Wednesday, March 19, 2014
- First Circuit: The court affirmed the dismissal of Section 1983 claim as untimely where plaintiff filed more than one year after she received notice of her termination (borrowed SOL in Puerto Rico is one year), rejecting plaintiff’s argument that the limitations period did not begin to run until a local court decision in a union action brought on her behalf found that her termination had been unlawful
- Tenth Circuit: In reversing dismissal of race discrimination claim, the court held that plaintiff had sufficiently alleged race discrimination in her EEOC complaint despite the fact that she only checked the box for “retaliation” on the complaint, where the narrative alleged supervisor made racially focused remarks, defendant investigated, and the investigations found that the supervisor had created a hostile work environment and defendant violated Title VII because it had “engaged in discrimination and retaliation”
- US District Court ME: The court approved a nearly $6 million settlement on behalf of 141 FedEx drivers in unpaid wage claim where it was disputed whether drivers were employees or independent contractors; settlement included a one-third attorney fee rather than using the lodestar method
- Maine Legislature: New bill, LD 1833, would amend the Workers’ Compensation Act to create liability for situations when an employee is injured while working for an uninsured subcontractor. In such situations, the general contractor would be responsible for payment of workers’ compensation benefits as if it were the direct employer of the injured employee, unless there is an intermediate subcontractor with workers’ compensation insurance coverage, in which case, the intermediate subcontractor is responsible for payment of all benefits due under the Act.
- Bangor Daily: Maine rights panel finds in favor of man who claimed Belfast discriminated against him because of his diabetes
- Bangor Daily: Man accused of ‘barking like a dog’ at his supervisor found not to have been victim of discrimination