Employment Practices & Workers’ Compensation
Our attorneys have significant experience successfully defending employers against a wide array of employment practices liability claims, including claims of sexual harassment, race-, gender-, and disability-based employment discrimination, pay discrimination, wrongful discharge, whistleblower complaints, and retaliation. We have assisted employers in investigating and defending pre-litigation complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, as well as lawsuits filed in state and federal courts across the State of Louisiana.
Representative Cases
Racial Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation: Plaintiff filed an initial lawsuit asserting racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana under Title VII. The discrimination claims were dismissed on summary judgment, but the harassment and retaliation claims proceeded to trial. Following a five-day jury trial Firm attorneys obtained a unanimous defense jury verdict dismissing all of Plaintiff’s claims.
Sexual Harassment: A former employee of a University who admitted making sexual comments about two African American female co-workers was suspended for two days. The two complainants then filed a grievance alleging that more severe discipline should have been imposed. Per the university’s harassment policy, an ad-hoc panel was appointed to consider this grievance. The employee resigned from his position one day prior to the panel’s scheduled meeting. The employee alleged that his resignation should have been treated as a constructive discharge and that the two complainants filed the grievance against him due to his race and age, thus claiming racial discrimination. The matter was settled for nuisance value designed to save the potential costs to our client for conducting discovery and obtaining dismissal on summary judgment.
Whistleblower Complaint: The employee was fired for cause and thereafter filed a combined retaliatory treatment, wrongful termination and whistleblower complaint against the former employer. The suit was dismissed on an Exception of No Cause of Action.
Fired for Cause: An employee who was fired for cause filed a federal complaint alleging racial discrimination, emotional distress, conspiracy, Equal Pay Act violations, and violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The matter was settled for nuisance value designed to save the potential costs to the State of conducting discovery.