrimination Settlement of $975K; That May Be a Health Industry Record

Without admitting wrongdoing, a California hospital has agreed to pay a settlement of $975,000, among other conditions, to resolve a federal employment discrimination lawsuit contending that Filipino-American staff members were harassed for speaking their own language while other workers who spoke languages other than English were not. Delano Regional Medical…

Sep 18, 2012 11:02 PM CDT

Woman Who Sued Newsweek to End Ban on Female Writers Questions Purported ‘Ambition Gap’

In the 1960s, aspiring women journalists at Newsweek were limited in their career choices. One of those women was Lynn Povich. “At Newsweek, women were hired on the mail desk to deliver mail, then to clip newspapers, and, if they were lucky, became researchers or fact checkers,” Povich tells NPR…

Sep 17, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Casino Lawyers Explain to Nevada Judge About Locally Reviewed Email They Said Was In Macau

Last year, attorney Justin Jones and other lawyers for Las Vegas Sands Corp. reviewed some emails from Macau that concerned a fired executive of a subsidiary company. But when the casino subsequently told a judge hearing a breach of contract case brought by Steven Jacobs, the former CEO of Sands…

Sep 13, 2012 5:23 PM CDT

New Breastfeeding Policy Debate Follows Anthropology Prof’s Decision to Bring Baby to Class

An assistant anthropology professor at American University has ignited new debate about the parameters of breastfeeding law and policy by bringing her baby to the first day of class when the child unexpectedly awakened with a fever that day. As Adrienne Pine explains in a Counterculture essay last week, she…

Sep 11, 2012 7:32 PM CDT

Welcomed At Some Workplaces, Dogs Prompt Canine-Oriented Lease Provision and Office Policy

A growing Minnesota-based Web development company has a lot of experience with arranging to lease new office space. And there’s at least one provision that isn’t negotiable, the Nerdery’s co-president tells the Star-Tribune. “We’ve moved or expanded our office space eight times in as many years, and an open-door dog…

Sep 10, 2012 10:47 PM CDT

Judge OKs Damages Claim by Ex-Edwards Wildman Partner Allegedly Ousted Without Required Partner Vote

A former corporate partner of Edwards Wildman Palmer isn’t entitled to his promised pay of $625,000 for his work 2008, because he didn’t bring in anywhere close to the amount of business he was supposed to generate to be paid at this level, a New York judge ruled last week.…

Sep 7, 2012 9:12 PM CDT