Current Events

African American Jessie James Williams grew up in a small town in Arkansas, where water fountains in the town said "white only".  He was later fired in Las Vegas after working for the same employer, a waste collection company, for  31 years.

A person should not need botox treatments to keep their job. Yet persons may feel the intense pressure by their employers to look young or risk being terminated. Women and men in their 40's sometimes resort to plastic surgery but it may not make any difference to the employer who wants only youth in the workforce.

Despite numerous laws prohibiting age discrimination in employment, claims for unlawful termination based on age discrimination are still being filed throughout the country, and a greater number are being filed every year. Age discrimination is a particularly insidious form of discrimination because older workers may experience further discrimination when they apply for new comparable work. Persons terminated because of their age may suffer the most as a result. It is a double whammy, even when the results of a age discrimination termination lawsuit are successful for the Plaintiff.The problem is exacerbated due to age itself being the discriminatory factor.

Supreme Court Justice Kagan came out swinging on behalf of a registered nurse and other employees in case decided by US Supreme Court in Genesis Healthcare Corp. et al. v. Symczyk, argued December 3, 201 and decided April 16, 2013.

In some of the strongest criticism of a US Supreme Court Majority Opinion by a dissenting Justice, Justice Kagan wrote in her...

The US Supreme Court will be deciding the fate of a baby girl who was put up for adoption and who had lived with her adoptive parents for two years since her birth. The child is now residing with the biological father and the father’s parents.

In January 2009, the biological mother, a non-Indian, became pregnant. At the time, she was the single mother of two children by another relationship and she was engaged to be married to the biological father, who was a member of the Cherokee Nation and serving in the United States Army and stationed in Oklahoma. In May 2009, she broke off the engagement and began to work with an adoption attorney to place the child with an adoptive, non-Indian couple in South Carolina.

Several recent housing discrimination cases, one which settled in March 2013 and another decided December 2012, demonstrate that discrimination in housing still exists despite implementation of fair housing laws.

In addition to federal laws which prohibit discrimination in housing, The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A.

A bill to Support the Goals and Ideals of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was introduced in the House of Representatives on Feb. 6, 2013. 

The Unites States Department of Justice Department settled with a school for discrimination against child who has HIV. The United States Department of Justice brought a suit against Milton Hershey School of Hershey, Pa., in 2011. The suit alleged  that the Milton Hershey School  violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by the school’s refusal  to consider a child for enrollment due to the fact that the child has HIV.

If you have received a claim denial from your employer’s insurance company (ERISA plan), it is imperative that you appeal that denial in a timely manner.  If you do not challenge the insurance company’s denial, that will create problems down the line. There are different time periods for appealing denial of health insurance, long-term disability insurance, and severance fringe benefits.  These plans are subject to a federal law known as  ERISA.

Some people think that the days of race discrimination in employment are over. This is not true as is evidenced in part by a finding by The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which found blatant race discrimination at a nationwide clothing retailer that is geared for young women. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a statement that the nationwide retailer, Wet Seal, illegally discriminated against a former store manager who is African- American solely because of her race. One of Wet Seal’s  executives visited the King of Prussia, Pa. store and later complained in a memo about too many black employees at the manager’s store in Pennsylvania.

President Barack Obama nominated William Greenberg to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims on Nov. 15, 2012. The Senate confirmed him unanimously on Dec. 21, 2012, and he was sworn in on Dec. 28, 2012 to a 15-year term as Judge.