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Patrick hospital faces $1 million employee suit

January 16, 2009

Eighty-five current and former employees of a Patrick County hospital are suing for roughly $1 million, alleging the former owner of the rural health center stiffed them three or four weeks of pay when they were abruptly fired in October.

 

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Patrick County Circuit Court, also alleges the previous operator of R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital withdrew funds from paychecks to cover health benefits and taxes but never sent the money to the appropriate agencies.

 

Some employees eventually returned to work but claim in the lawsuit that they still haven’t been paid for the work they did before the Oct. 29 mass firing.

 

The hospital until recently was run by PCH Operations LLC, of Hickory, N.C. The hospital has been in financial trouble for years, and a court is currently trying to straighten out matters between PCH and secured creditors Wachovia Bank and the Marshall Investment Corp.

 

Read Article: Richmond Times Dispatch

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Senate moves toward vote on pay equity bill

A top item on the Democratic agenda, legislation making it easier to challenge pay discrimination in the workplace, progressed in the Senate Thursday.

 

But with Republicans demanding changes, it is unlikely to be ready for new President Barack Obama’s signature when he takes office next week.

 

The Senate voted 72-23 to proceed to the so-called Lilly Ledbetter bill that would reverse a Supreme Court ruling that put time limits on when a person can seek redress for wage discrimination. The bill, which faced a veto threat from President George W. Bush, has the strong backing of Obama, and is likely to be the groundbreaking pro-worker rights act of his young administration.

 

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chief sponsor in the Senate, still held out hope in a speech Wednesday that the bill could be the first that Obama signs into law after he takes office.

 

Read Article: Las Vegas Sun

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Another job fight brews at Hooters

It’s been nearly 30 years since a federal judge reminded Southwest Airlines that it was primarily a transportation company and didn’t have a legitimate business reason to only hire women — leggy women at that — as flight attendants and put them in hot pants and go-go boots.

 

Despite the then-fledgling airline’s argument that attractive women were essential to its image, sex discrimination rules required the airline to open the job to men.

A lawyer in Houston is hoping to make the same argument on “Hooters Girls.”

 

Martin Shellist, an employment lawyer with Shellist Lazarz, is representing a 22-year-old college student who applied to be a server at Hooters in Corpus Christi but was rejected because he’s a man, according to the lawsuit.

 

“He doesn’t want to be a Hooters Girl. He just wants to be a waiter,” said Shellist, referring to the women in orange shorts and tight shirts who serve food and drinks to customers, occasionally breaking to twirl hula hoops.

 

Read Article: Houston Chronicle

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Lawsuits Filed Over Rule That Lets Health Workers Deny Care

Seven states and two family-planning groups yesterday asked a federal court to block a controversial new federal regulation that protects health workers who refuse to provide care that they find objectionable.

 

In three lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the states and groups sought an immediate court order preventing the regulation from going into effect Tuesday and a permanent decision voiding the rule.

 

“On the way out, the Bush administration has left a ticking political time bomb that is set to explode literally on the day of the president’s inaugural and blow apart women’s rights,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who filed one of the suits on behalf of his state, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. “This midnight rule is a nightmare for hospitals and clinics, as well as women.”

 

Read Article: Washington Post

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

ACLU challenges secrecy of US whistleblower law

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the constitutionality of a law that requires whistleblowers with allegations of war profiteering or other contract fraud to file their lawsuits in secret.

 

The secrecy requirements of the federal False Claims Act violate freedom-of-speech protections and have kept war fraud complaints in Iraq and elsewhere hidden from public view, the ACLU says in its lawsuit.

 

“Secret courts and secret proceedings have no place in this country,” said Chris Hansen, senior attorney with the ACLU’s First Amendment Working Group, in a statement.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, also alleges that the Justice Department has abused the law to keep allegations hidden for years.

 

Read Article: Forbes

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

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