Wrongful Termination

December 2, 2009

Doctor Wins Employment Discrimination Lawsuit Against Cancer Institute

A radiation oncologist who formerly worked for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute won a $3 million verdict in federal court on charges that her employer retaliated against her for raising concerns about discrimination.

The jury recommended that Dr. Kristina Gerszten be awarded $1.5 million in back pay from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, which works with the UPMC Cancer Centers, as well as $827,292 in front pay. But according to Dr. Gerszten’s attorney, those amounts are only advisory.

It will be up to U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab to determine what amount the defendant will have to pay.

November 25, 2009

Nearly $3 M Awarded in KBR Rape Claim

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A nearly $3 million arbitration award was won by a former KBR employee who said she was raped in Iraq.

Tracy K. Barker, wife of a U.S. Army sergeant and the mother of five, was awarded $2.93 million in private arbitration proceedings in Houston.

November 18, 2009

2 Scientists Get $6.2 M Award in Age Discrimination Suit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A federal jury awarded more than $6.2 million in an age discrimination suit brought by two scientists who said they were fired from their jobs at a Chester County, Pa., chemical manufacturing firm when the company targeted only older workers in layoffs in 2005.

The jury concluded that PQ Corp.’s age discrimination was “willful” — a finding that leads to an automatic doubling of each plaintiff’s back pay award. The jury also awarded compensatory damages — $2 million to plaintiff Roman Wypart and $1.5 million to plaintiff Bonnie Marcus — for the emotional damage they suffered as a result of the discrimination.

Lead plaintiffs’ attorney Scott B. Goldshaw said he was “gratified that the jury recognized that age discrimination is real and hurts real people.”

The weeklong trial in Marcus v. PQ Corp. was the second trial in the case. The first trial, in July, resulted in a hung jury on the claims for three plaintiffs and a rejection of the fourth plaintiff’s claims. Prior to the second trial, court records show, PQ settled for an undisclosed sum with plaintiff Ernest Senderov.

October 10, 2009

MA Supreme Court Reinstates Wal-Mart damages

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The MA state Supreme Judicial Court restored $1 million in punitive damages awarded to a former pharmacist at a Wal-Mart in Pittsfield, who said she was fired after complaining about being paid less than her male colleagues.

The verdict – which also upheld a jury award for more than $700,000 in future wages lost – ends a long battle between Wal-Mart and its onetime employee, Cynthia Haddad, who first sued the retail giant for gender discrimination four years ago.

October 4, 2009

$21.4 M Settlement of Kodak Race Discrimination Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The proposed settlement of a pair of lawsuits charging that Eastman Kodak Co. discriminated against African-American employees is now in a judge’s hands.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs this week filed a motion asking that U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan W. Feldman approve the settlement worked out between the company and the plaintiffs. The filing also requests a hearing on Oct. 23 for final arguments regarding fairness of the settlement.

The lawsuits — one filed in 2004 and the other in 2007 — alleged that Kodak discriminated in regards to pay, promotions, job assignments and layoffs.

October 2, 2009

Teacher with HIV Settles Bias Suit Against Private School

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A teacher has settled a discrimination lawsuit against a private school in Anne Arundel County that federal authorities said had fired him because he has the virus that causes AIDS.

In the consent decree approved by U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. in Baltimore, Chauncey Stevenson is to receive $79,750, but the Chesapeake Academy in Arnold did not admit wrongdoing. Among the actions it must take are steps to teach its supervisors about the Americans with Disabilities Act. The law requires employers to accommodate workers’ disabilities.

August 25, 2009

Rampant Sex Harassment Costs Lowe’s $1.7 M in Settlement of EEOC Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a major settlement of a discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act against Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, Inc. for $1.72 million and significant remedial relief on behalf of three employees in their twenties who were subjected to a pervasive sexually hostile work environment and retaliated against for complaining about it.

The former employees, two young men and one woman, were subjected to widespread and repeated sexual harassment by male and female managers and coworkers at a Lowe’s store in Longview, Wash. The sexually hostile workplace, which endured for more than six months, included physical and verbal abuse which culminated in one instance of sexual assault.

August 3, 2009

Update: Retaliation Against West Texas Nurses for Whistle Blower Complaint

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Two West Texas nurses have been fired from their jobs and indicted with a third-degree felony carrying potential penalties of two-to-ten years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of $10,000.

The nurses, in their 50s and both members of the American Nurses Association/Texas Nurses Association, reported concerns about a doctor practicing at Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit.

They alleged that the doctor improperly encouraging patients in the hospital emergency department and in the rural health clinic to buy his own herbal “medicines,” and they thought it improper for him to take hospital supplies to perform a procedure at a patient’s home rather than in the hospital.

Read an earlier post.http://www.bne.state.tx.us/

July 25, 2009

Wrongful Death by Dentist After Tools Lost

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Winter Park Florida dentist who twice dropped tools down the throat of an elderly patient — a 90-year-old man who died after the second incident — is being sued for negligence.

Relatives of Charles K. Gaal Jr. recently filed the suit in Orange County Circuit Court against Dr. Wesley Meyers of Aloma Park Dental.

They accuse Meyers of failing to take precautions to guard against dropping and losing his dental tools down Gaal’s throat and failing to handle his tools properly during the second incident, which occurred May 1, 2007.

On Oct. 4, 2006, while he was performing work on Gaal, Meyers dropped an “implant screwdriver tool” down the patient’s throat.

Gaal swallowed the tool and two days later, he underwent a colonoscopy. The tool was removed from his intestines, the suit said.

July 12, 2009

Jury Finds Pregnant Officer was Discriminated Against

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A federal court jury sided with a Suffolk Park Police officer who claimed she was discriminated against when her employer denied her request for a “light-duty” assignment when she became pregnant in 2007.

Tara Germain, who was given the choice to either work during her pregnancy or take unpaid leave, prevailed on several claims she made against Suffolk County, as jurors found that her civil rights were violated.

“We are really happy,” said Janice Goodman, an attorney who argued the case before U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt with Gillian Thomas, an attorney for Legal Momentum, a women’s rights group formerly known as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.

“We believe the rights of women have been affirmed a second time on the issue of not forcing a woman to have to choose between her job and having a family,” Goodman added, referring to an earlier case against Suffolk County involving pregnant officers.