A state-by-state review of court cases pertaining to workplace rights.
Select your state from the map below or from this list. (If your state does not have any court cases, then the page will not scroll down when you click on the state.)
Georgia
Update on Reverse Discrimination -- What About the 'N' Word?
Source: Bill Clifton, Macon.com
Date: February 2, 2011
In a recent case, the court reiterated that Title VII is not limited to discrimination against members of any particular race and indeed applies to white employees.
Court Tosses Sexual-Harassment Claims Against Grady
Source: Bill Rankin, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Date: January 4, 2011
The federal appeals court in Atlanta has dismissed a lawsuit against Grady Hospital filed by three women who claimed a counselor sexually harassed them.
Megachurch Subject of Sexual Harassment Suit
Source: CNN Staff, CNN
Date: October 15, 2010
A former employee of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has filed a lawsuit against the Atlanta megachurch, alleging its employees retaliated against her after she complained of sexual harassment.
Appeals Court in Atlanta Again Rejects Racial Discrimination Claim
Source: Adam Liptak, New York Times
Date: September 7, 2010
John Hithon, a black man, spent 13 tough years working his way into the lower ranks of management at a Tyson Foods chicken plant in Gadsden, Ala.
Allegiance Industries Pays $25,000 to Settle EEOC Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
Source: EEOC, EEOC
Date: August 27, 2010
Female Supervisor Was Fired by District Manager Who Wanted a Man in Her Position, Federal Agency Charged
John Wieland Homes Settles EEOC Race And Sex Discrimination Lawsuit
Source: Press Release, EEOC
Date: June 28, 2010
ATLANTA - John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, Inc., an Atlanta-based home builder, has agreed to pay $378,500 to six claimants and hire at least ten African-Americans and women into management positions over the next six years, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today. The agreement resolves a race and sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC in June 2009.
Wieland settles sex, race discrimination lawsuit
Source: John Munford, TheCitizen.com
Date: June 24, 2010
Atlanta homebuilder John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods has agreed to a settle a race and sex discrimination lawsuit filed by federal authorities in June 2009. The EEOC suit claimed that WIeland "unlawfully engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against black sales agents by intentionally assigning them to housing communities based on the race of the surrounding community."
Ivy Hall Assisted Living Pays $43,000 to Settle Religious Discrimination Lawsuit
Source: EEOC, EEOC
Date: February 1, 2010
Ivy Hall Assisted Living, LLC will pay $43,000 and furnish other relief to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
AT&T's Overtime Suit Only Latest
Source: Peralte C. Paul , Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Date: January 22, 2010
A lawsuit filed in Georgia last month marks AT&T as the latest major corporation to be accused of cheating workers out of overtime pay.
Judge OKs $5.5M Sprint Nextel age discrimination settlement
Source: Kansas City
Business Journal
Date: July 28, 2006
A federal judge in Atlanta has approved Sprint Nextel's $5.5 million settlement with plaintiffs in an age discrimination suit. The settlement covers 462 former Sprint employees who alleged that the telecommunications giant laid them off in favor of younger workers. Sprint Nextel agreed to the deal without an admission of guilt. A similar case involving 1,725 former Sprint employees is pending in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. Dennis Egan, a lawyer who represents the workers, said Friday that the Atlanta settlement shouldn't affect his case. "We've got quite a bit more in dollars lost," he said.
Lobbyist files claim over firing
Source: Andy Miller, Bill Rankin, Atlanta Journal
Constitution
Date: October 18, 2005
The chief lobbyist for the Medical Association of Georgia has filed claims alleging that she was fired because she wouldn't go along with a cover-up of wrongdoing within the organization. Kathy Browning, who helped lead the association's successful civil justice reform campaign during this year's Legislature, said the cover-up involved not disclosing to the association's membership an alleged embezzlement of more than $135,000. Most of the money, which came from physician donations, was to be used for the group's tort reform lobbying campaign, she said. Browning filed a complaint last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over her dismissal in September. She said she was let go because she defied an order from the medical association's executive director not to talk to physician members about the missing funds and not to discuss an alleged office romance between one of Browning's supervisors, who is married, and another association employee. "I was fired as retaliation for talking to physician leadership on the two issues that posed a great risk to the organization," Browning said in a recent interview.
