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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has ruled that a negative performance evaluation didn’t support an employee’s retaliation claim because the employer promptly corrected the problem. Aybike Kortan, a clinical psychologist with the California Youth Authority, received a bad review after she complained about a supervisor’s harassment. The court said the poor review, while retaliatory, […]
A San Francisco jury has ordered the nation’s largest wholesale baker to pay $11 million in compensatory damages and a whopping $120 million in punitive damages to African-American workers who said they were subjected to racial slurs, unequal treatment and other indignities by co-workers and supervisors at three Bay Area plants. Workers testified that they […]
As we went to press, the current state legislative session was drawing to a close, and a host of important bills that could significantly impact employers were pending. Here’s a rundown on key employment legislation on the docket in Sacramento and a quick overview of new federal laws under consideration.
Sandy Baratta, an Oracle vice president, was at San Francisco International Airport waiting to board a plane when she discovered her ticket was canceled. She called Oracle and was told she had been fired. Baratta sued, accusing Oracle of terminating her because she was five months pregnant and because she had insisted on an investigation […]
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a plan to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour for about 21,000 workers employed by private employers with city contracts and non-profit agencies that provide the city with social services. The proposal, which was supported by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, includes a hike […]
Walt Disney Co. will pay $2 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee of KLOS-FM, a Disney-owned radio station in Los Angeles. The suit followed a radio promotion in which “Black Hoes”—black, plastic gardening tools—were given away as gag prizes. Judy Goodwin, a former African-American employee, claimed she suffered daily […]
Cal/OSHA has issued an updated fact sheet outlining changes in its respirator regulations. The rules apply to all workplace respirator use except for tuberculosis protection. The fact sheet outlines the specific elements of a comprehensive, written program for respirator use that must be implemented by employers. As spelled out in the fact sheet, such a […]
The Mondrian Hotel and its Sky Bar, a hangout for a hip Hollywood clientele, agreed to pay $1.08 million to settle a suit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a group of mostly minority bellmen who claimed they were fired because they looked “too ethnic.” The workers were allegedly replaced with […]
In continued fallout from a tragic 1999 fire at the Toscore finery in Martinez, the company has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit for emotional injuries suffered by a subcontractor’s employee. Alfred “Chip” Simoni witnessed other workers burn to death while working on the refinery tower. He was unable to return to […]
Yet another dramatic punitive damage award shows how juries can render potentially devastating employment-related verdicts. We previously reported on a pending lawsuit by 21 African-American workers at Northern California Wonder Bread bakeries for race discrimination. Now the verdict is in, and a San Francisco jury has awarded $11 million in compensatory damages and a whopping […]