Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new updated guidance on laws that prohibit retaliation against workers who engage in protected activities such as opposing unlawful discrimination or participating in a discrimination investigation. The EEOC issued its previous guidance in 1998 and since that time the U.S.…
Dorney Park, an amusement park in Pennsylvania, recently faced strong criticism for failing to hire a disabled worker with special needs because interviewers found that he did not “fit in.” The disabled worker, Chris Emery, had reportedly worked for Dorney Park the past 12 seasons but this year Dorney Park…
The Town of Amherst, Massachusetts, reportedly settled a disability discrimination claim brought by a former employee with multiple sclerosis (MS). The former employee, Ellen Bokina, worked for Amherst as a sanitarian and environmental health coordinator until Amherst fired her in August 2009. Amherst fired her a year after she filed…
A new study shows what most lawyers who represent disabled employees already knew—discrimination against job applicants who disclose that they have disabilities is rampant. The researchers who conducted the study used the accounting industry and the disabilities of Asperger’s syndrome and spinal cord injuries in their experiment. They sent fictitious…
Today a jury in Portland’s federal court returned a verdict against Rumford Hospital and in favor of the Maine Employee Rights Group’s client Catherine Prescott. Attorneys Peter Thompson and Chad Hansen represented Ms. Prescott at trial. We previously reported on this case when the court denied Rumford Hospital’s motion for…
The U.S. Department of Labor recently highlighted the distressing problem of workplace injuries in the health care industry. Health care workers, such as nurses and nurse aides, suffer work-related injuries and illnesses at a rate almost twice as high as the rate of workers in private industry. They suffer injuries…
Earlier this month the U.S. District Court of Maine found that a jury could reasonably hold Rumford Hospital liable for disability discrimination and retaliation against Catherine LaFlamme. The Maine Employee Rights Group (MERG) represents Ms. LaFlamme in this case. Ms. LaFlamme worked for Rumford Hospital as a nurse. In July…
This month marks the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law on July 26, 1990. While the ADA did not fully live up to what lawmakers intended, necessitating the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADA-AA), it has always contained…
Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Rhode Island sued Darlington Fabrics, a textile company, because it refused to hire a woman when she disclosed that she used marijuana for medicinal purposes, which is legal in Rhode Island. The woman, Christine Callaghan, uses marijuana to treat debilitating…
Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine held that a reasonable jury could conclude that the Greenville School Department (“School Department”) unlawfully discriminated against Bruce Hanson because of his disabilities and because he requested reasonable accommodations for those disabilities. Mr. Hanson, who is represented by…