In a victory for workplace whistle-blowers, the Supreme Court sided on Monday with a government employee who says she was fired after cooperating with a sexual harassment investigation. The justices unanimously concluded that federal civil rights law protects workers from retaliation, even when they have not personally complained about discrimination on the job. The lawsuit was brought by Vicky Crawford, a 30-year employee of the Nashville, Tennessee, school district.

The former transit police officer that shot and killed an unarmed 22 year old in Oakland California on News Year Day has been charged with murder.  Following the shooting, which was captured by video, police detectives performed an investigation and submitted a report to the prosecutor's office.  Following the submission of the report, the officer was arrested for murder.  More details of this story can be read here.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Friday, January 9, 2009, to approve a bill aimed to eliminate the ill effects from the US Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire.

The bill is called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Ledbetter would put in place a six-month statute of limitations for women to sue their employer over pay discrimination. The six months would expire from the time the employees received their last pay check.

It would overturn a separate statute of limitations imposed by a Supreme Court ruling in 2007 that stated the six-month period dated from when the employer first decided to pay the female employee less than her male counterparts. In Ledbetter, the female employee had worked for the company for twenty years.  When she was set to retire she discovered that she had been underpaid compared to her male counterparts for the past 20 years.  She sued for lost wages.  The US Supreme Court denied her claim because she did not bring her case within 180 days from the date the employer decided to pay her less (some 20 years ago) even though she was not aware that she was being discriminated against.  The Court's decision was wrong, unfair and absurd.  A legal claim does not become actionable unless and until the aggrieved person knows or should know that there has been a violation of the law.  To hold otherwise, would deny the rights of aggrieved citizens and allow violators of the law to be rewarded by managing to conceal their wrongdoing. The Ledbetter decision is yet another example of the US Supreme Court incorrectly interpreting workplace fairness and anti-discrimination laws.  If you believe that you have been a victim of unequal pay, contact our employment discrimination attorneys. 

On New Years Day, Transportation police in Oakland, California fatally shot a 22 year old unarmed man who was in lying face first on the ground with officers preparing to handcuff him.  Certain witnesses captured this shooting on video.  Based on the videos, there is no doubt that that the shooting was unjustified.  In fact, from the video it appears that the shooting was an execution.