Question of network's role may play key role in discrimination case
Source: Greg Bluestein, Associated
Press, The Telegraph
Date: September 26, 2005
Is The Weather Channel a business or entertainment? That's the question U.S. Magistrate Christopher Hagy asked lawyers on Monday during an evidentiary hearing on an age discrimination case. The answer may help determine a lawsuit filed by former reporter Marny Stanier Midkiff, who claims the network dismissed her in favor of younger, sexier forecasters. "What does it matter?" Hagy asked. "Are you telling me if I'm running a motion picture studio and I need a starlet or I need a 19-year-old, that's illegal?" Klein argued that the network crossed the line when it fired Midkiff.
Delta employee fired over blog sues airline
Source: Associated Press, MSNBC.com
Date: September 8, 2005
A former Delta Air Lines flight attendant who says she was fired weeks after she posted photos of herself in uniform on her Internet blog has filed a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the airline. Ellen Simonetti filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, saying that male colleagues with potentially insensitive material on their blogs have gone unpunished. The case could plow fresh legal ground on whether a company can take action against an employee for operating a blog.
Discrimination lawsuit award reduced by $1.8 million
Source: Melanie Bennett, Ledger-Enquirer
Date: March 23, 2005
A U.S. District Court jury on Friday awarded a former Columbus [Georgia] television reporter/producer $2.1 million, finding that her employer discriminated against her because she was pregnant. On Monday, however, U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land reduced the award to $300,000, a move required by a federal cap on punitive awards. The jury found that Melissa Schultz Miller should get $100,000 in compensatory damages for emotional pain and mental anguish, and punitive damages of $2 million from Media General Operations Inc., owner of WRBL. Federal law allows her to collect all of the compensatory damages, but only 10 percent of the punitive damages. Land also ruled that Media General would have to pay court costs and fees for Miller's attorneys.
$tormy weather
Source: Todd Venezia, New York Post
Date: January 7, 2005
A storm of controversy has engulfed The Weather Channel, after a 40-something former anchor accused network brass of washing her out of a high-ranking job to make way for a hot front of sexy young weatherwomen. Marny Stanier Midkiff, 42, this week filed a lawsuit claiming she was booted in the fall of 2003 as part of a reputed "reorganization" of the storm channel, which she believes was really an excuse to get more young female weathercasters on the air. Midkiff says that, in the months before she was let go, her boss allegedly spoke of female staffers as "matronly," "dowdy" and "nun-like" and asked that female on-air talent turn up the temperature on their look with more revealing "V-neck" shirts.
Long legal labyrinth
Source: Margaret Newkirk, Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
Date: November 1, 2004
Four years ago, seven Georgia Power employees sued the company for what they said was a systematic pattern of racial discrimination. The lawsuit included the standard allegations--unequal pay, unequal access to promotion and unequal job sanctions for black employees. It also had something worse: nooses. A federal judge denied the case class-action status in 2002 and then threw the lawsuit out on summary judgment last year, keeping it away from a jury. The plaintiffs appealed both decisions to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals; their arguments were heard in January. A decision is expected soon.
Muslim police officers file bias lawsuits
Source: Jon Yates, Chicago Tribune
Date: June 28, 2004
Nail Majid and Mohamed Hyath are suing their respective police departments, claiming discrimination based on the fact they are Muslims and, in Majid's case, also Arab-American. The two cases, along with five other harassment complaints filed with the Justice Department on behalf of federal law enforcement employees, are enough to cause concern, according to civil rights activists and law enforcement officers. They come as Muslims across the nation are making an increasing number of complaints to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other Arab and Muslim civil rights groups.
Cracker Barrel, Government Settle Discrimination Suit
Source: Darryl
Fears, Washington Post
Date: May 4, 2004
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the nationwide restaurant and retail chain, agreed to undergo random testing of its eateries to monitor possible racial bias in customer treatment and to expand diversity training of employees as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice announced yesterday. The agreement came after numerous complaints by African Americans that they were made to wait longer for tables, were seated away from white patrons, received inferior service and were otherwise discriminated against at Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Library Chief Files Complaint
Source: D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal
Constitution
Date: March 24, 2004
The embattled director of Fulton County's libraries alleges she is the victim of a widespread conspiracy to force her from office. Mary Kaye Hooker's charges in a three-page letter filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission read much like similar complaints employees have leveled against Hooker -- retaliation, discrimination and unfair treatment. The filing is the latest round of turmoil in a library system that has swirled in racial hostility for years. "Throughout my tenure I have been the victim of a systematic campaign of race discrimination, retaliation and harassment by the board of trustees and other officials of the library system," Hooker wrote.
