Alabama Employment Law Report : Alabama Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Daniel J. Burnick : Sirote & Permutt Law Firm

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A number of issues continue to arise in the employment context.  I expect you will be seeing more of these in 2010.  They include the following:

Overtime.  A California court preliminarily approved a $12.8 million settlement involving 650 potential class members claiming overtime.  According to Law.com, Lynn Farris ""who is lead counsel in a similar case against FedEx Ground in the Northern District of Indiana, said companies considering whether to classify people as independent contractors "are likely to take this settlement as further indication that that's a risky business choice."" 

City of New Haven.  I have previously written about the City of New Haven fire department case, Ricci v. Destafano.  The City of New Haven has promoted the 10 firefighters (white and Hispanic)based on a 2003 test and the Supreme Court's decision.  Now, an attorney for New Haven's black firefighters is quoted by the AP  as saying that "the fight is not over because the black firefighters were not heard."  I cannot even imagine the amount of legal fees incurred in taking the case to the Supreme Court and now it will have to be fought all over again by the city.

Jury Duty.  Since I just received my own notice to appear for jury service the first week in January, I found the following case interesting.  In Florida, a supervisor for a security guard company was awarded $150,000 by a jury who found that she was wrongfully terminated after serving on a jury, not being paid $400 for the first 3 days she missed from work(pursuant to county law) and the judge gave the plaintiff a copy of the law protecting jurors and a letter vouching for her jury service.  The jury awarded $30,000 for lost wages emotional distress and $120,000 in punitive damages.

Cool website.  Ebosswatch.com has published it's Worst Bosses of 2009 list.  Included on the list is Mike Swindle, who, while working at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Company in Montgomery, was found to have harassed a female subordinate, resulting in a verdict in excess of $5 million.  I wrote about this case in my blog on May 4, 2009.