By Steve Kardell | Published January 13, 2022 | Posted in Employee Rights, Whistleblower Litigation, Wrongful Termination | Tagged Tags: emotional distress damages, employer retaliation, wrongful termination |
Judith Zimmerman, a former professor at the University of Utah, won $760,000 in damages in a jury trial after she sued the university claiming whistleblower retaliation. The case was another example of how whistleblower retaliation can result in the perpetrator being subject to significant penalties for their actions. Case background Zimmerman had worked for the Read More
Read MoreThe federal government brought a lawsuit against a hotel operator in Waller, Texas, claiming it terminated an employee who sought medical attention after exposure to carbon monoxide in the workplace. The suit was filed on March 25, 2021 and seeks the court to order the defendant to comply with the anti-retaliation provisions of the Occupational Read More
Read MoreA former employee of Amazon claims she was fired from the company’s sorting center in Thornton, Colorado after repeatedly raising concerns about the COVID-19 risks in the facility. In response, she filed a whistleblower complaint with the state’s labor department that could lead to a lawsuit. Case background The employee, Linda Rodriguez, said her concerns Read More
Read MoreA federal jury in Washington state recently awarded $11 million to an IBM manager who was fired after complaining about racial discrimination. Scott Kingston, the manager in question, was retaliated against after he spoke up about concerns regarding a black sales representative who he believed to have been denied sales commissions he had earned. According Read More
Read MoreIn a recent lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claimed Peachstate Health Management LLC (dba AEON Global Health) violated federal laws by subjecting a black female client services employee to a hostile work environment based on her race and sex, and then fired her after she complained about her treatment. The lawsuit will Read More
Read MoreThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently filed a lawsuit against Zoltek Corp., alleging the company acted in defiance of whistleblower statutes by wrongfully terminating an employee who spoke up about unsafe working conditions. The lawsuit seeks reinstatement, damages, back wages and an order for the company to post proper notices around its premises Read More
Read MoreIt was a predictable result of the COVID-19 pandemic—by May 2020, new employment lawsuits in federal courts started to majorly fall off. However, by the end of the year and carrying into the first quarter of 2021, employment lawsuits began to rebound, marking just one more indicator of an economy that is beginning to wake Read More
Read MoreA whistleblower claims he was wrongfully terminated from his position after repeatedly raising his concerns about COVID-19 protocols at Trojan Battery Co. in Santa Fe Springs. The company was the subject of an investigation in 2020 after a virus outbreak resulted in 61 total infections and the death of one employee. The whistleblower, John Martinez, Read More
Read MoreA music professor at the University of North Texas, Timothy Jackson, filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming his constitutional rights were violated by the university. UNT said it would remove Jackson from a position heading up a music theory journal, and defund that journal and the research center he directs. This came after a Read More
Read MoreOn January 15, Timothy Hearl officially became the first actor to sue an entertainment employer over working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Netflix is one of the of the defendants in the lawsuit, as the suit revolves around working conditions at a live entertainment site for Stranger Things: The Drive Into experience. The drive-in production Read More
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