Whatever the corporate euphemism – and the speed with which they change is increasing – these are job cuts no matter the terminology. Some people will be fired. At GM, the company is "rightsizing," hoping to shrink it's salaried workforce by about 7,000. For the...
Good Judgment. Wise Counsel. Aggressive Representation.
Employment Law
Proving unfair evaluations and harassment are based on race
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines race discrimination this way: “treating someone (an employee or applicant) unfavorably because he or she is of a certain race or because of characteristics associated with race.” An associated issue occurs when one’s...
No Need to Sacrifice the Safety of a Mother or Baby in Order for a Pregnant Woman to Earn a Living
This powerful article published in the New York Times, "Miscarrying at Work: The Physical Toll of Pregnancy Discrimination", by Jessica Silver-Greenberg shares the stories of women who have been denied light duty during pregnancy and lost their babies. Our firm has...
Asian Americans are victims of discrimination at Harvard and other Ivy Colleges
This is a very interesting piece, No, Affirmative Action Has Not Made Asian-Americans the 'New Jews', by an academic expert, Jerome Karabel, arguing that Ivy League colleges are not unlawfully discriminating against Asian Americans as alleged in a currently pending...
Women Working in Manufacturing Plants
Here's a story from The New York Times, "Meet the Woman in Charge of Building the Best-Selling Pickup Truck in America", by Tiffany Hsu that I thought you'd find interesting: Debbie Manzano will run a plant making Ford's F-150 trucks, but female workers still make up...
Are you an at-will employee? Why does the distinction matter?
In an at-will employment relationship, you can be fired at any time for almost any reason (with several exceptions we discuss in this post). On the other hand, you can also quit when you want without having to give notice in most situations. Both Michigan and Ohio are...
NachtLaw beats Amazon’s motion for summary judgment in a discrimination case
In a major hard-fought victory, NachtLaw beat Amazon's motion for summary judgment in a discrimination case for a senior Seattle and Detroit software development manager who was terminated. The Court will grant Amazon's motion in part and deny it in part. In...
Can my employer fire me for using medical marijuana?
Michigan became the 10th state to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults over the age of 21. Anything in public places remains illegal. Smoking in a driveway or front porch is off limits, but a backyard may be okay unless a neighbor takes offense and files a...
Workers are becoming less empowered
The author of this piece "The Roberts Court Protects the Powerful for a New Gilded Age" by Jedediah Purdy, a professor at Duke Law School, puts recent Supreme Court decisions in stark terms. Workers are becoming less empowered, and the Supreme Court is actually...
Protecting Vulnerable Employees
It is routine for companies to hire contractors to perform janitorial work. Those companies, or the companies they in turn subcontract to, are frequently the sort of "fly by night" firms that may disappear quickly without paying all wages owed. Workers often have no...