New York Employment Attorneys Blog

The American Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU") brought suit against the Chesterfield School District on behalf of one of its students for unconstitutionally promoting religion. Specifically, the District held a prayer rally at a school assembly and prayers at official events.

The ACLU acted on behalf of a middle-school atheist student who did not agree with the Christian activities, such as the evangelical assembly, at school. Moreover, this student was pressured into attending religious events - for instance he was given the choice of attending a religious concert or being sent to the suspension-room. Such treatment hinders students' freedom of religion and may even be considered religious discrimination.

The ACLU and the Chesterfield School District finally agreed to settle the suit. In the consent decree and order, the Chesterfield County schools admitted they had violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which mandates separation of church and state. The official outcome of the case prohibits school officials from promoting religion and encouraging prayers at events and was made final on Thursday, January 26, 2012, by a federal judge.

Follow the story as it develops here.

Casimir Manyoni Mung'aho, a newly ordained Roman Catholic Priest, was removed from his parish by church officials for secretly fathering a child while in seminary.

Father Mung'aho had been serving as a parochial vicar in the parish of St. Stephen in Warwick, New York. He had come from Tanzania to the United States six years ago to become a priest. He said he wanted to be a role model for people. Indeed, he was liked by his parishioners and the children to which he taught religion.

However, the priest was also later revealed to be a parent. He had fathered a child while he was attending seminary. Although he was still a seminarian when his child was born, and as such had not yet made promises to be celibate, Father Mung'aho was still expected by the church to be celibate.

The archdiocese has not made any final decision on this case yet. Indeed, the removal of Father Mung'aho will allow church officials to address the matter at hand. In the meantime, however, Father Mung'aho has been asked to live independently and reflect on his actions.

Follow the story as it develops here.

Teresa R. Wagner, a former student at the University of Iowa College of Law and a former teacher at the George Mason University School of Law, was refused employment at the University of Iowa College of Law. Ms. Wagner is a conservative Republican activist and believes her political beliefs are the cause for this refusal. Consequently, she has sued the University of Iowa for discrimination based on political motivation.

In December 2011, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided that Ms. Wagner's case should go to trial, as there was sufficient evidence suggesting that the University's refusal to employ Ms. Wagner was based on Ms. Wagner's political beliefs. This preliminary victory for the application of First Amendment rights related to political beliefs and association to academic hiring might enable professors who have been discriminated against because of their political beliefs to take action and affirm their rights.

Follow the story as it develops here.

NBA players filed an anti-trust lawsuit in the Northern District of California on Tuesday in an attempt force talks with the team owners. The suit seeks monetary damages for lost wages and an end to an "illegal boycott of the work force."

The N.B.P.A (National Basketball Player's Association) is collaborating in the suit, naming Carmello Anthony and Chauncey Billups (New York Knicks), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), Leon Power (free agent) and Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs) as lead plaintiffs.

Now that the collective bargaining agreement has fallen apart and the union disbanned, more lawsuits are expected to be filed. One such suit, also filed on Tuesday, is asking for monetary damages and a permanent injunction on behalf of Caron Butler (free agent), Ben Gordon (Detroit Pistons), Anthony Tolliver (Minnesota Timberwolves), and Derrick Williams (Minnesota Timberwolves draft pick). Another suit is expected on behalf of the rookies.

Tuesday coincided with the players' first missed paychecks; which amounted to more than $170 million for the league. David Boise, attorney for the California suit, said that the Commissioner's ultimatum regarding league's proposal last Thursday "turned out to be a mistake." The monetary damages under antitrust law are triple, which may prove to be incentive for owners to head back into negotiations. However, in an interview with ESPN on Monday, NBA Commissioner David Stern said because there is no union, he is unsure with whom they would be negotiating and "we won't be doing anything soon."

What happens when employees can't negotiate their own employment contracts? You could potentially lose a whole N.B.A. season. For months now, owners and players have been negotiating a new labor deal to satisfy various concerns raised by members of the National Basketball Association.

On October 27, 2011, negotiations seem to be looking more promising. The N.B.A. is hopeful that they will be able to have a full 82-game season schedule, despite starting the season a month late. In the event negotiations are not completed soon, the game schedule could be reduced as was done back in the 1998-1999 season, which season only contained a 50-game schedule.

The current pre-season has been completely cancelled and if the negotiations end soon, the regular season would begin December 1, 2011 and continue until sometime in April, 2012 to secure the full 82-game schedule.

Employment contracts protect the players' interests as well as the interest of the owners, and negotiations aim to satisfy all parties involved while allowing for players to move freely between teams and to allow teams to be able to hire top players in order to compete favorably in the market.

After hours of negotiations and many hours ahead, the future of a favorite American sport will depend on employment law issues.

In a recent and divided decision, the Supreme Court said that there is no automatic right to counsel for people charged with civil contempt for failing to pay child support.

Michael D. Turner, the Plaintiff from South Carolina, was held in civil contempt and jailed for as much as a year for not paying child support. He argued that he was too poor to pay and that a lawyer could have helped him avoid being jailed.

Yet, in previous cases, Courts have ruled that poor people facing jail for crimes must be provided with a lawyer. Why was it any different in the present case? These decisions were rooted in the Sixth Amendment, only applicable to criminal proceedings and not to civil cases.

Yesterday the Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether prisoners may bring a cause of action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics against employees of a private company that contracts with the federal government, where the employees do not have a direct employment relationship with the government. Despite encompassing prisoner rights as well, this case does bring forward important issues that surround almost all of employment law: by whom exactly are you employed and against whom can you bring a cause of action?

