The paper mill in Bucksport, currently owned by Verso Paper, will be shutting down and hundreds of workers will be laid off. When a closure of a workplace this size occurs in Maine, state law requires the employer to provide severance pay to laid off employees who have worked three…
In 2015, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the minimum wage in 24 states will increase. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. In 2015, 29 states will require employers to pay more than the federal minimum wage. Maine is one of these 29 states with…
Last month in California, a federal jury found that AutoZone discriminated against Rosario Juarez, a former employee, because she was pregnant. The jury awarded Juarez $872,000 for the damages she suffered plus $185 million in punitive damages. Juarez claimed that AutoZone demoted her from her management position in 2006 after…
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently released the results of a new study that it commissioned on minimum wage law violations in New York and California. The DOL commissioned this study because it enforces the minimum wage requirements that are in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The…
Every year around this time many employers organize holiday parties for their employees and, as many employment lawyers will tell you (see here and here), it is not uncommon for sexual harassment to occur at them. This seems to be particularly true when employers serve alcohol at the parties. Some…
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…
Yesterday, a federal court in Massachusetts held that the retaliation case of a former Brockton, Massachusetts police officer may go to trial. The former officer, Ken Williams, alleges that the City of Brockton and officials from the Brockton police department violated his First Amendment rights when they retaliated against him for…
Last month, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a reasonable jury could determine that the defendant-employer violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) when it fired the plaintiff-employee after she returned from medical leave related to a knee replacement surgery. The FMLA, among other things, requires…
This week, protesters in the Chicago-area community of Forest Park reportedly decried racial discrimination against African Americans in hiring at Ferrara Candy. Ferrara Candy makes candies such as Red Hots and Lemonheads. The company and two staffing agencies it uses have been accused of discriminating against African American laborers in…
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…