New York Employment Attorneys Blog

Mayor Bloomberg's company, Bloomberg L.P. has been battling a long-running lawsuit contending that Mr. Bloomberg and top managers created a hostile work environment, especially for women. Mr. Bloomberg even had to testify during several hours in 2009.

However, last Wednesday, a Federal Judge dismissed all claims brought by the EEOC before the Court. According to Justice Loretta A. Preska, the EEOC relied too much on anecdotes and not enough on statistics when it accused Bloomberg L.P. of discrimination. The ruling said that the company did not systematically violate the law because it did not treat women who took maternity leave differently from employees who took leaves for other reasons. The Judge added that "a female employee is free to choose to dedicate herself to the company at any cost (and) she will rise in this organization accordingly."

According to the New York Times, Bloomberg's managers were accused of crass and sexist comments in a testosterone-fueled workplace. The original complaint, filed in September 2007, also asserted that the company systematically discriminated against mothers and pregnant women by reducing their pay, demoting them or excluding them from the company's decision process.

"We regret today's decision, and look forward to proceeding with the individual claims and will assess our options" said the EEOC in a statement after the judgment was rendered.

Indeed, the Federal government may appeal the decision which would lead to a new battle for Mayor Bloomberg and the 65 women who qualified as claimants in the class-action which may lead to individual lawsuits accusing Bloomberg L.P. of discrimination.

On Wednesday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's injunction that bars the enforcement of much of the state's controversial SB 1070 immigration law. Arizona's legal position got a boost in May when the Supreme Court, in a 5-3 decision, upheld a state employment law that would take away the business licenses of employers who knowingly hired illegal workers.

When the statute passed last year, Arizona lawmakers directed police to check the immigration status of people they lawfully stopped and suspected of being in the country illegally. The Obama administration took the case to Court and argued that the federal government has exclusive control over immigration enforcement.

On July 28, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton blocked enforcement of several parts of the statute. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Bolton's ruling last April, finding that Congress "explicitly required that in enforcing federal immigration law, state and local officers 'shall' be directed by the Attorney General."

The Petition for Writ of Certiorari claims that the 9th Circuit ruling affirms "that state are completely foreclosed from enforcing federal law or from enacting state laws that prohibit conduct made unlawful by Congress". For Governor Brewer, the 9th Circuit ruling created an express and acknowledged circuit split over the preemptive force of the federal immigration laws because the 10th Circuit views those laws as affirmatively encouraging cooperative enforcement by states.

If the Justices decide to take up the case, they would hear arguments in the winter and probably hand down a ruling in late spring, as the presidential race gets underway.

When enacted, the Fair Labor Standards Act established minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Overtime pay at a rate no less than one and one-half times an employee's regular rate of pay, is required after 40 hours of work per workweek. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but many states also have minimum wage that are higher.

Kinder Morgan and its subsidiary, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, one of the largest pipeline transportation and energy companies in North America, just agreed to pay $830,422 in back wages to 4,659 current and former employees, resolving a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor. The companies are also permanently enjoined from future violations of the FLSA.

The case was brought before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and a consent judgement has just been filed, but still requires judicial approval. The lawsuit came following an investigation led by the Houston District Office of the department's Wage and Hour divisions which found systemic FLSA violations at 11 Kinder Morgan locations in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Texas.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, said "the Labor Department will hold employers accountable when they do not properly pay their workers. The FLSA requires that hours be counted and overtime pay calculated accurately and in a transparent process. Today's settlement agreement provides back wages, but it will also help ensure that Kinder Morgan complies with the law in the future."

The City of New York and its Fire Department are being accused of discriminating against black and hispanics during the hiring examination to apply to become firefighters. In 2010, the FDNY was ordered by Courts to change the recruitment policy to allow more blacks and hispanics to join the FDNY as they only represent 9% of firefighters in New York City today.

As of last Monday, the case has been set to go to trial before Federal Courts in Brooklyn. The Plaintiffs were allegedly discriminated against as applicants. The Judge already ruled that the tests did, in fact, discriminate against blacks and hispanics but City officials and its Department of Justice dispute that they were not doing enough before the trial to be fair in hiring practices.

"In order to be a firefighter, one does not need to know the history of the department and nor does one need to be a volunteer firefighter" said John Coombs, president of the Vulcan Society, a fraternal black association.

The first phase of the trial, which involves determining the discrimination, will likely last a week. Then, the second two phases of the trial, which involve damages to Plaintiffs, will likely last a week each.

The Fire Department just unveiled last July a new million-dollar ad campaign aimed at increasing the minority applicant pool for a newly designed entrance exam. This method seems to be working: the FDNY reported that there is a three-fold rise in black applicants this year. According to the New York Post, 640 black candidates have signed up for the test, compared to 184 in 2007 when the test was last given. The Post also says about three times as many white people have also applied.

A Texas company accused of exploiting mentally disabled men who worked at a turkey plant in Iowa has agreed to follow minimum wage, overtime and record-keepings laws in the future.

Hills Country Farms agreed to these measures Monday; an injunction approved by a federal judge settles the complaint brought by the US Department of Labor. In order to obtain such a settlement, the latter decided not to seek back-pay and damages related to non-disabled workers who were also allegedly not paid overtime and minimum wage.

In a separate lawsuit last April, a federal Judge ordered the company to pay $1.76 million in back wages and damages to 31 disabled men who worked at the same plant in Iowa. The Judge found the disabled workers received only $65 a month in wages even though many worked more than 40 hours a week. The company argued that they paid that amount because any wage above $65 would have reduced the men's Social Security benefits.

The case of six non disabled employees seeking the same remedies is still pending and expected to go to trial soon. Hills Country Farms is also facing a separate lawsuit pending in front of the EEOC claiming the disabled men were subjected to verbal and physical abuse, substandard living conditions, poor medical care, excessive discipline, and discriminatory wages.