Former School Principals Settle Discrimination Suit
Source: Associated Press, Access
North Georgia
Date: March 8, 2004
Two former Clarke County principals who sued the school district alleging race and sex discrimination have settled the case out of court. Jerri-Lynn Williams, former Chase Street Elementary School principal, and Vivian Woodall, former Winterville Elementary School principal, each will receive $45,000, plus $40,000 in attorneys fees, in the settlement. The two women filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in January 2002, alleging that job performance critiques used by the district were unfairly applied and that black and female administrators were treated more harshly than white and male administrators.
Former Employee, Oconee Settle Sexual Discrimination Suit
Source: Mike D'Avria, Athens
Banner Herald (Georgia)
Date: February 5, 2004
A sexual discrimination lawsuit filed against Oconee County by a former county employee has been settled out of court. Lynn Keanum, a former senior animal control officer in Oconee County, filed the lawsuit in October 2002. She voluntary dismissed the suit after a $19,000 settlement with the county was reached Jan. 15, according to U.S. District Court records and Malcolm McArthur, the attorney who represented the county.
Mercer Must Release Crime Reports
Source: Khalil Abdullah, Macon Telegraph
Date: January 27, 2004
In a groundbreaking court decision, Mercer University has been told that it must comply with state Freedom of Information laws and will be forced to make public all of its campus crime records. The oral ruling came early Monday from Houston County Superior Court Senior Judge L.A. McConnell Jr. in response to a complaint filed last November by attorney Amanda Farahany, who asked that the private Macon college release its crime reports. The open records case was transferred to Houston because several Bibb County judges recused themselves from the case, said Farahany, who is based in Atlanta. "Once we started looking into the law, it seemed pretty clear to me that they needed to release those crime records," said Farahany. "I think this is a victory for the public and for students, if not nationwide, at least in Macon and on the Mercer campus."
Fulton County Settles $18 Million Bias Suit by Librarians
Source: Associated Press, AccessNorthGA.com
Date: January 8, 2004
The Fulton County Commission has opted for an $18 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by librarians who claimed they were discriminated against because they are white. The settlement ends four years of litigation but represents more than half the entire library departments budget for 2003, which was $29 million.
Companies Face Bias Claims Under ATL Law
Source: Ryan Lee, Southern Voice
Date: December 19, 2003
A gay communications specialist and a transgendered bartender went public this week with plans to pursue bias claims under a landmark Atlanta law that bans job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity by private employers in the city. Nicholas Hynes contends he was fired by International Aviation Consultants because he is gay, and Peter New claims he was dismissed from his job at the Ashford Club because he was born female, according to Chuck Richards, an Atlanta attorney representing both men.
Falcons' Blank Settles Sex Bias Lawsuit
Source: Bill Rankin, Atlanta Journal
Constitution
Date: December 4, 2003
Just over four months after he vowed to "fight" and "destroy" a sex discrimination lawsuit against him, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has settled the case. Blank's former vice president of human resources, Carol Faubert, filed the lawsuit in July, contending Blank condoned a work climate in which women were treated as "sex objects" and passed over for good jobs if they had young children. Her lawsuit was filed against Blank, the Falcons and AMB Group, Blank's private investment company.
2 Librarians Sue Fulton System for Bias Second Time
Source: Bill Rankin, Atlanta
Journal Constitution
Date: December 3, 2003
The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System is being sued again for race discrimination by two of the eight librarians who won a $17 million judgment against the system. The two librarians, Maureen Kelly and Mary Starck, allege they were the victims of "trickery and deceit" by the library board and retaliated against because of their other federal lawsuit. Both librarians, who are white, were "outspoken leaders" in the previous litigation, their new lawsuit says.
Former News Anchor Sues Cox Broadcasting Subsidiary for Discrimination
Source: Associated
Press, AccessNorthGA
Date: October 30, 2003
A former television news anchor has sued a Cox Broadcasting subsidiary, accusing her former employer of discrimination based on gender, age and race after she was replaced by a younger woman on prominent newscasts. Susan Hutchison said she was fired last Dec. 20. But John Woodin, general manager at KIRO Inc., said she resigned after refusing to accept a changed and much reduced role on the stations news team. The lawsuit was filed against Woodin, KIRO Inc. and KIROs parent company, Atlanta-based Cox Broadcasting Inc. Papers filed Friday in King County Superior Court show Hutchison is seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress, anxiety, mental anguish, pain and suffering, and humiliation and embarrassment as well as lost wages and benefits.
