On Wednesday, Madia Law joined the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Ebeltoft Sickler in requesting that the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota approve a quarter-million dollar settlement and consent decree.

The case, EEOC and Matthew Clark v. American Casing & Equipment, Inc., No. 4:15-CV-66-DLH/CSM (D. N.D.) stems from Madia Law client Matthew Clark’s filing of a charge of discrimination in February 2014, a few weeks after he was fired by American Casing & Equipment, Inc. (“American Casing”). After the EEOC found probable cause to conclude that American Casing engaged in discrimination and retaliation, the EEOC and Mr. Clark filed suit against the company in federal court.

Last week, the parties reached a settlement during a federal court mediation. In addition to payment to Mr. Clark, the settlement includes a Consent Decree requiring American Casing to submit to oversight by the EEOC for two years. American Casing must also make a written apology. Mr. Clark was represented by Madia Law Attorney Joshua Newville. American Casing was represented by Ebeltoft Sickler Attorney Nicholas Grant. The EEOC was represented by Attorney Tina Burnside.

What follows is a summary of Mr. Clark’s allegations, including slightly edited and abbreviated excerpts from his Complaint. Mr. Clark and the EEOC alleged that American Casing violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the North Dakota Human Rights Act. (more…)

In our justice system there are multiple options for resolving disputes. Most often people associate our justice system with a Court of Law – one party files a lawsuit against another party and then the two duke it out in court.

While this is certainly a method of dispute resolution used often, and certainly a process with which Madia Law is familiar, it is not the only way to resolve an issue between two parties. (more…)

Yesterday, on behalf of a former transgender employee denied access to the locker room consistent with her gender, Madia Law filed a federal lawsuit against Fargo-based Sanford Health.

Said Madia Law’s Joshua Newville:

The EEOC has made clear that Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination also protects transgender employees. Stereotypes about who is properly considered “male” and “female” are damaging to our society. They are irrational vestiges of long-oudated notions that men and women have certain “proper’ places in society and should look or act a certain way. When people harbor such sentiments, regardless of whether it is based on fear and uncertainty or outright hostility, it can lead to discrimination in the workplace and beyond. This lawsuit is about whether this Fargo employer discriminated against one of its transgender employees.

Workplace safety laws and regulations exist to ensure that employers, particularly those in dangerous industries, keep their employees as safe as possible. An employer’s failure to abide by such laws can and should mean serious consequences. That’s exactly what isn’t happening in North Dakota’s booming oil and gas industry.

Last Week Tonight host John Oliver spent twenty minutes talking about the problem on his show last night:

Since 2006, there has been an average of at least one death every six weeks in North Dakota’s oil fields. Yet, as Oliver explains, the lack of regulation and enforcement in North Dakota, combined with legal loopholes, have given employers little incentives to substantively address the safety epidemic