Month: December 2014

Q&A with Sharon Gustafson

I attended the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on Young v. UPS earlier this month and was very excited to talk with Plaintiff Peggy Young’s lawyer, Sharon Gustafson, about the case.  Sharon will be among the speakers at an upcoming panel I am hosting, sponsored by the Women’s Bar Association and Sanford Heisler. Kate: For the benefit of our readers, Peggy Young delivered packages…

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Happy Holidays: Invasive Invitations

With the holiday season fast approaching, employees everywhere are gathering for the bizarre ritual of the office holiday party.  Cue the obligatory ugly sweaters, sickeningly sweet punch, and alcoholic excess.  More than a few websites discuss the legal hazards of this latter:  Alcohol enables harmful behavior from sexual harassment to intoxicated driving. But beyond these legal issues, I’ve been worrying…

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A Cosby Lesson: Power Differentials Silence Assault Survivors at Work

Like many children of the 1980s, I grew up on The Cosby Show. Amid the jokes and physical comedy, the show painted a legendarily wholesome portrait not only of an admirable and loving African-American family, but also of Cosby himself as a male obstetrician who loyally supported and was adored by his female patients and four daughters. With the recent flood of…

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Stepping Out of the Shadows

Last month, my colleague David Tracey discussed some of the benefits of President Obama’s recent executive action on immigration.  He explored how the executive action might help address the challenges confronted by undocumented farmworkers.  As David explained, undocumented female farmworkers are vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, and violence at the hands of male supervisors who count on their victims staying in the shadows…

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Why We Can’t Just Walk Away From Street Harassment

During the last week of October, a video about street harassment made the rounds on the Internet.  If you haven’t seen it yet, you can find Hollaback’s two-minute clip of a woman hiking across New York City in Maya’s post from the same week.  Although the video’s female protagonist remained silent throughout ten hours of walking city streets, the video prominently features…

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Big 4, December 8, 2014 – Class-Action Litigation Law Firm Taking on KPMG Gender Discrimination Case

Posted December 8th, 2014. By Rob Starr, as appeared on Big4.com Sanford Heisler LLP is a public interest class-action litigation law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC, and San Francisco. They’ve become involved in a class action gender discrimination case against KPMG with claims related to pay, promotion and pregnancy discrimination. The action is in the 120 notice…

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Q&A with Professor Naomi Schoenbaum

I am working with the DC Women’s Bar Association to host a panel discussion on January 29 about pregnancy discrimination and Young v. UPS, which was argued before the Supreme Court earlier this week.  (Blogger’s note: for more information on the case, check out Tuesday’s blog post. Panelists will include a lawyer representing Peggy Young; a lawyer advising companies on employment matters; and…

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Women Work and They Get Pregnant

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Young v. UPS, a case about a former UPS driver whose healthcare provider recommended she not lift packages over 20 pounds during her pregnancy.  She asked UPS to accommodate this restriction by either allowing her to continue doing her current job and let her colleague take the few packages per month that exceeded…

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