Coke Settles Former Employee's Lawsuit
Source: CNN
Date: October 8, 2003
The Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday it has settled a lawsuit with a former employee who alleged deceptive marketing and accounting practices. The Atlanta-based soft-drink giant agreed to pay $540,000 to Matthew Whitley, a former finance director for supply management at the company's fountain division, according to a statement issued jointly by Coke and Whitley. Whitley filed a $44 million suit in May, complaining he lost his job earlier in the year after notifying management that metal shavings were getting into Coke's frozen ice drinks.
Coca-Cola Settles Whistle-Blower Suit for $540,000
Source: Sherri Day, New York Times
Date: October 8, 2003
The Coca-Cola Company said yesterday that it had reached a $540,000 settlement with a former executive who filed a lawsuit against the company asserting that he was fired after he raised concerns about accounting fraud and a rigged marketing test in Burger King restaurants. Under the terms of the agreement, the employee, Matthew Whitley, will receive $100,000 in cash, approximately $140,000 in severance benefits, including health insurance, and $300,000 to pay lawyer's fees. Mr. Whitley has also agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are investigating possible improper business practices at Coke. Neither Coke nor Mr. Whitley would comment further on the settlement.
Whistleblower Suit Settled, but Coke Investigation Continues
Source: Harry R. Weber (AP), Miami
Herald
Date: October 8, 2003
A $540,000 settlement between Coca-Cola Co. and a former finance manager ends an embarrassing lawsuit for the world's largest beverage maker, but federal authorities continue to investigate fraud allegations raised in the case. Matthew Whitley sued for wrongful termination in state and federal court in May. The suit accused Coke of rigging a marketing test three years ago to inflate the popularity of Frozen Coke at Burger King restaurants in Virginia. In a joint statement Tuesday, Coke and Whitley said they had settled their disputes.
Whistle-Blower Settles with Coke
Source: Elliot Blair
Smith and Theresa Howard, USA Today
Date: October 7, 2003
A former internal auditor's whistle-blower lawsuit against Coca-Cola ended Tuesday with barely a rattle. Former Fountain Division finance manager Matthew Whitley had leveled massive fraud allegations against the Atlanta bottler in May. But he agreed to drop his complaints in return for $540,000. More than half ? $300,000 ? will go to pay his attorney's fees after Whitley himself contacted the company to seek a compromise. Whitley's attorney, Marc Garber, a former U.S. prosecutor, said, "I am very pleased for Matthew Whitley. He had a point to make, and he made it." But Whitley's tough accusations against his former employer continue to reverberate.
Librarians Who Won Discrimination Suit Pass on $12 Million Settlement
Source: Associated
Press, AccessNorthGA
Date: September 18, 2003
Eight librarians who won a racial discrimination lawsuit have rejected a $12 million settlement offer from Fulton County, which lost its appeal of a $16.8 million judgment favoring the librarians in June. "We won't be taking it," said Chris Anulewicz, an attorney representing the seven white women and one black woman. The seven white librarians sued the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library System in 2000 after they were demoted and transferred to outlying branches and the black librarian was punished for criticizing administrators about it.
Fired Coke Auditor Takes On Giant Corporation in Lawsuit
Source: Harry R. Weber (AP), Los
Angeles Times
Date: September 22, 2003
Matthew Whitley wanted to work for Coca-Cola Co. so much that he submitted his resume 15 times. After being hired, the auditor and finance manager drank nothing but water and Coke and decorated a room in his house with company trinkets. Eleven years later, Whitley is drinking only water. His wife sold the Coke plates, glasses and memorabilia at a garage sale. He is out of his $140,000-a-year job after accusing officials of the world's largest soft drink maker of shady accounting and fraudulent marketing practices. Whitley, 37, was fired March 26, five days after sending his allegations to the company's top lawyer, although Coke said he was dismissed as part of a restructuring and not because he spoke up.
Rental-Car Firm Sued Over Hiring
Source: Christine Van Dusen, Atlanta Journal Constitution
Date: September 20, 2003
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit against an Atlanta rental-car company for allegedly failing to consider two job applicants because they were wearing Muslim attire. Linda Ayers wore a dress that covered everything but her hands and face, and Michelle Jean-Marie wore a similar dress along with a face-covering veil during their March 26, 2001, visit to the firm -- then known as Atlanta Rent-A-Car -- at 718 Ponce de Leon Ave. The two women "were told they would not be considered," said EEOC regional attorney S. Robert Royal. "It would have been useless for them to return to reapply."
