Wrongful Termination Archives | Page 3 of 3

May 2, 2013

Societal attitudes seem to be changing regarding sexual orientation discrimination. For example, the recent defeat of the proposed state marriage amendment confirmed that a majority of Minnesota voters do not believe that a prohibition against same-sex marriage should be codified as a state constitutional amendment.

However, many civil rights advocates might agree that more action is required. Certainly, voting down discriminatory laws is a first step. However, additional affirmative actions might be needed to counter the systemic or institutional challenges that many sexual minorities still encounter.

January 15, 2013

It’s fairly unusual to hear of a wrongful termination case with ties to an uprising, but one former Microsoft employee says that the tech giant fired him after he spoke to the press about his experience escaping Libya during the recent revolution. As many readers know, last year’s Libyan revolution was extremely violent and led many to flee the country.

The man in this case says that before he was able to leave Libya, he experienced severe emotional trauma, leaving him with post-traumatic stress disorder. He says his job with Microsoft was one of the things that made him a target for violence, and being targeted motivated him to flee when he had the opportunity as a U.S. citizen.

September 6, 2012

A truck driver is suing his former employer, saying that DMS Express refused to allow him a reasonable accommodation so that he could treat his diabetes and anxiety properly, and that he was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for voicing his concerns.

The dispute arose when the driver asked his employer if he could take a short break and drive about four miles to a nearby pharmacy to fill a prescription before he started a long drive across several states. He says he made the request two days in advance and that it was denied by supervisors who insisted that he get on the road as quickly as possible. When the driver offered an alternative time that he might take a break to pick up medications he was denied again.

July 26, 2012

A former employee is suing the Minnesota state senate, the Secretary of State, and the state of Minnesota alleging that he was the victim of sex discrimination and wrongful termination. The former employee was terminated after it became clear that he had been having an affair with his boss. He says that female employees of the state who have been involved in similar relationships have not been terminated.

Members of the Minnesota senate have repeatedly asserted that they did not wrongfully terminate the man and that he was an at-will employee at the time that he was fired. At-will means that an employer does not need to provide a reason for termination. However, at-will employees are still protected from being fired for an illegal reason including those based on sex or race discrimination.

May 31, 2012

You are likely aware that hourly employees are entitled to overtime pay for weeks during which they work more than 40 hours. Unfortunately, some employers seek out ways to get more than 40 hours of work from their employees without paying them overtime. One method employers attempt is miscategorizing an employee as a salary employee even then they should be paid hourly under the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Another method used by some employers is requiring that hourly employees work more than forty hours in a week but then insist that they do not report any overtime hours, sometimes threatening or engaging in negative employment actions if the hours are accurately reported. This method is part of the allegations made by the former nanny of Sharon Stone.

May 22, 2012

Minneapolis based Target Corp. has entered into a settlement to resolve a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by 16-year employee. The woman who filed the lawsuit has a diagnosed disability that made it difficult for her to keep track of time. While she worked at Target, other employees would routinely remind her when she failed to notice that it was time for her break.

But at some point, the store stopped accommodating her disability, according to the lawsuit. Target alleges that the woman was terminated because she was late returning from her lunch break on three occasions over the course of 18 months. One of these occasions was apparently an instance in which she was two minutes late returning. Target noted that it does not make any exceptions, even if an employee is only two minutes late.