Workplace Discrimination | InjuryBoard Tampa Bay

A huge scrap metal fire at a metal recycling plant broke out early this morning, sending reams of smoke billowing over an entire portion of southern Hillsborough County. Firefighters attempted to out the scrap metal fire at Trademark Metal Recycling with water, to no avail. Large clouds of smoke from the fire could be seen from miles away.According to media reports, the Hillsborough...

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The nonpayment of overtime wages of sales reps - Act Two following the nonpayment of overtime wages of installation workers. Does anyone see a pattern at IBM? Could the maintenance workers file the next overtime lawsuit?IBM Hit With Overtime SuitIBM Corp. has been hit with another proposed class action lawsuit that accuses the computer giant of intentionally misclassifying its sales...

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Employment discrimination charges increased in 2006. Is it because more victims are saying "I'm not going to take it anymore"? Or, more employers are ignoring the law? Or, the EEOC is becoming more aggressive? No matter the cause, it is obvious discrimination in the workplace continues in America. And, Florida is not an island of equality in a sea of discrimination.EEOC Discrimination...

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Solved mystery of the week.Wage-And-Hour Class Actions Continue To GrowMany employment defense attorneys agree that wage-and-hour cases have taken up more and more of their time in recent years. Now, thanks to a report published by Seyfarth Shaw LLP on Monday, there is hard evidence to back up this speculation.I do not have to speculate about an increase in wage-and-hour cases. It is real, and...

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You may work for a hip-hop music magazine, but you can still complain about a lewd work environment.Jury Slaps Rap Mag With $15.5M VerdictMusic magazine The Source and two former co-owners have been hit with a $15.5 million verdict after a federal jury in Manhattan found that former Source editor and plaintiff Kimberly Osorio was fired in retaliation for complaining about the lewd work...

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The laws concerning wages and hours of employment can sometimes create interesting lawsuit captions. This particular lawsuit is actually Sharks vs. Greyhound. Honest.Greyhound Employee Demands Overtime, Lunch PayA former ticket agent has filed a wage lawsuit against Greyhound Lines Inc., accusing the passenger transportation company of failing to pay overtime and docking her pay for lunches she...

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Newspapers get the word out. They keep us informed. They alert us to important events. They serve as a watchdog when our legal rights are violated.How could a newspaper fail to pay its reporters overtime required by law? Surely, the publisher and managing supervisors of a paper would have read many reports of other employers who did not comply with the law. Yet, here is the proof that a...

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You can cover your tracks in the woods but not when you plan to fire a high level corporate executive. Judge: Paper Trail Suspicious In Motorola Sex Bias SuitPortfolio Media, New York (October 12, 2006)--A sex discrimination suit against Motorola Inc. took a peculiar twist on Tuesday, when a federal judge wrote in his ruling that top executives at the cell phone company may have constructed a...

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The Chronicle Of Higher Education reports on the efforts of a community college to shame a jury for daring to award compensatory and punitive damages against it for its failure to protect an employee from the sexual advances of a campus police officer. The story does not detail the misconduct of the community college which supported the jury's verdict. I assume the college has courses on...

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A woman filed a $1 million plus lawsuit against La-z-Boy, Inc., last week in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.Lori Ann Adams claims La-Z-Boy officials violated her rights under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act by firing her on Sept. 2, 2004. She says she suffered more than $300,000 in actual damages for lost wages, benefits, "diminished future earning capacity,...

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The lawsuit was filed because of gender discrimination. The jury found there was none. But, it found the employer had retaliated against the employee for filing the suit. Result: a $150,000 verdict against the University of Florida. The Gainesville Sun has the details:Professor awarded $150K in suit vs. UFAfter nearly 10 hours of deliberation, a federal jury awarded a music professor...

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Employees have a right to complain about unsafe working conditions and to report worksite hazards to agencies, such as OSHA. When employees exercise this right employers are not permitted to retaliate by firing them. Yet, some employers take punitive action anyway. The remedy for the employee is a retaliatory discharge lawsuit seeking damages. Cingular named in retaliatory discharge...

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There is protection for whistle-blowers when their employers decide to take retaliatory action.A whistle-blower who warned of problems with safety equipment planned for Florida nuclear plants has been awarded $100,000 for his wrongful firing.Unjustly fired worker awarded back payDavid L. Robinson, a Texas engineer who was a specialist in quality controls at nuclear plants, had been fired by...

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Just a couple of weeks after the SEC announced that they were investigating Computer Sciences Corporation for backdating stock options, it has come to light that Analog Devices (ADI) and Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) have had lawsuits filed against them alleging the same indiscretions. Backdating stock options can be used to artificially lower prices to lock in profits for officers and...

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The nation's fastest-growing legal battlefront may be between workers and companies. Since 2000, the number of wage-related cases filed in federal courts has doubled, and most involve overtime claims.More workers suing to get overtime payLori Langer poured herself into her job, putting in extra time calling prospective students as an admissions adviser at American Intercontinental University...

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