Fired Coke Auditor Takes On Giant Corporation in Lawsuit
Source: Harry R. Weber (AP), Los
Angeles Times
Date: September 22, 2003
Matthew Whitley wanted to work for Coca-Cola Co. so much that he submitted his resume 15 times. After being hired, the auditor and finance manager drank nothing but water and Coke and decorated a room in his house with company trinkets. Eleven years later, Whitley is drinking only water. His wife sold the Coke plates, glasses and memorabilia at a garage sale. He is out of his $140,000-a-year job after accusing officials of the world's largest soft drink maker of shady accounting and fraudulent marketing practices.
EEOC Sues Loca Luna for Breach of Settlement
Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
Date: September 2, 2003
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued Boca Chica Inc., doing business as Loca Luna Restaurant, for breaching a mediation settlement agreement between the EEOC, Loca Luna and Natalie Zangara, who had filed a sexual harassment and retaliation charge against Loca Luna. Loca Luna is a restaurant in Midtown. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleges that the EEOC, Loca Luna and Zangara executed a settlement on June 26, 2003, to resolve the EEOC charge filed by Zangara, and that Loca Luna has refused to honor that agreement. The agreement demands that Loca Luna pay Zangara $50,000 and provide her with a neutral employment reference. The EEOC said it communicated with Loca Luna on multiple occasions and attempted to resolve the matter informally, without filing the above lawsuit, but such efforts were unsuccessful.
Supercuts Agrees to Settle Racial Bias Case for $3.5 Million
Source: D.E. L?Ger, Miami Herald
Date: August 14, 2003
A former Supercuts manager, who complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about a plan to reduce the number of black employees at the hair salon chain, paved the way for a $3.5 million settlement announced Wednesday. Richard Quick, of Melbourne, was a regional manager in charge of 76 Supercuts stores in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Puerto Rico when he balked at a Supercuts directive ''to balance the platform'' by trimming the number of black workers employed by the Minneapolis-based chain and was fired, the EEOC said.
Settlement Reached in Color-Bias Suit
Source: Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post
Date: August 8, 2003
In a rare but growing area of discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said yesterday that it has settled a "color discrimination" lawsuit involving a dark-skinned black waiter who alleged that he was discriminated against by his lighter-skinned black supervisor at an Applebee's restaurant near Atlanta. Applebee's International Inc. agreed to pay Dwight Burch, a former employee, $40,000 after Burch accused a manager at the Jonesboro, Ga., restaurant of repeatedly making derogatory remarks about his skin color over a three-month period. According to his complaint, Burch said the manager called him such names as "tar baby" and "black monkey" and told him to bleach his skin. Burch said he was fired from his position after he threatened to report the store manager to officials at Applebee's headquarters.
Applebee's Settles Color Bias Complaint
Source: Tammy Joyner, Atlanta Journal
Constitution
Date: August 8, 2003
A former Applebee's employee who said he was harassed by his black supervisor because of his color has received a $40,000 settlement in an agreement reached between the Kansas-based restaurant chain and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit, part of a rare but growing trend of intraracial harassment claims, was resolved through a consent decree filed with the U.S. District Court in Atlanta. In addition to paying Dwight Burch, who worked at the Applebee's in Jonesboro, the company must provide anti-discrimination training to its workers.
Arthur Blank Digs in His Heels
Source: Matt Kempner, Atlanta Journal
Constitution
Date: August 5, 2003
Arthur Blank said he won't settle a sexual discrimination lawsuit by a former vice president of the Atlanta Falcons. "You don't settle when it comes to principle," the Falcons owner and former Home Depot co-chairman said Monday about a suit he described as "baseless" and "inflammatory." "All this woman wants is some sort of settlement, some sort of financial gain," he said. "She offered not to have a lawsuit if we gave her $5 million."
