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	<title>California Labor Law BLOG</title>
	<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com</link>
	<description>Protecting Employees and Employers with Labor and Employment issues, including Discrimination and Wage Dispute Claims</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 18 May 2012 21:56:53 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Senate Extends Whistleblower Protection Act</title>
        <pubDate>Fri, 18 May 2012 21:56:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[The US Senate passed a bill on May 8 to expand protections proved to whistleblowers, according to sources. The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act was passed by a unanimous vote. Now employees are protected if they choose to report any violations of law, rules or federal regulations. The bill also enhances the current employee rights. “Whistleblowers are critical to effective, accountable government,” says Senator Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. “The American people deserve to know that whistleblowers will be protected when they have the courage to come forward to disclose wrongdoing.” This is another step forward to ensure that workers are comfortable enough to come forward and speak out when an employer does something wrong or dangerous. The bill marks yet another milestone in the Government Accountability Project (GAP). The mission of the GAP is to “promote corporate and government accountability by protecting whistleblowers, advancing occupational free speech, and empowering citizen activists.” If...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/senate-extends-whistleblower-protection-act/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/senate-extends-whistleblower-protection-act/</link>
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		<title>Former Chicago Medical Center Employees Allege Wrongful Termination</title>
        <pubDate>Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[Six former employees of the University of Chicago Medical Center have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), according to ChicagoBusiness.com. The former employees claimed they were wrongfully terminated after taking leave for 12 weeks. The former workers filed the complaints with the EEOC separately between 2008 and 2010. According to the complaints, the hospital violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because the employees were not permitted 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. “The charges and the EEOC’s investigation to date have shown that the (medical center) may, in violation of the ADA, maintain a blanket policy under which employees are summarily discharged at the expiration of 12 weeks’ leave,” read the EEOC’s official complaint with the U.S. District Court in Chicago. The EEOC attempted to force the hospital to disclose the contact information for the former managers who terminated...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/former-chicago-medical-center-employees-allege-wrongful-termination/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/former-chicago-medical-center-employees-allege-wrongful-termination/</link>
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		<title>Kansas City Jury Awards Discriminated Worker $5 Million</title>
        <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 19:05:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[A former AT&#38;T employee in Kansas City was awarded $5 million in damages for workplace discrimination, according to sources. Susan Bashir filed the lawsuit against her former employer after her boss pulled a scarf off her head in 2008 and exposed her hair, which is against her religion. The award is the largest Missouri history for a workplace discrimination suit. $120,000 of the award was for lost wages, the rest was for damages. According to court documents, Bashir claimed that her work environment turned hostile immediately after she converted to Islam. “I was shocked. I thought ‘What is going on?’” Bashir told reporters. “Nobody ever cared what I wore before. Nobody ever cared what religion I was before.” Bashir worked for AT&#38;T in Kansas City for 10 years before she was terminated. She was subjected to a hostile work environment for her final 3 years. Bashir will not receive the...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/kansas-city-jury-awards-discriminated-worker-5-million/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/kansas-city-jury-awards-discriminated-worker-5-million/</link>
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		<title>Jury Rules in Favor of Defendant in Wrongful Termination Lawsuit</title>
        <pubDate>Fri, 11 May 2012 18:22:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[A jury in Colton, California ruled in favor of the defendant in a wrongful termination lawsuit recently, according to sources. Former Colton Police Chief Ken Rulon alleges he was wrongfully terminated and filed the lawsuit against the Colton Police Department in 2007. Rulon alleges he was terminated after he reported the corrupt practices of certain city officials to the Colton District Attorney’s Office. Rulon reported city credit card abuse by a councilman. According to reports, Rulon testified that former Councilman Ramon Hernandez charged to the city credit card thousands of dollars spent on motel stays with a lover and calls to telephone sex lines. Hernandez was eventually charged with 24 felonies and sentenced to 180 days in jail. The city maintained that Rulon was aware of the abuse for one year before he reported it, and cited that as the reason for the termination. Subordinates also accused Rulon of sexual...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/jury-rules-in-favor-of-defendant-in-wrongful-termination-lawsuit/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/jury-rules-in-favor-of-defendant-in-wrongful-termination-lawsuit/</link>
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		<title>Female-on-Female Harassment in the Workplace</title>
        <pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2012 20:21:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[As more and more women are climbing the corporate ladder across America, female on female harassment in the workplace has increased, according to a study. The study, conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute, revealed that when women chose a bullying target, approximately 70 percent of the time they chose another female. Bullying in the workplace is 4 times more common than sexual harassment, according to the study. According to Dr. Gary Namie, co-founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute, females tend to be much nastier to their victims than male bullies. “Women feel the need to be hyper-aggressive to get ahead in a male-dominated environment,” says Dr. Namie. Some of the subjects of the study had experienced extensive workplace harassment in the past. “My female bully lied and gossiped about me and others,” recalled Debra Falozi, a communications coordinator who was harassed by a female supervisor at Boston University. “She used...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/female-on-female-harassment-in-the-workplace/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/female-on-female-harassment-in-the-workplace/</link>
