Hatian Man Files EEOC Charge Against LNR Property LLC

Our law firm was recently hired to represent a Haitian-American man in a discrimination complaint against his former employer, LNR Property LLC. The charge of discrimination was filed with the EEOC this month, and alleges discrimination based on race, national origin and sex.

Our client worked at LNR for over 10 years and seemed to be doing just fine. About one year ago, he got a new supervisor, and that is when he alleges the discrimination began against him because he is not Hispanic like most of his co-workers. He alleges that co-workers including his supervisor constantly spoke in Spanish and excluded him from such conversations and other work activities.

The issue of speaking foreign languages in the work place continues to be a hot issue in discrimination cases. Our law firm is handling several cases in Miami concerning similar issues.

In accordance with federal law, the EEOC will be conducting an investigation of our client’s complaint, after which, he can take his case to federal court.

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Kroger Files Motion to Dismiss Race/Sex Harassment Lawsuit

In a case that our law firm has been handling, the employer, Kroger, has filed a motion for summary judgment seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. They claim that there are insufficient disputed facts to warrant a trial. The case is pending in US District Court in Houston and is set for trial this summer.

In this case, our client filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that a co-worker harassed her because she is black and female, by among other things, calling her a “nigger.” Store managers, Raymond Wei and Mike Childs, have signed statements on behalf of Kroger’s motion.

Co-manager of the Kroger store (in Sugar Land, Tx), Raymond Wei, verifies that our client complained about a co-worker using curse words at her, and he notes that a customer verified our client’s complaint. Store manager Mike Childs has verified that the offending employee was disciplined at least one time, yet, his employer still seeks dismissal of the case.

In their motion, Kroger claims that our client cannot prove sufficient facts to win, so the judge should dismiss the case. This is a common defense tactic in almost every discrimination case. Unfortunately, many times a judge will dismiss the case without the employee-victim ever getting their day in court for a trial. In this case, we plan to respond to the motion with compelling evidence, so hopefully the judge will let our client proceed to trial before a jury.

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

90 Years Old is Too Soon to Retire

I read a story, recently, in the Miami Herald, which reminded me about one of my clients. The story was about Sister Marie Schramko, the 95 year old assistant principal at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale. The article talked about how amazing it is that she is still working at the age of 95.

This story reminded me of my client, Rosa Lopez, who at 92 was working as a Registered Nurse at Miami Behavioral Health Center until she was unceremoniously fired after 30 years of service, with no notice and no severance pay. Now, 93, Lopez still desires to work but has been unable to find employment.

Lopez has filed a federal court lawsuit against Miami Behavioral Health Center, alleging discrimination based on age and disability. In particular, she alleges that her supervisor Ron Espinoza made comments to her that she needed to retire because of her advanced age and medical condition.

While most of us can only dream of living to age 90 or beyond, it is truly amazing that these two South Florida women, have been able to continue working well-into their 90′s.

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Religious Discrimination

Religious discrimination is prohibited in the workplace by federal law. This prohibition applies to all employers who have at least 15 employees. The EEOC investigates charges of religious discrimination, and in most cases, takes no further action. Eventually, the EEOC issues a Right to Sue letter giving the employee 90 days to file a lawsuit in court.

Our law firm, Coane and Associates, represents individuals with such claims, and has done so against such large employers as Chik-Fil-A, Southwest Airlines and others. Attached is an interesting article about a religious discrimination case going to trial this week in California.

Click the article : Ex-NASA Employee Claims Discrimination for His Beliefs

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Race Discrimination case at U.S.Court of Appeals

Today, we have oral argument before 3 judges at the U.S.Court of Appeals in New Orleans, on a race discrimination case. This is one court below the U.S.Supreme Court.

The case is called Linda Criner vs. Texas New Mexico Power (TNMP) Company. We represent Linda Criner, an employee of TNMP, who stated in her lawsuit that she was being discriminated against because of her race. Ms. Criner is black and the evidence showed that most of her co-workers are white. Further, she alleged that she was constantly turned down for promotions within the company because of her race. Her filings with the court talked about a “good ole boy” network within the company where almost all promotions she applied for, go to white men.

Despite the large amount of evidence filed with the U.S.District Court in Houston, the judge refused to allow Ms. Criner to have a jury trial. Instead, the judge dismissed the case completely, on the company’s motion for summary judgment.

While such motions are common, many judges still allow the case to go to trial, in order to let the jury decide. In this case, Ms. Criner never had her day in court.

An appeal was filed, and, in an unusual move, the U.S.Court of Appeals, granted oral argument. This is unusual because many times the court of appeals will simply read the lawyers’ briefs and make a decision without hearing oral argument.

The case will be argued by Lauren Schlossberg of our Miami office, at the court of appeals today. Typically it takes 30-90 days to receive a decision. Ms. Criner, the alleged victim of the race discrimination plans to attend the oral argument in New Orleans, as well.

