employer liability News

Jury Awards Ex-Starbucks Manager $25.6 Million Over Firing After Arrests of 2 Black Men

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) – Jurors in federal court have awarded $25.6 million to a former Starbucks regional manager who alleged that she and other white employees were unfairly punished after the high-profile arrests of two Black men at a Philadelphia …

Jury Should Decide ‘Borrowed Employee’ Liability, New Jersey High Court Affirms

The New Jersey Supreme Court has affirmed that whether an employer is vicariously liable under the borrowed-employee doctrine is a question of fact that should be decided by the jury, not the judge, unless the evidence is obviously one-sided. The …

New York City Enacts Law Banning Discrimination Based on Weight, Height

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has signed into law a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s height or weight in employment, housing, and public accommodations, with some exceptions. The New York City Council passed the …

New York Dairy Farm Workers Gain $150K in Unpaid Wages

A settlement in New York in a wage theft case has resulted in two dairy farm workers receiving nearly $150,000 in back wages. The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) said its investigators found that Lewis County dairy farm …

University Employees Say They Were Fired for Using ‘He/Him,’ ‘She/Her’ in Emails

Shua Wilmot and Raegan Zelaya, two former dorm directors at a small Christian university in western New York, acknowledge their names are unconventional, which explains why they attached gender identities to their work email signatures. Wilmot uses “he/him.” Zelaya goes …

Jury Awards $22M in Back Pay Verdict, Biggest Ever Win by Labor Department

A federal court jury has awarded back wages of more than $22 million to the U.S. Department of Labor for more than 7,500 employees working for East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc. — one of the largest battery manufacturers — after …

Australia Contractor Downer Faces Class Action Lawsuit for Misreporting on Contract

Australian contractor Downer said on Monday it faces a shareholder class action for allegedly making some misrepresentations and withholding certain information about a maintenance contract in its domestic utilities business. Downer is currently under investigation by New South Wales’ Independent …

Swiss Re Faces $6.3M Claim Over Sex Discrimination, Unfair Dismissal

A former Swiss Re underwriter, who last year won a sex and maternity discrimination and unfair dismissal case, is seeking 5.1 million pounds ($6.3 million) in compensation and told a London court she wants to retrain as a Baptist pastor. …

Alleged Bias Against Women Costs Maryland Staffing Agency $2.6M in Default Judgment

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported it has obtained a default judgment in U.S. District Court in its sex discrimination lawsuit against Green JobWorks. The EEOC filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the staffing agency that is located in …

U.S. Employers Must Be Careful in Drafting Severance Agreements, Labor Board Warns

A recent U.S. labor board ruling limiting what employers can include in severance agreements is a reminder that companies must be careful not to ask workers to sign away their rights, the agency’s top prosecutor said on Wednesday. National Labor …