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		<title>Louisiana Ship Captain Wrongfully Terminated for Contacting Coast Guard</title>
        <pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 13:37:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[A New Orleans barge captain was wrongfully terminated for alerting the US Coast Guard about potential engine problems on his boat, according to Business Week. The shipping company, St. James Stevedoring Partners LLC, agreed to pay the former captain $245,000 to settle the whistleblower case. After the incident, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated, treated the captain as a whistleblower. According to OSHA, the captain alerted the Coast Guard first in June 2011 when he noticed a faulty engine. St. James Stevedoring subsequently suspended the captain and told him not to alert the Coast Guard without approval from the company. The same captain reported the same problem to the Coast Guard two months later in August and was terminated. OSHA has not disclosed the captain’s name, which is its policy when a subject is treated as a whistleblower. OSHA determined that St. James Stevedoring...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/louisiana-ship-captain-wrongfully-terminated-for-contacting-coast-guard/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/louisiana-ship-captain-wrongfully-terminated-for-contacting-coast-guard/</link>
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		<title>EEOC Extends Title VII to Protect Transgender Persons</title>
        <pubDate>Fri, 04 May 2012 20:12:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled that Title VII, the federal sex discrimination law, also protects transgender persons. In a released statement regarding the landmark ruling, the EEOC stated “that intentional discrimination against a transgender individual because person is transgender is, by definition, discrimination ‘based on sex’ and such discrimination violates Title VII.” Mia Macy, a transgender woman, filed complaint claiming she was discriminated against by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) while applying for a job as a ballistics technician at a Walnut Creek, California laboratory. According to the Miami Herald, Macy originally applied for the position as a male and was told she “virtually was guaranteed the job.” Macy disclosed the gender transformation during the hiring process and was told the funding for her position was cut and she would not be employed. “As a veteran and a police officer, I’ve worked my whole...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/eeoc-extends-title-vii-to-protect-transgender-persons/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/eeoc-extends-title-vii-to-protect-transgender-persons/</link>
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		<title>Former Managers Sue IHOP for Discrimination</title>
        <pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 20:01:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[A group of four Muslim men in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area filed a wrongful termination suit against the International House of Pancakes (IHOP, according to the Dallas Observer. The men were all fired from their management positions. The four men, Hussein Chamseddine, Rami Saleh, Brandon Adam and Chekri Bakro were all terminated within one year span from restaurants in Plano, Fort Worth, Arlington and Burleson. In his lawsuit, Chamseddine claims that his eventual replacement, Larry Hawker, told other managers at a meeting in 2010 that “Arab men treat women poorly and with disrespect…we’re going to have to let these people go and have new faces coming in.” The men claimed they all received favorable performance reviews. Under the Equal Employment Act, the men have the right to sue if they were discriminated against. The men were terminated from their jobs after a new franchise manager, Alex Anthraper, took over the...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/former-managers-sue-ihop-for-discrimination/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/05/former-managers-sue-ihop-for-discrimination/</link>
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		<title>Popular Radio Talk Show Host Files Wrongful Discrimination Lawsuit</title>
        <pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:38:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[A popular talk show radio host in San Francisco filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the KNBR radio station, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Longtime host Ralph Barbieri, who is in the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, claims he was terminated after 28 years are the station because of his Parkinsons’s disease. KNBR cited tardiness as the reason for Barbieri’s termination. “The whole tardiness issue is just a cover-up to get rid of someone who is sick,” says Anegela Alioto, Barbieri’s attorney. Cumulus, Inc., the station’s parent company, say there is no cover-up and tardiness was the reason for his termination. Bill Bungeroth, a Cumulus executive, described the lawsuit as “baseless.” “The simple fact is that Ralph refused to honor some of the most basic terms of his contract,” said Bungeroth in a released statement. “As a result, KNBR exercised its right to terminate the contract. Ralph...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/04/popular-radio-talk-show-host-files-wrongful-discrimination-lawsuit/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/04/popular-radio-talk-show-host-files-wrongful-discrimination-lawsuit/</link>
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		<title>Fort Worth Firefighters File Suit to Recover Lost Wages</title>
        <pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:22:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<description><![CDATA[The Fort Worth Professional Firefighters Association is suing the city of Fort Worth in an overtime wage dispute, according to Firehouse.com. The lawsuit comes on the heels of an overtime policy change that affected the pay of 21 employees at the Fire Alarm Office, which handles 911 calls and dispatch. The lawsuit claims that a policy change in January 2009 was made outside collective bargaining. The previous policy paid all the firefighters time and a half for overtime, even if the firefighter took off vacation or sick time during the same week. The lawsuit is seeking an injunction to this stop policy change, as well as to compensate employees who lost money because of the change. “Their suit basically says the city of Fort Worth committed an unfair labor practice,” said Jim Tate, president of the Fort Worth chapter of the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters. “This was for...<br /> <a href="http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/04/fort-worth-firefighters-file-suit-to-recover-lost-wages/">Read More &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.californialaborlawblog.com/2012/04/fort-worth-firefighters-file-suit-to-recover-lost-wages/</link>
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