Discrimination claims are not easy to prove. But, it doesn’t take much for a plaintiff to at least allege in her complaint that her former employer discriminated against her. Except when all you plead are “vague and conclusory” allegations. For example, in a Fifth Circuit decision I read last night,…
I’ve been practicing law for over 20 years, and I must concede that I did not know this. Here’s how it works. Let’s say two companies bid for a public contract. One is minority-owned; the other is not. The minority-owned company submits the lowest bid by a million dollars. However,…
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it’s probably a duck. Hold that thought while I tell you about someone who probably wouldn’t believe me. The plaintiff in the federal court decision I read last night had worked for the same employer…
How some of her coworkers spoke at work deeply offended a hospital nurse. One of them said that “Michelle Obama looks like a monkey” and the “President is a piece of s**t.” Another said President Obama was “stupid,” was the “worst president ever,” and “needs to go back to Africa.”…
Last night, I read about a black female educator and school administrator who claimed that her employer agreed to pay for her to attend a training session but later reneged, instead offering to pay for her to attend in two years. So, she paid for it herself. And then she…
Last year, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued a long-term care facility claiming that certain White patients/residents repeatedly directed offensive racial slurs at black nurses and nurse assistants, including “n—-r,” “coon,” “monkey,” and “Black b—–s.” One patient repeatedly told Black employees to “go back to Africa,” followed Black employees…
According to published reports, like this one from the Daily Mail, an Am Law 100 law firm rescinded a job offer to the president of a law school’s student bar association after learning that the student stated that Hamas’ slaughter of children in Israel was ‘necessary.’ The student also reportedly…
According to reports, a pharmaceutical company fired one of its senior talent acquisition specialists last week after she appeared in a viral video on a New Jersey Transit train calling a small group of German men “f—ing immigrants and telling them to “get the f— out of our country.” An…
The same drug dealing felon Human Resources claimed said in his job interview that he would “do it all again” but ensure that he was not dealing with an undercover officer. I won’t bury the lede here. This will be a lesson in consistency. If your business takes a legitimate,…
…the plaintiff missed the mark. Badly. On the plus side, I get a blog post out of it. Direct vs. Circumstantial Evidence When employees lose their jobs and claim discrimination, there are two types of evidence they can use to prove their case: direct and circumstantial. Direct evidence of discrimination…