The Maine Employee Rights Group is currently pursuing a lawsuit which alleges that MaineGeneral unlawfully discriminated against Adela Blethen because of her race, national origin, color, and her complaints about racial harassment. Ms. Blethen, a Hispanic woman from Hallowell, Maine, worked for MaineGeneral as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) from…
The City of New Haven, Connecticut and the group of white and Hispanic firefighters who brought a reverse race discrimination lawsuit against it have reached a settlement. The firefighters sued New Haven because the city refused to certify the results of a promotional exam in 2004 due to its fear…
On July 26, 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will hold a public hearing that addresses the issue of “Arrest and Conviction Records as a Barrier to Employment.” Dating back to the 1980s and early 1990s, the EEOC (which is a federal agency that enforces employment discrimination laws) has…
On May 13, 2011, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals entered an opinion in Lewis v. City of Chicago. The case will now proceed to the stage where the trial court decides how to remedy Chicago’s discrimination against African Americans who applied for firefighter positions. It is reported that…
Currently, it is legal for an employer to refuse to hire anyone who is unemployed. Obviously, if this practice becomes widespread, the current high unemployment rate would remain high for much longer. A Congressman from Georgia believes this is unfair and he has proposed legislation to make it illegal. Under…
The Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has found reasonable grounds to believe that Hannaford Bros., a part of the multi-national corporation Delhaize Group, unlawfully discriminated against Ernesto Duran. Mr. Duran, a Latino gentleman originally from Puerto Rico, worked for Hannaford for about eight years until Hannaford fired him on May…
Restaurant Opportunities Center United, an organization dedicated to advancing the interests of restaurant workers, recently released a study of working conditions that focused on restaurants located in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Washington, DC–and Maine. Their research revealed, among other things, that minority restaurant workers disproportionately…
A federal judge in Philadelphia recently decided that a jury will decide this question in a case that pits a former television news anchor against the television station that fired him. Fox 29 fired news anchor Tom Burlington because Mr. Burlington used the n-word during a discussion with his co-workers.…
On October 20, 2010 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a public meeting to hear testimony about the way employers use credit history checks to screen job applicants. Some believe that credit checks have a disparate impact on minorities, women and the disabled. Opponents of the use of credit…