The federal First Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a jury verdict against the Providence Fire Department (PFD) in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a lesbian who formerly served as a lieutenant in PFD. The plaintiff, Lori Franchina, suffered severe sexual harassment and after she reported the harassment to…
The Maine Employee Rights Group (MERG) is pleased to announce that award-winning attorney Allan Townsend has joined the firm. Allan comes to MERG from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section, where he worked for the past seven years protecting the rights of employees of state…
A Suffolk County jury slapped the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) with a $1.2 million verdict yesterday because it discriminated against an employee who needed medical leave. The employee, a data resources manager, suffered from nerve tumors in his feet which required surgery and recovery time. The employee had a…
Maine Senator Susan Collins, and one of her colleagues in the Senate, recently sent a letter to Facebook, Google, and Linkedin expressing concern about job advertisements that target only workers in certain age groups. This is the same issue that we discussed last week because there is a class action…
T-Mobile, Amazon, Cox Communications, Facebook and many other companies are defending a new class action lawsuit which alleges that they have engaged in systemic age discrimination by targeting younger workers with Facebook job advertising. The lawsuit seeks relief for millions of older workers who are excluded from this advertising. These…
Minimum wage workers in Maine will receive a pay increase to $10 per hour starting on January 1. This is a scheduled increase mandated by minimum-wage legislation enacted after a voter referendum in 2016. The minimum wage will continue to increase to $12 per hour by 2020 and then will…
A federal court in Connecticut has determined that a jury could reasonably find that Yale New Haven Health Services Corporation (“Yale”) discriminated against a female employee because she needed to pump breast milk at work. The court found that discrimination against an employee for pumping breast milk violates both federal…
The New York Times recently published an article that discussed a variety of steps that experts say employers can take to reduce the amount of sexual harassment in the workplace. This article provides helpful information that you could present to your employer if it is interested in addressing problems of…
With the current cultural emphasis on the epidemic of sexual harassment in the workplace, it is a good time to discuss how the law can help victims. Laws that prohibit sexual harassment are one tool that can be used to help victims. There are state and federal laws that prohibit…
In the face of a number of employment discrimination lawsuits against Tesla, the company published an email from CEO Elon Musk that one of the lawsuits referenced. Musk’s email covers a lot but the part that struck us was the following: “We have had a few cases at Tesla where…