Last month, in Shazor v. Professional Transit Management, Ltd., the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Ohio and other states in the Midwest, held that a jury could reasonably conclude that Professional Transit Management (PTM) illegally fired its former CEO, Marilyn Shazor, because she was an…
Many sports fans have been following the situation in Miami involving the claims of former Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin. Martin, who is African American, claims that his teammates, including fellow lineman Richie Incognito, racially harassed him. Martin left the team because of the harassment. Could the Dolphins be legally liable…
In July 2012, we reported that a class of African American plaintiffs had sued the retailer Wet Seal for race discrimination. In support of their claims, the plaintiffs obtained emails that contained powerful evidence of race discrimination. Wet Seal and the plaintiffs recently settled this case. As a result of…
A former Bank of America manager has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America alleging that the company instituted an “apartheid” system of business allocation. The former manager, a black man named Jack Mitchell, claims that Bank of America steered black employees to low-income black neighborhoods because the bank didn’t…
Yesterday, three former employees of the retail clothing store Wet Seal sued the company alleging that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African Americans. Attached to the lawsuit was an email from the Senior VP of Store Operations who, after performing a variety of store visits,…
A group of black United Airlines employees have sued the company for race discrimination. The employees allege that United Airlines utilizes uncontrolled subjective criteria to select applicants for promotions. The suit also alleges that United operates two tracks for the promotion of employees — one for minorities and one for…
Yesterday, the Maine Human Rights Commission unanimously found that Families Matter, Inc., an employer located in Hallowell that provides services to young adults with special needs, discriminated against its former employee, Lisa Pierce, based on her race and ethnicity. Ms. Pierce served as an Assistant Director for the company’s Skowhegan…
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued updated Enforcement Guidance titled “Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” The EEOC updated its guidance in this area because, during the twenty years since it first issued guidance…
Today, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing the decision of the trial court, held that a class of black stockbrokers who work, or used to work, for Merrill Lynch could continue to pursue their race discrimination case against Merrill Lynch as a class action. The black stockbrokers allege that…
Last year, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta held that no jury could reasonably find that a Tyson Foods manager harbored racial animus against an African American man, John Hithon, even though he referred to Hithon as “boy.” The court’s ruling followed a 2006 ruling from the…