Tag: Alameda County
Wal-Mart Workers Go Back To Court
Harassment: FedEx Ground Slapped with $61 Million Verdict
A jury in Alameda County has awarded $61 million to two former FedEx Ground drivers who charged they were harassed by a manager for over two years. The drivers, Edgar Rizkallah and Kamil Issa—both of Lebanese descent—claimed that manager Stacy Shoun at the company’s Oakland terminal subjected them to a barrage of racial slurs, including […]
Wal-Mart Hit with Mega-Million Verdict for Missed Breaks
A jury in Alameda County has slapped Wal-Mart with a $172 million verdict for denying employees legally required lunch breaks. The verdict came in after just three days of juror deliberation, following a four-month trial in the class-action lawsuit, which filed back in 2002 against the retail giant. Wal-Mart has said it plans to appeal.
Employee Privacy: Workers’ Compensation Won’t Shield You from Privacy Claim; Don’t Put Your Organization at Risk
A workers’ compensation claim is typically the only remedy for an employee who gets injured on the job. But a California Court of Appeal recently ruled that an employee injured because a supervisor didn’t keep the person’s disciplinary matters private may bypass the workers’ comp system and sue you for damages.
Affirmative Action: Employer Hit With $5.4 Million Verdict After Firing Recruiter Who Disputed Minority-Hiring Report
Karen Yarborough, a recruiting manager for Pleasanton-based PeopleSoft, complained to her supervisors that the company’s affirmative action hiring data was false. Then, just two days before an on-site audit of the software maker’s employment data by the Office of Federal Contracts Compliance Programs, Yarborough was fired. Now an Alameda County jury’s multimillion-dollar verdict for Yarborough […]
News Notes: Insurance Adjusters Win $90 Million In Back Overtime
Farmers Insurance Exchange has been ordered to pay $90 million to 2,400 adjusters who claimed they were misclassified as exempt administrative employees and cheated out of years of overtime pay. The record-breaking award by an Alameda County jury could ultimately top $130 million with interest and attorneys’ fees. The adjusters, who make an average of […]
News Flash: Radio Operator Wins $600,000 In Lawsuit
An African-American radio operator who claimed she suffered racial and sexual harassment by co-workers and supervisors at Aeronautical Radio Inc. has received a $600,000 award from an Alameda County jury. Charisse Rogers alleged that she was subjected to displays of pornography, inappropriate sexual comments, photos of employees in KKK garb, and frequent racial jokes and […]