ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES FEDEX FOR EMPLOYEE MISCLASSIFICATION

The Louisville Courier-Journal (9/3, Shafer) reports, “Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway filed suit Thursday against Federal Express contending that the delivery company misclassifies drivers to avoid paying taxes. The suit, filed in Franklin Circuit Court claims the company wrongly considers its drivers independent contractors and not employees. Conway contends that the misclassification has denied FedEx drivers workers’ compensation insurance, unemployment insurance and wage-and-hour protections.”

$1 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT

A $1 million settlement has been reached between a Rochester roofing contractor and a group of African-American employees in a racial discrimination lawsuit.

The lawsuit claimed Elmer W. Davis Inc. gave out unfair assignments to its African-American employees and subjected them to discrimination and harassment.

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EMPLOYEES EXPOSED TO HARMFUL CHEMICALS SAYS LAWSUIT

A group of former Motorola employees is claiming that their exposure to harmful chemicals while producing semiconductors has harmed their children. The 71 plaintiffs worked at a plants in Schaumburg and Arizona between 1965 and 2007. They claim that Motorola officials were aware of the dangers the chemicals posed to the employee’s potential offspring but did not warn the workers. The suit says the children suffer from various problems such as cerebral palsy, autism, blindness, spina bifida, language delays and epilepsy.

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NOVARTIS SETTLES GENDER DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT FOR $152.5 MILLION

A group of female workers for Novartis has received a $152.5 million settlement from the company in a gender discrimination lawsuit. The lawsuit, which represents more than 5,000 Novartis female employees in the U.S., claims that the women faced differential treatment regarding “pay and promotion and for pregnancy.”

As part of the settlement, Novartis will also spend the next three years working to improve its personnel policies.

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VERDICT AFTER LAWSUIT ALLEGES LUCAS FILM REFUSED TO HIRE APPLICANT BECAUSE SHE WAS PREGNANT

A jury has awarded a San Francisco woman $113,800 in a lawsuit she filed against Lucasfilm Ltd. after the company allegedly refused to hire her because she was pregnant. Julie Veronese claimed in her lawsuit that in April 2008 she as given a temporary job with Lucasfilms as an assistant and promised a permanent position. However, when she told her supervisor she was pregnant, Veronese says the job offer was rescinded.

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EMPLOYEES FILE RACE DISCRIMINATION SUIT AGAINST EMPLOYER COMCAST

A discrimination lawsuit has been filed against Comcast by a former employee who claims that, upon his transfer to the Naples, Fla., office in 2006, he was discriminated against because he is African-American. Timothy Morrison, who worked for Comcast for 10 years, claims that his bosses in the Naples office created a “pattern of harassing and hostile treatment based on his race,” including suggesting he should move back to Chicago to be near “his people.” Morrison also alleges that when he formally complained about the treatment, he was fired. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.

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EMPLOYEE AWARDED DAMAGES IN SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAWSUIT

A former FedEx employee who was awarded damages in a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company will now be able to seek full punitive damages, a federal appeals court ruled. Charlotte Boswell was awarded $300,000 for lost earnings, $250,000 for emotional distress and $2.45 million in punitive damages for the company’s violation of her rights in 2007. A U.S. district judge cut the punitive damages to $300,000, which is the maximum amount set by federal civil rights law for punitive damages.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Boswell a new punitive damages trial on Tuesday, saying “she should have been allowed to present her case for damages under California law, which has no dollar limit.”

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$3.35 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR GENDER DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT

The city of Fresno, Calif., has reached a $3.35 million settlement with a local woman who claims she was forced out of the Fresno Fire Department’s training academy because of her gender. Michelle Maher stated in her lawsuit that she was set up to fail by fire training academy supervisors and that her exams were graded unfairly. As part of the settlement, the city will dismiss its appeal.

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AGE & RACE DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT SETTLED

A $125,000 settlement has been reached in a discrimination lawsuit against a Kansas-based staffing company. The lawsuit was filed against the Spencer Reed Group, LLC, by a 55-year-old white employee who claimed that she was subjected to harsher working conditions because of her age and race. She claimed that she was given more work than her co-workers and was forced to provide reports on a weekly basis instead of monthly like the other employees.

The lawsuit also alleges that the plaintiff’s bosses yelled and belittled on a regular basis her in front of her co-workers. As part of the settlement, the company will provide equal employment opportunity training and will post anti-discrimination notices.

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EMPLOYEES CLAIM THEY WERE DENIED OVERTIME PAY BECAUSE OF MISCLASSIFICATION

A Canada-based cosmetics company has been named in a lawsuit by a Florida man and a five other employees who claim they were denied thousands of dollars in overtime pay because of their job title. Seth Nadreau alleges in his lawsuit that Lush Cosmetics classified him and the other plaintiffs as managers just to avoid paying them overtime, even though their job duties were no more than cashiers and customer service representatives. The plaintiffs are asking for overtime compensation, damages and attorneys’ fees.  Pat Gillespie, Fort Meyers News-Press.

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