Follow this case as it is heard by the Supreme Court.

Blowing the whistle can be a daunting task, especially for an employee working for a large corporation like CVS. However, it can be rewarding on many levels.

Based on a complaint filed by a CVS employee in Minnesota alleging that CVS overcharged for Medicade perscriptions, CVS has agreed to pay the federal and state governments more than $17 million. The claims stem from CVS failing to follow proper procedures, like submitting claims to third party insurers. Following the lawsuit, CVS has also agreed to government monitoring for the next three years. The CVS pharmasist responsible for exposing the illegal practices will receive $2.5 million in compensation.

Find out more on CNN.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation at work that you knew or thought was illegal? Contact an attorney today.

Researchers have surveyed employees across the country about what workplace things annoy them the most.

The results are not surprising for anyone who has worked in a larger office before, with the number one annoyance being grumpy and moody coworkers.

Check out the full list here: Does "thinking outside the box" drive you mad?

What really annoys you at work? Stolen leftovers? Unnecessary meetings? Let us know!

A wave of people are calling in sick across the Pond, as thousands of people in the UK participated in "National Sickie Day". The first Monday in February has seen one of the highest rates of individuals calling out sick from work. However, individuals are no longer just calling out from work with the telltale horse voice, or claims of eating some bad chicken, with some bosses and HR professionals accepting emails and text messages from employees who claim to be ill.

What's your take on this situation? Is it high time for America to have "National Sickie Day" as well? Or is it dishonest to claim sick days when not actually sick?

The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of five New York City public students who claim they were harassed and abused by school safety officers employed by the New York City Police.

In an attempt to increase safety in public schools, the NYPD has employed these school safety officers to monitor school situations, and to ensure that all are safe to learn without the threat of violence or fear.

However, these students claim that the fear and intimidation has not come from school bullies, but the officer's themselves. The officer's are accused of abusing their authority by arresting, assaulting, and performing other actions on students in public schools who may have broken rules, but have not committed any crimes. This includes a sixth grader who had been handcuffed for drawing on a desk with an erasable marker, and other assaults on students who had violated school rules.

The five students claim that the officers acted well out of their authority, and have cause serious emotional and physical harm to them.

Read more on the New York Times City Blog, including a PDF of the complaint:
Suit Charges Abuses by School Safety Officers

On September 23, the House approved an extension of unemployment benefits for those collecting in states with an unemployment rate over 8.75%. This extension will apply to 27 states and the District of Columbia, and come at a time when many states unemployment roles are swelling while coffers are dwindling.

At the same time, Senator Max Bacchus from Montana is looking at ways to fund programs in the remaining states, not just the states with an employment rate near 9 percent. The remaining 23 states with lower rates of unemployment would seem to be left out of this current extension, forcing these states to figure out novel ways to cope with increasing unemployment.

The rise in unemployment throughout the country has been straining the budgets of states everywhere are recovery efforts are slow to trickle back down to hiring. Despite rosy pictures of economic outlooks from economists, this upturn has failed to result in substantial job hiring across the board, causing many to wonder what good is coming out of a recession if there are no jobs. This jobless recovery is a troubling paradox and a symbol of the recovery efforts so far.

We here at The Harman Firm sympathize with all workers who have been out of work and continue to look for suitable employment.

Check out this article- Facebook Breaks- detailing a proposal to allow users a ten minute "Facebook" break each day to check up on the goings on of the popular social networking site. This shows the perils of needing the internet to accomplish anything these days, and the distractions that come along with them.
This apparently comes on the heels of some reports claiming that the poplar site is draining production and causing economic sluggishness in Great Brittain.

What do you think? Should employers give workers time each day to check on Facebook? Will employees continue to do so with or without the break?

Or, should employees who spend too much time on Facebook be fired?

In an article published in today's USA Today examines how the recession has affected older, white male workers. While it has been reported that the recession has had a wide racial gap in unemployment in inner cities, the article looks across the country to see how this particular group has fared during this downtown. Conversely, the article claims that the overall unemployment gap racially throughout the country has shrank, due in part to the effect on these older white male workers.

The article explores men in their 50's who have worked the same or similar jobs throughout their lives, and are now finding themselves unemployed for the first time, and undertrained to take on new employment. Generally, older more experienced workers have ridden out periods of downturns, but the widening crises has expanded its reach to these workers who have often spent their careers with one company.
It also explores the difficulties associated with loosing a job that late in life, including having to be retrained, as well as the rising costs of health care and insurance, which get more expensive as one ages. Older workers requiring medications for conditions are finding themselves unable to pay, and have to decided which medications to take and which bills to pay.

In these many scenarios, we are seeing the personal difficulties associated with the recession, and how families are forced to cope with sudden changes in lifestyle and habits. Lets hope that the recent signs of the economy's turn around will continue, and these affected families will be able to get back on track.

President Obama last week has announced that he would continue the practice of using the E-verify system as a means to curb illegal immigrants working within this country. The program, which was established under President Bush, is an electronic database system that was intended to verify an individuals citizenship status for employers to ensure that they are hiring legal workers. However, the E-verify system is extremely flawed, relying on incorrect, incomplete and flawed information. The system has been responsible for many false positives, where a worker who is a legal citizen, cannot be verified within the system and in turn lose their job despite their actual standing. The continuation of this system is incredibly disheartening and disappointing coming from President Obama. This continuation of Bush-era policies will only hurt workers, legal and illegal and do more damage to the economy as money is poured into a broken system, while keeping individuals out of work.