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Employee Rights: Pregnancy Discrimination is Illegal

Employers and companies all have anti-discriminatory policies, unfortunately even if this is so, there are still cases where employees experience and endure this. One form of employment discrimination that does not get much publicity, is pregnancy discrimination where employers are bias over their pregnant workers, forcing them to take a leave, work shorter hours or even discharging them because of their pregnancy. My law firm, Coane and Associates, handles a few of these cases every year.

Here is an interesting article about pregnancy discrimination : Pregnancy Discrimination in America.

photo from: Babble.com
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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Depositions continue in Carnival Cruise Line Race Discrimination case

I took another deposition yesterday in our client’s race discrimination/retaliation case against Carnival Cruise Lines. The deposition took place at our Coane and Associates office in South Beach, not far from the Carnival headquarters in Miami.

Today’s deposition was of the Singer Supervisor, who auditions and hires singers to perform on Carnival cruise ships. Our client, a black male, was a production singer on board the Carnival Inspiration ship. After his six month tour as lead singer, he was not offered a renewal contract. Our client alleges that he was not renewed because he is black, and in retaliation for complaining about discrimination to the EEOC.

At today’s deposition, the supervisor said that our client is not barred from re-hire, but just isn’t at the top of his list. Our client says he isn’t at the top of the list because he is being retaliated against for complaining to the EEOC about alleged discriminatory practices. The case is set for jury trial on September 24 in federal court in Miami.

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

93 Year Old Nurse Sues for Age Discrimination

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami last month, a 93 year old woman sued Miami Behavioral Health Center, Inc. for age discrimination. Our law firm, Coane and Associates, represents the woman, Rosa Lopez.

In the lawsuit, our client alleges that her supervisor told her that because of her age and health, she should retire. The ADEA (Age Discrimination and Employment Act of 1967) prohibits employment discrimination against anyone at least 40 years of age , such discrimination can be in the form of termination, layoffs, wages and promotions.

In the case of our client, her supervisor allegedly added new job duties which interfere with her scheduled patients making it seem that she is not capable of fulfilling her work. She was terminated in October 2010, and then filed an age discrimination complaint with the EEOC. Her lawsuit was filed last month, and a trial date has yet to be set.

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Bruce Coane is a leading lawyer with 30 years of experience in the field of immigration law and employment law. He may be reached via email at houstonlaw@aol.com or his website at Coane and Associates.

Settlement of Discrimination cases

I was closing out a file last night, where my client sued for sex harassment and retaliation under Title VII of the federal civil rights act. As I was closing the file, I came across some early correspondence in the case.

The case was against a giant national company, and I had written to them before filing the lawsuit. I explained that they wrongfully fired my client and suggested that they give him a fair severance package. Their in-house company lawyer wrote back and told me my client’s case was worthless, and completely without merit, and they were within their rights to fire him. The company lawyer invited me to sue, refused mediation and offered zero to settle the case.

Fast forward about 9 months to the end of 2011, and they are writing a check for $60,000 following mediation, to settle the case. Of course , by then, they had wasted tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, and probably could have settled for much less, had they paid a reasonable severance package earlier.

I often wonder why companies don’t do the right thing and offer to resolve employee grievances early-on. In most countries around the world, the law REQUIRES severance pay, but not in the United States. Many American companies, however, offer severance packages to terminated employees because it’s the right thing to do, and it probably serves to avoid lawsuits.

Coane and Associates is a law firm with office in Texas and Florida, and we represent employees in all matters of employment law.

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Bruce Coane is a leading lawyer with 30 years of experience in the field of immigration law and employment law. He may be reached via email at houstonlaw@aol.com or his website at Coane and Associates.

Race Discrimination Case Against Kroger Set for June Trial

Our law firm, Coane and Associates, PLLC is currently representing a black female who has worked for over 15 years in one of the largest retail food companies in the United States, Kroger Co., LLP. When our client became an employee of Kroger in 1995, she was well qualified for the position and had been a productive and competent cashier at the Kroger store in Sugar Land, Texas.

Our client’s lawsuit alleges that she has experienced a hostile work environment, discrimination and sex and racial harassment from a co-worker. Our client alleges that the co-worker (now fired) would call her names (including the “N” word) and stalk her before and after work. What’s worse is that when she reported it to the general manager of the Kroger store, the management still did not take any action about it, claiming that the man was a “special needs” employee, and she should ignore his harassment.

Our client’s complaints, which she filed on February 2009, include violation of Title VII and Retaliation, and Negligence. She states that she was retaliated against when her work schedule unexpectedly changed to a later shift and her original shift was given to employees with less seniority.

Interestingly, our client continues to work at the Kroger store in Sugar Land, Texas, notwithstanding her federal court lawsuit against the company. Perhaps the fact that she is a member of a union, allows her job to be protected during the litigation. Trial is set for June 2012 in Houston, Texas.

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Bruce Coane is a leading lawyer with 30 years of experience in the field of immigration law and employment law. He may be reached via email at houstonlaw@aol.com or his website at Coane and Associates.