Labor & Employment

DOJ Paralegal Sues Department for Discrimination

An African-American paralegal who worked in the Justice Department for 13 years has sued for discrimination. Paralegal Joi Hyatte claims supervisors sought outside white and Hispanic job candidates for higher paying analyst positions in the voting rights section and failed to offer the jobs to existing, qualified paralegals, reports The…

May 30, 2008 3:40 PM CDT

No Fifth in this Courtroom, Where NYC Cops are On Trial

It looks like an ordinary courtroom. But there’s no jury box, because there are no juries. And the Fifth Amendment doesn’t apply. That’s because those put on trial are New York City police officers, facing potential administrative penalties up to termination from their jobs for violation of their professional responsibilities,…

May 29, 2008 10:57 PM CDT

Were Supreme Court Justices Moved by Breyer’s Precedent Complaint?

Is the U.S. Supreme Court responding to a parting shot last term by Justice Stephen G. Breyer about the lack of respect for precedent? The Supreme Court appeared to endorse stare decisis in two employment rulings earlier this week allowing workers to sue for retaliation even though the laws don’t…

May 29, 2008 1:10 PM CDT

New York Agencies Told to Recognize Out-of-State Gay Marriages

A directive from the governor’s office tells state agencies in New York to recognize gay marriages legally performed elsewhere. Citing a state appellate ruling, the legal counsel for Gov. David Paterson told agencies that married gay couples deserve the same protection as those in other legal unions, the New York…

May 29, 2008 10:41 AM CDT

Gender Gap Due, in Part, to ‘Ambition Gap’?

Although Hillary Clinton is, perhaps, a rare exception, there is a reason why women are underrepresented in lawyer-laden political circles. It’s because they don’t fight as hard as men do for political office, writes Ruth Marcus in a Washington Post column. “There is a substantial gender gap in political ambition;…

May 28, 2008 9:21 PM CDT

Law School Dean to be Ohio AG on Interim Basis

The governor of Ohio is replacing the state’s former attorney general, Marc Dann, with Nancy Hardin Rogers, the dean of Ohio State University’s law school. She will serve until a new attorney general is elected, taking a leave of absence from the law school in order to do so, reports…

May 28, 2008 7:37 PM CDT

Blacked-Out Pacer Briefs Easy to Read in GE Bias Lawsuit

A plaintiffs law firm didn’t succeed in blacking out large portions of information in briefs filed in a sex discrimination lawsuit against General Electric. The Connecticut Law Tribune revealed that blacked-out information in briefs accessible through the Pacer electronic filing system could be read by copying and pasting the data…

May 28, 2008 11:19 AM CDT

Supreme Court Rules for Workers in Two Retaliation Cases

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court held today that workers who accuse their employers of penalizing them for complaining of workplace bias can sue under two laws that do not explicitly offer protection for retaliation. In one of the cases, the court ruled 6-3 that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act…

May 27, 2008 2:49 PM CDT

NYC Lawyer Charged With Groping 2 Female Attorneys at Office

Updated: A former name partner in a New York plaintiffs firm has been criminally charged for allegedly groping two female attorneys while working at his own small-firm law office. Richard Dienst, 67, is charged with forcible touching, third-degree sex abuse and harassment after incidents concerning two female lawyers in March…

May 23, 2008 4:07 PM CDT

Employers Reading Outbound E-Mail on Massive Scale?

A recent study of outbound e-mail finds that employers are widely taking the initiative to prevent information leaks in large part by employing staff to screen e-mail generated on company time and on company equipment. And more than a quarter of the companies surveyed said they had fired someone for…

May 22, 2008 4:48 PM CDT

N.Y. Employment Law Firm Profiled as Countercyclical Small Business

The 28-lawyer New York law firm of Outten & Golden is adding three lawyers because of increased work representing employees moving in and out of jobs. The New York Times profiled the law firm as part of a feature on small businesses that are thriving in the downturn. The firm…

May 21, 2008 12:43 PM CDT

Conn. Ethics Counsel’s Fake Letter Helped Get Ethics Chief Axed

An in-house lawyer for the State Ethics Commission in Connecticut reportedly fabricated a letter purporting to be from a parking lot attendant that helped get her boss, ethics chief Alan Plofsky, fired in 2004 for claimed misconduct. Gov. M. Jodi Rell says her office will investigate former commission lawyer Maureen…

May 20, 2008 9:02 PM CDT

Reporter Fired After Filing Racial Profiling Suit

Just days after freelance crime reporter Leonardo Blair filed a federal racial profiling suit against the New York City Police Department, the New York Post cut off ties to him. The 28-year-old Jamaican-born reporter had been writing for the Post for almost a year, the New York Daily News reports.…

May 19, 2008 5:25 PM CDT

Who is Investigating Ex-Ohio AG Marc Dann? AP Counts Six Agencies

Marc Dann has resigned as Ohio’s attorney general, but that is by no means the end of the official investigation of the alleged fraternity house atmosphere in his office that drove Dann to resign from his job earlier this week. The Associated Press says at least six investigations are ongoing…

May 16, 2008 9:37 PM CDT

Lawyers Answer N.Y. Pension Probe With Class Action

As promised, a veteran municipal lawyer has filed suit in New York seeking to derail investigations into lawyers who receive sate pension benefits as a result of their work for schools and other government entities. Albany lawyer James Roemer, who filed the suit as a class action, lists a host…

May 16, 2008 11:39 AM CDT