619-342-8000Alreen Haeggquist Featured In Piece on Facebook Content Moderators.
Read more here.
In the News
New COVID-19 Protections For California Employees
As COVID-19 cases surge, employers have new responsibilities when it comes to their employees’ health. Watch Aaron Olsen and Assemblymember Eloise Reyes on ABC Channel 10 News discussing these new COVID-19 protections for employees.
Companies Without Paid Sick Leave Are Making the Pandemic Worse
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, people of color, women, and low-wage workers are disproportionately impacted. And all too often, they’re left with no choice: without paid sick leave, they have to show up to work even while sick. Haeggquist & Eck employment attorney Jenna Rangel sat down with The Atlantic to talk about how employers are making the pandemic worse for low-wage workers.
“Employers have gotten smart, and they don’t say, ‘I’m firing you because you’re asking for too many accommodations,’” says Jenna M. Rangel, a plaintiff’s employment lawyer in California. Instead, employees might start to be treated unfairly relative to others, or their previously stellar performance might suddenly be deemed lackluster.
Click here to learn more.
To schedule your free initial consultation, contact us online or call (619) 342-8000 today!
HAE Sues Axos Bank After Single Mother Fired While Working From Home During COVID-19 Pandemic
The employee rights advocates at Haeggquist & Eck have sued La Jolla-based Axos Bank after it fired a single mother of four who requested to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.Taneasha Newsome had worked for Axos Bank for nine years and, like many Americans, found herself working remotely from home while managing four children whose schools were shut down earlier this spring as a result of COVID-19. One of her children is autistic, and the shutdown of local schools meant Ms. Newsome was also required to continue all necessary services and therapy appointments for her child while sheltering in place at home.Axos installed a tracking software to monitor employees who were working from home, but the lawsuit alleges that Axos knew the program was unable to track certain aspects of employees’ work, leading to underreporting of actual hours worked.The company demanded that all employees return to full-time, in-office work by May 1, 2020 – at a time when local schools were still shut down. When Ms. Newsom requested an accommodation to continue working from home to care for her children – including her disabled child – Axos Bank fired her, the lawsuit alleges. The complaint alleges associational disability discrimination and wrongful termination, failure to provide reasonable accommodations, and racial discrimination.The lawsuit is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, in San Diego.
Click here to watch 10News’ coverage of the case. Click here to read about the case in the San Diego Union-Tribune.If you have been fired after requesting an accommodation from your employer, click here or call (619) 342-8000 to contact the employment attorneys at Haeggquist & Eck.
HAE Takes On Central Valley Meat Over COVID-19 Outbreak
A team of attorneys from Haeggquist & Eck have sued Central Valley Meat Company, one of the nation’s largest meat-processing facilities employing more than 900 people in Hanford, Calif., after the company allowed multiple employees to return to work the day after they tested positive for COVID-19 this spring.
Maria Ornelas is the named plaintiff in the case, which is styled as a class action and is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Ornelas contracted coronavirus in April and filed the suit on behalf of workers at Central Valley Meat Company.
The complaint alleges that Central Valley Meat knowingly allowed at least one employee to work up to five additional days after testing positive for COVID-19, and states that at least one of the first workers to test positive was expressly told by Central Valley Meat to return to work in only two days, despite CDC guidelines urging otherwise.
Click here to read the Fresno Bee’s coverage of the case. The case was also featured in California Patch, on local news outlets throughout California’s Central Valley and Bay Area, and on TopClassActions.com.
If you have been forced to return to work after a positive COVID-19 test, contact the attorneys at Haeggquist & Eck for a free consultation. You can get in touch with someone who can help by calling (619) 342-8000 or by contacting us online.
SCOTUS Rules To Protect Gay & Transgender Employees from Discrimination
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects gay and transgender employees. In other words, a U.S. employer may not discriminate or retaliate against its employee because the employee identifies as LGBTQ. The majority opinion, surprisingly penned by the conservative Justice Gorsuch, cited the plain text of Title VII, which bars discrimination based on sex. Judge Gorsuch recognized that “sex” does not only apply to the traditional gender binary, but also extends to sexual preference and identity. Five other justices, including Justice Roberts (another conservative), joined the opinion, with Justices Alito, Kavanaugh, and Thomas dissenting.
While this type of discrimination against gay and transgender employees has long been prohibited under California law, many other states were mum on whether employers were permitted to discriminate against employees on the basis of identifying as LGBTQ. One such state was Michigan, where in 2013, Aimee Stephens was fired from her job at a funeral home after she informed her employer that she would undergo a gender reassignment surgery. Aimee, and two other plaintiffs, brought this lawsuit to vindicate their rights under Title VII, a Federal Statute. Unfortunately, Aimee died just a month before this historic decision. While Aimee isn’t reading the opinion with us this week, her courage and tenacity will protect millions of LGBTQ employees who fear coming out at work.
Although this ruling focused on protecting gay and transgender employees from being fired on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender discrimination, it’s likely that the decision sets a precedent to provide other protections for members of the LGBTQ community at work nationwide. Indeed, this decision is a giant leap towards equality for workers.
A link to the full opinion can be found here.
To schedule your free initial consultation, contact us online or call (619) 342-8000 today!
