Articles Posted in Wrongful Termination

On Dec. 8, 2008, a jury awarded $873,000 to an insurance adjuster who claimed he was fired for cooperating with an FBI investigation.

In 2003, the FBI began investigating fraud allegations made against one of Fred Klecka’s co-workers. Klecka claimed that when his managers learned he was cooperating with the FBI, he was told he would be fired if he continued.

Klecka refused to obey his managers and within a few months began receiving poor job evaluations. He alleged he was wrongfully terminated in 2005 for refusing to obstruct the investigation.

A Los Angeles jury has ordered Kaiser Permanante to pay $7.5 million in punitive damages to a radiologist who was forced to resign from one the company’s hospitals in 2006 after complaining about patient care.

The jury’s decision means Kaiser owes the doctor a combined $11.4 million. The same panel earlier in the week awarded the doctor $3.9 million in compensatory damages.

Kaiser says it will appeal the decision, saying it was “shocked and disappointed by the verdict.”

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A security guard who was fired after failing a hearing test was awarded $257,048 in a disability discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Attorney General.

The man aged 61, lost his job at the federal courthouse in Victoria because he could not pass the required hearing test. He sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, alleging a U.S. Marshal Service rule that banned use of hearing aids during testing was discriminatory.

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Two inspectors who were fired from the inspector general’s office at the Texas Education Agency are suing the agency, claiming wrongful termination after they tried to investigate fraud and waste in the TEA, according to officials.

The men want to be reinstated and are seeking unspecified damages. The lawsuit contends that the alleged retaliation against and firings of the two men violated their rights under the state’s whistleblower law and also violated their free speech rights under the Texas Constitution.

According to their lawsuit, they were systematically prevented from investigating fraud, waste and misuse, including allegations of:

— Falsification of student attendance records.

— Contractors who “may have been influenced to overcharge TEA and/or school districts.”

— A “suspect contract” involving the commissioner of education and an education service center.

— Violations of law regarding job openings.

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Four pharmacists at the University of Texas Medical Branch filed suit claiming that the medical institution is discriminating against them because of their nationalities.

The pharmacists claim that their superiors used their Nigerian origins as a reason to overlook them for raises, compensation and promotion, despite each individual’s education and professional work histories.

The plaintiffs complained that their discrimination was on the basis of their national origin; also stating that the plaintiffs are American citizens.

The complaint said the Pharmacy Department gave the plaintiffs 1 percent raises while their colleagues received two percent raises.

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A federal appeals court denied former employees of EMC Corp. class-action status in their complaint against the company claiming sexual discrimination.

This means that the plaintiffs will have to pursue their complaints on an individual basis. The two plaintiffs had each worked in EMC’s Chicago-area sales force from 1999 to 2003. They filed their suit in 2004 after they had lost their jobs.

The plaintiffs and 15 other former salesmen and women have described company-paid visits to strip clubs, demeaning sexual remarks or retaliation against women who complained about the atmosphere. Three women have said male managers sometimes unfairly removed women from accounts they developed and replaced them with men.

Read the complaint here:Download file

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According to a new lawsuit filed by four former human-resources managers recent layoffs at Dell unfairly targeted women and workers over age 40, and the company discriminates against women in pay and promotions,
The four former HR executives at Dell are seeking US$500 million in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The four women alleged that the company and its “old boy network” discriminated against women in pay, job placement, promotions and layoffs.

Dell in May 2007 announced plans to lay off about 8,800 workers, about 10 percent of its workforce. Those layoffs unfairly targeted women and older workers, and more than 80 percent of Dell’s upper management is now male, the lawsuit claims.

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A Cleveland jury awarded the largest verdict in Ohio history — $46.6 million — to a man who they said was wrongfully fired last year.

Ronald Luri, 55, alleged that Republic Services Inc. of retaliation and of forging documents critical of his job performance after he refused to fire three of his employees — all about 60 years old — on the grounds that such actions would constitute age discrimination.

The jury awarded Luri $3.5 million as compensation for his lost wages as general manager of Republic’s Cleveland division, and $43.1 million in punitive damages as punishment for the company’s treatment of Luri.

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In this case, black Secret Service agents sued the Secret Service alleging racial bias and a glass ceiling mentality at the agency.

The judge presiding over the case, has already sanctioned the agency three times for dragging its feet in handing over racially charged e-mails shared by white Secret Service supervisors and for failing to search for documents as ordered by the court. She has also reprimanded government lawyers after they revealed that a paralegal may have burned some documents that were ordered by the court.

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