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.)
Oklahoma
Channel 25 Settles EEOC Race And Sex Bias Suit
Source: Press Release, EEOC
Date: March 4, 2011
KOKH-TV (Fox 25) in Oklahoma City will pay $45,000 and additional consideration to a veteran African-American TV news reporter to settle a race and sex discrimination lawsuit.
10th Circuit Finds Church Immune From Workplace Discrimination Suit
Source: Tresa Baldas, Law.com
Date: July 16, 2010
An Oklahoma woman who alleged a Catholic bishop subjected her to "severe and pervasive" discrimination at work because she was a woman is not entitled to protection by federal employment laws, a federal appeals court has ruled.
Pregnancy Discrimination - New Law, Ruling Help Women
Source: Paula Burkes, Tulsa World
Date: June 1, 2010
Women who feel they've been subjected to workplace discrimination because they're pregnant have better odds in delivering lawsuits as a result of a statutory loophole closed recently, plus a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court late last year.
Oklahoma Closes Pregnancy Discrimination Legal Loophole
Source: Paula Burkes, News OK
Date: May 10, 2010
Working expectant mothers in Oklahoma who feel they've been discriminated against because they're pregnant have a wider berth for bringing private lawsuits - as a result of a statutory loophole closed last month and a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court late last year.
Disclosure of confidential information was protected activity
Source: CCH
Date: September 17, 2008
Even though a 49-year-old African-American nurse's aid engaged in protected activity under Title VII's anti-retaliation provision when she sent copies of a patient's unredacted, private medical records to the EEOC in order to substantiate her disparate treatment claims, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment to her employer, a retirement community, on alternative grounds, holding that the aid violated the employer's policy regarding confidentiality, when without authorization, she provided the medical records to the federal agency.
Worker right or workplace danger?
Source: Kris Axtman, Mark Clayton, Christian Science
Monitor
Date: August 12, 2005
The National Rifle Association is encouraging gun owners to stop buying ConocoPhillips gasoline. Now that many states allow citizens to carry concealed weapons, the NRA is pushing to eliminate remaining restrictions on where those guns can be taken. Gun-control groups--and some employers--are fighting back. The outcome could decide whether more states expand the rights of licensed owners to carry their guns where they want, despite recent evidence that workplace gun bans do lower risk. Oklahoma is one of only two states with statutes that specifically prohibit employers from banning weapons on their own property. ConocoPhillips and several other employers are challenging the Oklahoma law in federal court.
Wal-Mart employees in Okla. file lawsuit
Source: Sean Murphy,
Associated Press, BusinessWeek
Date: July 6, 2005
Two employees of Wal-Mart and a former worker have filed a lawsuit alleging the retailer retaliated against workers who file workers' compensation claims. Molly Self and Tammy Mathes allege that after filing claims for on-the-job injuries, the company either reduced their hours, cut their pay or demoted them. Janna Balak claims she was forced to resign as a condition of her settlement of a workers' compensation claim. The women are seeking class-action status for their suit. They claim many Wal-Mart employees are afraid to file workers' compensation claims for fear of retaliation. They also allege in the suit that understaffing at the stores creates an environment "where workplace injuries are inevitable."
Oklahoma judge, 83, files bias suit against colleagues
Source: Adam Liptak, New York Times
Date: January 5, 2005
Marian P. Opala, a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, is 83 years old, but he is not without ambition. He believes that he deserves to be chief justice, and he is miffed that his colleagues have elected someone else to the post. So he has sued all eight colleagues in federal court for age discrimination. "My colleagues," Justice Opala explained in a telephone interview, "cannot do to me what they would not permit a corporate employer to do. As a matter of history, state judges would not resort to federal court to settle their differences. In the last 20 years, though, a body of law has developed called employment law. It provides norms for hiring, firing, promotion and demotion."
Judge OKs McDonnell Douglas settlement
Source: Associated Press, Forbes
Date: September 3, 2004
A federal judge ended a 10-year lawsuit over the closing of McDonnell Douglas' plant in Tulsa on Thursday, approving an agreement ordering the company to pay former employees $8.1 million in back wages. McDonnell Douglas closed its Tulsa military aircraft plant in 1994. Workers sued under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act the same year. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled 2-1 on May 21 that the act kept the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit from receiving back pay. Settlement discussions followed.