Author Archive

Marlo Spaeth and her sister

Marlo Spaeth, who has down syndrome, worked for Walmart in Wisconsin for 16 years. She consistently received positive performance reviews from management. Walmart decided to elongate Spaeth’s usual shift despite her disability. Spaeth later requested an accommodation for her disability. She asked to leave 60 to 90 minutes early from the shift. Ms. Spaeth was denied the accommodation.Walmart fired Marlo Spaeth in 2015 due to her disability. Spaeth’s sister reports that Marlo was devastated

Joshua Payne-Elliot worked as a teacher at a cathedral school for 10 years in Indiana. In 2019, Joshua was fired from his position because he got married to someone of the same sex. The archdiocese believes that same-sex marriage is against their religion, and therefore should not be promoted (nor supported) within their school system. Joshua believes he has been the target of discrimination based upon his sexual orientation. Joshua sued the archdiocese in the court case Joshua Payne-Elliott v.

Since 1953, women in South Korea have been permitted to take one day off a month due to painful menstruation. Between 2014 and 2015, Former CEO of Asiana Airlines, Kim Soo-cheon, received over 138 employee requests for a day off due to painful menstruation. The former CEO said that he began to get suspicious when large amounts of employees attempted to take off for painful menstruation near the holidays. Kim Soo-cheon asked the women to provide proof of painful menstruation.

         A Subway in Bloomington, Ind. discriminated against a qualified applicant due to the applicant’s hearing impairment. The applicant was not hired for the sandwich-making position, because of a “communication concern” based on the applicant’s “hearing and speaking” ability. The applicant sued Ranrae, Inc, the corporation that is in charge of the Subway restaurant franchise in Bloomington, Indianna. Ranrae, Inc settled the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit for $28,700 on March 26, 2021. The EEOC Regional Attorney Kenneth L.

On January 22, 2021, the New York Mets quietly dismissed their hitting performance coordinator, Ryan Ellis, due to sexual harassment allegations. Ellis’s dismissal followed the firing of Jared Porter, the general manager of the Mets, on January 19th because Porter admitted to sending inappropriate text messages to a reporter while working for the Cubs, as well as overall inappropriate behavior. The Mets sexual harassment saga continued when Mickey Calloway, the former manager of the Mets, was dismissed due to allegations

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their December data last Friday. In the United States, 140,000 net jobs were lost last month. The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), a non-profit that fights against gender-discrimination, said that “All of the jobs lost were women’s jobs, with women losing 156,000 jobs and men gaining 16,000.” This data means that women account for 111% of the jobs lost in December of 2020. There is a clear disparity between the genders on this issue.

         Amira Donahue, 16 years old, works as a hostess at Olive Garden in Evansville, Indiana. Amira was serving a table during a normal Saturday night dinner rush when something horrible happened. Her table asked Amira for hot water, and immediately after, the customers bursted into a racist tirade. The table publicly expressed that they preferred a white server over Amira, who is African American. The manager complied with the customers’ request and reassigned a new white server to the

During times of economic recession, both unemployment and wage theft rates rise. Wage theft occurs when an employer refuses to compensate an employee the rightful amount for time worked. Examples of wage theft are paying someone less than minimum wage, or promising an amount of money and paying only half of that amount. Statistically speaking, industries such as construction, retail, food service, and domestic work have the highest amount of wage theft cases.

As the pandemic progresses, less money flows into

The Coronavirus pandemic led to many new teleworker positions across all industries. As workers were forced to work from the safety of their homes, many wondered about compensable hours. The United States Department of Labor released clarifying guidance this past week about this issue. The guidance specifies that employers have an obligation to track compensable hours of their teleworkers. This reaffirms the idea that workers must be paid for all worked hours, no matter where they are located.

Compensable Hours

The United

Two teachers from Southern California, Agnes Morrisey-Berru and Kristen Biel, sued their respective Catholic schools. The cases of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel combined to form one case recently brought before the Supreme Court. Agnes Morrissey-Berru was fired because she turned 65 years old. In a secular workplace, this termination is age discrimination. Kristen Biel requested paid sick in order to receive treatments for her breast cancer. Kristen Biel was denied paid