By: Lisanne L. Mikula, Esquire “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” These are the chilling words of HAL-9000, the sentient computer controlling the Jupiter-bound Discovery One, when refusing an astronaut re-entry to his spacecraft in Stanley Kubrick’s film, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” What makes HAL a great science fiction villain is that […]
By: Lisanne L. Mikula, Esquire Facebook is famous (or, at times, infamous) for its targeted advertising. Russian bots aside, many people appreciate seeing ads on their Facebook feed relating to the account holder’s publicly posted interests. (Eagles fan? Here’s the playoffs t-shirt you’ve been waiting for!) Recently, however, The New York Times and ProPublica, […]
By: Lisanne L. Mikula April 6, 2017 On April 4, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit became the first federal appeals court to hold that a person who alleges that she experienced employment discrimination on the basis of her sexual orientation has stated a claim of sex discrimination under Title VII. […]
By: Lisanne L. Mikula, Esquire [email protected] Conducting background checks on prospective and current employees can help an employer maintain a productive workforce. Except for certain restrictions relating to medical and genetic information, it is not illegal for an employer to ask questions of an employee or applicant regarding his or her work history, education, criminal […]
By: Lisanne L. Mikula, Esquire [email protected] A lawyer in California made embarrassing headlines recently when he was sanctioned by a judge for sexist comments he had made to opposing counsel during a deposition. In a diatribe sounding as though it had been lifted from the pages of a Mad Men script, when opposing counsel – […]
By Lisanne L. Mikula Steve Sarkisian, once a promising football coach, filed a lawsuit last week against the University of Southern California, alleging that USC discriminated against him on the basis of his disability—alcoholism—when it terminated his employment as head coach of the Trojans. Sarkisian alleges that at this year’s pre-season pep rally, where USC serves […]
It is sometimes difficult for employers to discern what constitutes racial discrimination. A recent lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against an Alabama insurance company is a case in point. An EEOC news release reported a case where the EEOC accused Catastrophe Management Solutions, based in Mobile, Alabama, of discriminating against an […]
Wed, Oct. 14, 2009 By WILLIAM BENDER Philadelphia Daily News [email protected] 215-854-5255 David London, an Army veteran, was riding high last October after receiving a big promotion at the Chester County courthouse. The following day, London claims, he became entangled in a bureaucratic nightmare that resulted in him being fired from his job and kicked […]
