Tennessee Employment Lawyer Blog

We all use the search engine Google for many things on a daily basis. Many of us across the country and even right here in Tennessee, use it to search for information, to look up news, or even to find out how popular a website or product may be. Even though we all like and use Google daily, they are still a company with employees and this case may discriminate against the age of their employees.

In this case as reported on May 27, 2010, a Google manager Brian Reid claims he was dismissed from the company for being too old. He was hired as the director of operations and engineering when he was fifty-two, and was then fired by the company two years later after being told by his supervisor that he was not “a cultural fit” for the company. His lawyer, Paul J. Killion told the California high court that company e-mails show that Google prefers younger workers.

Reid’s lawyer also told the court that a former Google recruiter testified that the term was used only in company circles to refer to older workers. Reid also said that his colleagues referred to him as an “old fuddy duddy” and an “old man”. He also said a high level manger said he was “fuzzy, sluggish, and lethargic”.

Google says that Reid was fired because his position was eliminated. Paul W. Crane Jr, the representative for Google, argued that courts should not decide the merit of lawsuits based on random discriminatory comments by employees who were not involved in the decision to fire Reid.

Chief Justice Ronald M. George, said that “a failure to explore new ideas or be imaginative could have nothing to do with age” and asked whether the fact that Reid was already in his 50s when he was hired, undermined his case. Crane the Google representative said it did.

However, an appeals court ruled that Reid had presented sufficient evidence of age discrimination to have his case heard before a jury. Google appealed and now the state high court will determine what kind of evidence courts may consider in whether a case should go before a jury. Reid’s lawsuit also included evidence that showed older workers received worse evaluations and lower bonuses than younger employees.

In this fast paced Internet world we live in, it is unfortunate to think that as we grow older we may be discriminated against or told that we are too slow or too old to work for a certain company, but cases like these happen every day, even right here in Tennessee.

Continue reading "Court to determine if Fired Google Manager was victim of Age Discrimination" »

Every day many of us have to go to work to support ourselves and our families. When we are at work, we expect to be treated with respect by our coworkers, our bosses and the company we work for. Unfortunately in many places across the country and even right here in Tennessee that is not always the case. Many employees face discrimination and some of it may just be because of their gender.

A jury recently found the company Novartis Pharmaceuticals, guilty of gender discrimination in issues involving pay, promotions, and pregnancy. This was a nation wide class action suit of 5,600 female sales representatives making it the largest gender discrimination case to go to verdict.

The jury also awarded the twelve testifying witnesses 3.36 million in compensatory damages for the specific instances of discrimination that those witnesses testified to. That was also just the beginning of the money that will be awarded as a result of the verdict. Other punitive damage amounts are being decided on today, Tuesday May 18, 2010. Finally, in separate hearings, compensatory damages for each member of the class action that opts in will be decided on.
In this case, the judge, Judge McMahon, also gets to decide what orders to give to Novartis to change its policies and procedures to in order to help prevent more discrimination in the future. This case included female sales representatives that worked for Novartis between 2002 and 2007.

The jury stated that what they learned from this case is that you would not “want your wife, your mother, your sister or your daughter to work," for this company.

Continue reading "Gender Discrimination Case against Novartis is won by Female Sales Representatives " »

Anytime a worker is required or volunteers to work any overtime whether it be 5 minutes or an hour, the company they work for are required to give them extra pay for the time they work. Unfortunately, there are many times where companies will find ways around this requirement or simply will not pay their workers for the time. If this happens, anywhere in the country, even here in Tennessee, then you may be able to file a lawsuit in order to receive the pay that you deserve.

In Las Vegas, Harrah’s Entertainment which owns properties such as Planet Hollywood, Paris, Bally's, Bill's, Flamingo, O'Sheas, Imperial Palace, Caesars Palace, Rio and Harrah's, is facing another class action lawsuit filed by Nevada workers. The lawsuit alleges that Harrah’s Entertainment required workers to arrive ten to fifteen minutes before their shifts were supposed to start but did not pay them for this extra time. This may not seem like much, but if it’s added up can amount to thousands of dollars a year and in some cases millions.

The Nevada workers were required to arrive early because of pre-shift meetings which may include pep talks from managers, and reminders about job standards and expectations. Station Casinos is facing an overtime lawsuit that involves this pre shift meeting issue. That case was filed last year in state court, but is being put on hold while the company deals with bankruptcy issues.

The lawsuit against Harrah’s says that “the employee clocked in early to attend daily management meetings where she received instructions from previous shift supervisors.” The Harrah’s spokeswomen, Jacqueline Peterson, said that “we will vigorously defend ourselves against any accusation that alleges we are in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.”
This case is a little unusual because Daprizio filed the lawsuit while still working for Harrah’s and not while being laid off.

This seems to show that people are not willing to let these wage and overtime violations go, especially not during a recession when every bit of pay counts.

Continue reading "Pre-Shift Meetings without Extra Pay Leads to Class Action Lawsuit against Harrah’s Entertainment" »