First of all – if you’ve just been terminated or laid off from your job and you’re looking for answers – we’re sorry that you’re going through this experience. In our country, we often identify with our jobs as part of who we are: losing a job can feel like losing part of your identity. Especially if you’ve given years of your life to a company, built relationships and friendships with your coworkers, and enjoy the work, losing a job can be devastating. On top of that, you’ve likely got more immediate concerns about how you’re going to pay the bills after losing your job and continue to support yourself and your family. We’re truly and sincerely sorry that you’re dealing with this. And I hope this article can help provide some answers.

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Workplace Fairness Law in Minnesota – the Basics.

Here’s a quick primer on workplace fairness in Minnesota.  Unfortunately, there’s no state or federal law mandating “fairness” at work.  There’s no law saying that employers need to hire good bosses or kind employees, or that employers need to make good business decisions.  So the bad news is that your employer doesn’t have to be “fair” to you.

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Wrongful Termination in Minneapolis

Minnesota is an “at-will” employment state and Minneapolis is an “at will” employment city. That means that your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason at all – even a stupid, incorrect, unfair, or unethical reason – provided that it’s not an illegal reason.

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Last week, Madia Law secured a complete plaintiffs’ victory in an age discrimination employment lawsuit against the City of Richfield, Minnesota. The Hennepin County jury found that unlawful age discrimination was a motivating factor when the City declined to promote two veteran police officers in 2013.

The jury ordered the City to pay a total of $125,000 to Madia Law clients Greg Peterson and Souphanny Dean. The total award includes $25,000 in punitive damages for each officer, which is the statutory maximum that a jury can award in cases arising under the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

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Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling affecting the statute of limitations (the period of time in which one is allowed to file a lawsuit for alleged unlawful acts) for constructive discharge claims.

In Green v. Brennan, the plaintiff employee had worked as a postmaster in Colorado. After he was denied a promotion that was given to another employee with less seniority and lesser qualifications, he filed a complaint alleging racial discrimination. He later filed a subsequent complaint of retaliation.

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Madia Law settled an age discrimination case on behalf of “Joan” after defeating her former employer’s motion for summary judgment.

The terms are confidential pursuant to the parties’ settlement agreement.

This case presented a challenge because “Joan” did not have direct evidence of age discrimination.  None of her supervisors ever made any comments to her about her age (she was 55 years old at the time of her termination), nor were any emails revealed during discovery that made any reference to her age.  Joan’s employer therefore believed that it had a strong chance to dismiss Joan’s case by summary judgment.

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is in the business of keeping people from being treated unfairly in the workplace.  Somewhat ironically, the vast majority of the EEOC’s employees are at home today, having been forced out of work since the federal government shut down 11 days ago.  Their lack of employment during the shutdown is also affecting thousands of employees in the private sector who have been harassed, discriminated, retaliated again, and underpaid.

Due to the EEOC’s shutdown contingency plan, approximately 100 of the EEOC’s nearly 2200 employees are working during the furlough period. According to the agency’s plan, those employees will simply stamp claims of discrimination with their receipt dates as they are filed.  Investigation of those charges, however, will not continue until the federal government is reopened and funding is properly restored.   (more…)

As published in the Harvard Law & Policy Review, Kevin M. Clermont & Stewart J. Schwab observed that from 1979-2006, plaintiffs bringing employment law matters (discrimination, wrongful termination, etc) in federal court won only 15% of the time. When paired with the observation that plaintiffs in non job-related matters won 51% of the time, that 15% figure is stunning. Questions as to why there is such an imbalance in employment law compared to other areas of law have been the focus of many journalists, lawyers and academics. But for attorneys who represent plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases, there is one key factor worth focusing on: properly preparing a case to survive motions for dismissal, particularly summary judgement motions.

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Congress passed the LLFPA to reverse the Supreme Court’s 2007 holding in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Inc.    In that case, Justice Alito led a 5-4 majority in concluding that Ledbetter could not sue Goodyear under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for gender based pay discrimination that she had experienced for almost twenty years because she did not file her charge within six months of the original decision (made decades earlier) to pay her less than her male counterparts.

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Dear Friends,

I am excited to inform you that I am starting a new business venture, Madia Law LLC – a dynamic and aggressive law firm that will serve Minnesota individuals and small businesses.

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