Labor & Employment

Paralegal Headed to Law School Takes $125K Job Instead, Is Fired and Sues

Thomas DeVore had a job with a title company, and his career was on the upswing. He was about to begin pursuing a law degree at Washburn University School of Law and had a job lined up as a paralegal, too, to help cover his costs there. But the southern…

Aug 26, 2009 4:51 PM CDT

Major Canada Firm Must Produce Pay Info in Hard-Fought Sex Bias Case

One of Canada’s biggest law firms must soon produce a treasure trove of information about its salaries, billing rates and performance reviews, among other confidential information. What is believed to be an unprecedented court order against McCarthy Tétrault requires the disclosure by Sept. 7, in response to a former associate’s…

Aug 25, 2009 5:12 PM CDT

Former Child Actor, Repped by Allred, Has Standing to Sue ‘Octomom,’ Judge Rules

A former child actor who now works as an advocate for other children in the entertainment industry can proceed with a lawsuit seeking a guardian to protect the children of Nadya Suleman, aka the “Octomom,” a California judge ruled today as he denied Suleman’s motion to dismiss. Attorney Jeff Czech,…

Aug 21, 2009 10:07 PM CDT

Would-Be Law Prof Sues for Age Bias, Asks Why Schools Don’t Value Experience

Updated: A Michigan lawyer who didn’t get an interview for a faculty job at the University of Iowa has sued for age discrimination. Immigration lawyer Donald Dobkin says he was 55 when he responded to a law school ad last year seeking teachers with experience in administrative law, immigration and…

Aug 21, 2009 12:22 PM CDT

EEOC Sues AT&T, Says Policy Banning Rehire of Early Retirees Is Age Bias

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued AT&T, claiming the company’s refusal to consider rehiring early retirees amounts to age discrimination. The suit filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court says the policy against rehiring those who took early retirement has an adverse impact on older workers, according to stories in…

Aug 21, 2009 11:27 AM CDT

Federal Judge Boots Law Firm from Case for Hiring the Wrong Associate

Applying what some might consider an unduly strict interpretation of conflict-of-interest standards, a federal magistrate judge in Massachusetts has disqualified Lichten & Liss-Riordan from continuing to represent the plaintiff in a five-year-old Fair Labor Standards Act case. Although associate Sarah Getchell, who was recently hired by the firm, says she…

Aug 20, 2009 9:22 PM CDT

UPS Worker Sues for Overtime; Case Seeks Up to $100M in Damages

A United Parcel Service Inc. account manager has sued the package delivery service in federal court in San Diego, Calif., for alleged unpaid overtime. If the class action status that Laura Meza is seeking is OK’d by the trial judge, the suit could involve as much as $100 million in…

Aug 20, 2009 4:08 PM CDT

Accused of Discrimination, Football Coach Sues for Libel, Is Accused of Retaliation

After an attorney for a longtime worker at the University of New Mexico spoke to a local newspaper about her client’s discrimination lawsuit against a well-known football coach and the university, he sued the lawyer and her client for defamation. Now attorney Whitney Warner is threatening to pursue a retaliation…

Aug 19, 2009 10:25 PM CDT

Two Fired In-House Lawyers Allowed to Pursue SOX Retaliation Claim

Two fired in-house lawyers who claim they were fired for raising questions about possible securities fraud at their employer may pursue their lawsuit as a result of a federal appeals court ruling. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that under the Sarbanes-Oxley law, the two lawyers do not…

Aug 14, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

Layoff Expert Offers ‘A Kind Word’ to Worker, Helps the Boss Avoid Liability

Some employers laying off workers take what Kate Wendleton terms the surgical method–ax the employee in 15 seconds or so and then escort him or her to the door. But the New York-based outplacement company for which Hall serves as a co-director takes a different approach. The Five O’Clock Club…

Aug 10, 2009 8:19 PM CDT

Hourly Workers Sue to Be Paid for After-Hours Cell Phone Use

Workers in two lawsuits contend they deserve to be paid for time spent after hours responding to work-related cell phone calls and messages. The suits point out how the divide between work and leisure is being blurred by advances in technology, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. “This is…

Aug 10, 2009 1:01 PM CDT

Calif. Supreme Court Allows ‘Narrowly Tailored’ Employee Surveillance

The California Supreme Court has ruled in an invasion of privacy suit that a company isn’t liable for installing secret video equipment in an employee’s office for legitimate business reasons. The court said placement of the camera in an office shared by two workers in a facility for abused children…

Aug 5, 2009 1:00 PM CDT

Retirement? What Retirement? Say Some Partners of a Certain Age

Accelerating an earlier trend, the economic debacle of the past year or so is making it difficult for a number of 60-something attorneys who might otherwise be thinking of retirement to unplug their legal careers. With retirement account balances down and—for some—compensation declining to boot, a number of law firm…

Aug 4, 2009 6:45 PM CDT

Boston Cop Who Dissed Harvard Prof in E-Mail Sues Over Suspension

The controversial disorderly conduct arrest last month of Harvard University professor at his own Cambridge, Mass., home continues to create fallout far from the original scene, two weeks after officials agreed to drop the case against Henry Louis Gates Jr. A federal civil rights lawsuit has now been filed by…

Aug 4, 2009 5:55 PM CDT

‘Fat Cats Keep Getting Fatter,’ Says Lawyer for Workers at Failed Heller Firm

Insufficient efforts are being made to pursue accounts receivable for the dissolving Heller Ehrman, former employees complain in a leaked letter (PDF) to the government lawyer in charge of selecting the unsecured creditors committee in law firm’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. They are seeking a nonpartner representative on the committee,…

Aug 4, 2009 5:00 PM CDT