Picketing Off-Duty County Employee Not Protected by First Amendment
Source: R. Robin McDonald, Fulton
County Daily Report
Date: July 30, 2003
The issue of whether a DeKalb County, Ga., firefighter's First Amendment rights were violated when he was suspended for insubordination in a verbal exchange with a county official may be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. The firefighter, James J. Travers, was off duty and participating in a salary picket on public land when he exchanged words with DeKalb's chief executive officer, Vernon A. Jones. He was subsequently suspended for 30 days for insubordination. In June, a federal appellate panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that DeKalb officials did not violate the firefighter's First Amendment rights when they suspended him. On Thursday, in the wake of that ruling, the firefighter's attorney, A. Leroy "Lee" Parks Jr., of Parks, Chesin & Walbert, notified U.S. District Judge Robert L. Vining Jr. of the Northern District of Georgia that he intends to seek a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court. Vining's ruling favoring Travers was reversed by the appellate court.
Former Falcons Official Claims Sex Discrimination
Source: Associated
Press, San Francisco Chronicle
Date: July 28, 2003
A former official of the Atlanta Falcons has filed a federal lawsuit against team owner Arthur Blank, alleging she was fired after speaking out against sexual harassment of women staffers. Carol Faubert, 53, of Alpharetta, who was vice president of human resources, claimed in the suit filed Monday that Blank condoned a work climate in which female employees were treated as "sex objects." The lawsuit also alleged that Blank dismissed Faubert because she had objected to his refusal to hire women with young children and his decision to prohibit certain employees from earning overtime.
Reservist Sues City of Dalton for Discrimination
Source: Associated Press, AccessNorthGA
Date: July 24, 2003
A former city employee claims she was discriminated against by the city of Dalton after she returned from reserve military duty. Sharon Elise Hurley has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Rome. She is seeking damages, reinstatement and back pay. After the U.S. Navy reservist returned from active duty in 2002, she said she was moved to the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in a lower-paying position. She formerly worked for the citys human resources department.
Ex-Coca-Cola Worker Levels More Charges
Source: Reuters, FindLaw Legal News
Date: June 25, 2003
A former Coca-Cola Co. employee who accuses the soft-drink giant of engaging in deceptive marketing and accounting practices on Wednesday filed an amended complaint, with new charges that allege the company inflated revenues from its Japanese unit, among other things. Marc Garber, a lawyer for ex-employee Matthew Whitley, said the amended state and federal complaints also include charges that there is wider metal residue contamination in Coca-Cola's frozen beverage machines, not just a small amount involving the Planet Java line, as originally charged. "Now we're alleging that all of the Frozen Coke business involves contaminated beverages, which is about $100 million in profit," Garber told Reuters by phone late Wednesday.
EEOC Submits Brief in Southern Bias Case
Source: Margaret Newkirk, Atlanta Journal
Constitution
Date: June 17, 2003
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and more than a dozen civil rights groups have joined in the fight to revive a high-profile racial discrimination case against Georgia Power and its parent, Southern Co. Filed in 2000, the suit alleged that black employees were passed over for both pay raises and promotions and subjected to harassing conditions, including displays of hangman's nooses in Georgia Power facilities.
EEOC Raps Federal Judge's Ruling in Race Case
Source: R. Robin McDonald, Fulton County Daily Report
Date: June 17, 2003
Attorneys with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., have urged a federal appellate court in Atlanta to reinstate an employment discrimination case against Southern Co. and its subsidiary Georgia Power Co. The amicus brief, filed Friday by EEOC attorneys in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, slammed Chief U.S. District Judge Orinda D. Evans of Georgia's Northern District for discounting as evidence of discrimination hangman's nooses found in Georgia Power plants across the state. The brief also criticized Evans for giving little weight to statistical evidence of discrimination against Southern Co.'s black employees. The brief accused her of ignoring U.S. Supreme Court precedents by "effectively deciding the merits of the plaintiffs' claims of systemic race discrimination in the guise of denying class certification," rather than allowing a jury to do so.
Library Discrimination Upheld
Source: Hatcher Hurd, NorthFulton.com
Date: June 11, 2003
Saying members of the Atlanta-Fulton County Library Board of Trustees "used trickery and deceit? to cover up race-based discrimination against seven white librarians, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a $17 million judgment against the county. The court agreed with the lower court?s verdict that three members of the 2000 library board, then-Chairman William McClure, Mary Jameson Ward and Benjamin Jenkins, and Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library System Director Mary Hooker discriminated against the seven plaintiffs. The board deliberately sought to transfer seven librarians of long standing in the system from the Central Library to meaningless, dead-end jobs at other branches because of their race. Read It: Bogle v. McClure