September 2011 Archives

A company from Corpus Christi, StarTex Gasoline and Oil Distribution, is being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), reports 6 KRISTV.

The lawsuit claims that Startex Gasoline and Oil Distribution put a stop to an application by a former fire chief because of his age. The former fire chief, whose application was canceled, is 72-years-old. The application was canceled even though the applicant had been referred to the company by a work-force solutions company, who found his years of driving 18-wheelers and fire-trucks enough to warrant a referral.

The EEOC lawsuit seeks back pay, damages, and a job for the 72-year-old, reports 6 KRISTV.

A military vehicle manufacturer was accused of obesity discrimination the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), reports the on the EEOC website.

The Virginia based military vehicle manufacturer, BAE Systems, is alleged to have been fired an employee named Ronald Kratz who suffered from a disability known as morbid obesity. The EEOC alleges that Kratz was qualified to perform the essential function of the position as a material handler but BAE Systems refused to provide reasonable accommodations. Allegedly, BAE Systems replaced Ronald Kratz with someone that was not obese, thus giving further weight to the allegation of obesity discrimination.

Universal Toyota dealership is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) because it was not letting older people sell Scions, reports San Antonio Express News.

Scions are marketed towards a younger, hipper crowd.

The EEOC is seeking compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the at least four older workers who alleged they weren’t allowed to sell Scions. The EEOC also wants the reinstatement of Mitchell Creel, who was apparently threatened and intimidated and ultimately fired for reporting the alleged age discrimination. Retaliatory firings, like the sort Mitchell Creel allegedly suffered, are illegal.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is going after an outdoor gear and equipment store that Texans know well. Allegedly Bass Pro Shops racially discriminated against black and Hispanic applicants at a few of its stores, reports the Huffington Post.

Managers at various Bass Pro stores in the Houston area and elsewhere “made overtly racially derogatory remarks”, alleges the EEOC website, including that “hiring black candidates did not fit the corporate profile.”

A Hispanic woman in Sherman, Texas, is alleging that she was fired by Guardian Healthcare Holdings in favor of a non-pregnant, non-Hispanic, and less qualified employee, reports the Southeast Texas Record.

The woman filed the suit against Guardian Healthcare Holdings in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, alleging that she was terminated late in her pregnancy based on a pretext. She is asking for an assortment of damages.

While the woman’s allegations are based on violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Texas Labor Code, they are also based in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

One of the Texas branches of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is going after a Walmart in Carlsbad, New Mexico, for not permitting an employee with cerebral palsy to return to work after medical leave, reports the EEOC website.

The Walmart employee with cerebral pasy, Marcia Arney, was trying to get back to her job at the Walmart in Carlsbad after a surgery related to her illness. But one of the after-effects of the surgery was that she had to take periodic breaks. Arney's supervisor, however, refused to let her return to work.

Now Marcia Arney and the EEOC are alleging that the Walmart in Carlsbad did not have to be so restrictive and could have accommodated the cerebral palsy patient.

Some white Americans are increasingly of the opinion that discrimination against whites is as big a problem as discrimination against minority groups, reports Mother Jones.

Perhaps reflecting this change in attitudes is the case of a white supervisor from Sherman, Texas, who has filed a reverse racial discrimination lawsuit against his employer, alleging that he was demoted to make room for an African-American employee, reports the Southeast Texas Record.

At a time when Texas is laboring with a number of wild fires, the firefighters have been busy. Busy enough to earn overtime. And now an entire group of firefighters from Refinery Terminal Fire Company, the largest nonprofit industrial firefighting group in the country, has filed a federal class action asking to be paid overtime, reports Courthouse News Service.

Refinery Terminal Fire Company apparently failed to pay the firefighters time and a half for hours worked in excess of forty hours per workweek, alleges the complaint. The Refinery Terminal firefighters allege that they were required to be "on call" for 24 hours at a time but did not receive compensation for the time they were on call past 40 hours a week.

One of America's biggest industrial and construction equipment distributors will pay damages of $112,000 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit, reports the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC brought the case against Briggs Equipment after a qualified African-American mechanic, Bobby Wysong, alleged that he had been subjected to a racially hostile work environment.

Galveston's Councilman Chris Gonzalez is appealing his termination over improper use of his county email address, reports the Galveston County Daily News.

The Councilman was fired from his job in the county's IT department after his supervisor found that many of his emails did not involve county business.

Email at work is one of the newer challenges that workers face. Most employers get their employees to sign a computer policy, which typically sets forth that email is to be used only for business purposes, and often times this policy will grant the employer the right to monitor email and computer usage. In other words, an employee does not have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" over his or her email.

An El Paso barista, Elsa Sallard, whose stature is small due to dwarfism (and was dubbed "dwarf barista"), made big news a few months when the EEOC took her case to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Well, there is good news for the dwarf barista from El Paso, reports the EEOC website. Starbucks agreed to pay $75,000 to settle the lawsuit. Starbucks will also provide training to all of its managers regarding how to deal with people with disabilities.

An X-Ray technician that had to get surgery to have metal plates put in her face is alleging that she was fired from her job when she informed her employer that she needed medical leave, reports Courthouse News Service.

These tragic allegations come from the life of a Texas plaintiff named Paula Shuffield. She is a resident of Tarrant County, who had been working at Community Portable X-Ray Inc., since 2006.

At some point in 2010, Paula Shuffield's complaint alleges, she was severely beaten by her husband, and had to be hospitalized. The beating was so severe that her life was in jeopardy. Not only did she require emergency surgery, but she also had to have metal plates inserted into her face.

If you are a woman in the American work-force you are part of a group that is 72 million people strong, according to the Department of Labor's 2009 statistics.

On average you have a lower unemployment rate than men, which is good news. Yet, on the flip side, an average young woman earns only 93% of what a young man earns.

In addition, you face certain type of discrimination at work, which can include sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, or discrimination related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. For much of these you are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and in Texas by Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code.