Archive for the ‘Court Rulings’ Category
A CEO Goes to Jail, Finally
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
No, it’s not one of the Wall Street gang. It’s Dick Gillman, the infamous CEO of the Republic Windows and Doors plant in Chicago. He’s in jail now on $10 million bail.
Posted in Court Rulings, Social Justice | 1 Comment »
U.S. Case — $11.65 Million Jury Award
Friday, May 15th, 2009
U.S. Emotional Distress Case Draws Record $11.65 Million Jury Award
Associated FMLA Violation by Employer
by Dee McAree
The National Law Journal
11-11-2002
A case in which an employee charged that he was retaliated against for taking time off under the Family Medical Leave Act to care for his aging parents has triggered an $11.65 million award.
The recent Chicago verdict — one of the largest won under FMLA — is just one of many that employment lawyers say they expect to see as baby boomers are faced with the predicament of caring for aging parents. In 1998, Chris Schultz, a 25-year veteran employee of Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., was the esteemed “MVP Employee” with his picture hanging in the hospital lobby.
But two years later, he was out of a job. Lawyers for the 45-year-old Schultz sued the hospital in Schultz v. Advocate Health, No. 01C-0702 (N.D. Ill. June 5, 2002), claiming that he was unfairly penalized for taking time off to care for his aging parents.
Schultz, who worked in maintenance, was entitled to take 12 weeks intermittently over the course of a year after his request for family medical leave was granted in 2000. (more…)
Tags: FMLA, IIED, lawsuit
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First U.S. “Bullying” Trial
Friday, May 15th, 2009
Doescher vs. Raess, Indiana, Marion County (Indianapolis), March 2005
Jury found Dr. Raess guilty of battery, awarded plaintiff Doescher $325,000
Expert witness: Dr. Gary Namie, WBI
Appellate Court reversal
2008 Indiana Supreme Court restoral of trial verdict and award for plaintiff
Read the entire story and view the Supreme Court hearing
Tags: bully MD, healthcare bullying, trial, US courts
Posted in Bullying Tutorials, Court Rulings, Social Justice | Post a Comment »
Helen Green Wins Court Victory – UK
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
British Worker Awarded £800,000 (US$1.5 million) in Bullying Payout
August 2, 2006
A City (London) worker has won £800,000 in damages from Deutsche Bank in a landmark workplace bullying case. The award is said by legal experts to be particularly high and likely to be appealed.
High Court judge Justice Owen said that the campaign at the secretariat division of the international banking firm Deutsche Bank Group Services (UK) Ltd. against Helen Green involved a “relentless campaign of mean and spiteful behaviour designed to cause her distress” that left Green on some occasions crying silently at her desk. She worked there from 1997 to 2001.
Owen awarded her a total of $1.5 million for pain and suffering and loss of past and future earnings. He also ordered the bank to pay her legal costs, beginning with an interim payment of $650,000.
The largest part of the award is the £640,000 awarded for future loss of earnings and a pension, and it is this portion which marks the case out as unusual.
“We have seen cases like this before a number of times but the court has awarded such a large amount because it took the view that this person would not be able to work at this salary level for a long time in the future,” said Tom Potbury, a lawyer specialising in employment law at Pinsent Masons. (more…)
Tags: Deutsche Bank, Green, UK
Posted in Court Rulings, Employer Action/Inaction, Health Care | 1 Comment »
Helen Green v. Deutsche Bank, UK 2006
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
The legal basis for this very rare legal case is the the Protection from Harassment Act. Even in the U.K. the proposed (but not yet passed as of the date of the Helen Green decision) specific anti-bullying Dignity At Work legislation. Remember that what happens in Britain does not influence legal proceedings in U.S. cases.
Tags: Deutsche Bank, Green, Harassment Act, UK
Posted in Court Rulings, Employer Action/Inaction, Health Care | Post a Comment »
Emelise Aleandri
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Sometimes people think that the only people targeted for bullying are weak. In adulthood, that is rarely true. Most of the time, targets are superior performers, stars. Here is one case illustrating the situation where the insecure (and very short napoleonic) bully targeted the more talented and gifted (but subordinate) woman.
Dr. Emelise Aleandri was one of two victorious plaintiffs in a lawsuit against City University of New York. Her bully, Joseph Scelsa, degraded this professional woman, stole her creative works and subjected her to humiliation at an institution of higher education in such a way that Dr. Gary Namie, expert witness in the case, described his outrageous conduct as the worst he had read about nationally. Scelsa treated Aleandri as a worthless person. Obviously, there is a different, objective realistic way to characterize the accomplished woman.
Read about Dr. Aleandri’s lawsuit against the City University of New York (CUNY) that settled for $1.4 million.
Tags: Aleandri, CUNY, Scelsa
Posted in Bullying Tutorials, Court Rulings | 1 Comment »
RCMP Pays $1 Million for Harassment
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Ex-RCMP Officer Harassed on Job Gets $1 Million
Staff sergeant, 2 other officers caused woman ’serious psychological harm,’ judge rules
By Gerry Bellett
Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
MERRITT – A former Merritt RCMP officer has been awarded almost $1 million in damages after harassment by her commanding officer caused her to become clinically depressed and led to her quitting the force.
Tags: court victory, RCMP
Posted in Court Rulings, Social Justice | 1 Comment »
Bully Principal Costs Fortune
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Do the math to see how much the bullying principal, two assistant district superintendents (including the HR person) and compliance director cost the district.
$119,957 — 2004 arbitration won by Northcutt
$225,000 — 2005 settlement won by Northcutt
$60,475 (est.) 10 years district contribution to her retirement
$35,200 (est.) 10 years health and welfare benefits for Northcutt
$104,956 — district legal expenses, all designed to enable bullying without consequences
$545,588 the total expense for ONE bully principal and 3 supportive district personnel !!! (more…)
Tags: HR, Northcutt, Vallejo High
Posted in Court Rulings | Post a Comment »
Trends: Putting a Stop to Medical Road Rage
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
By Melissa Knopper Clinician Reviews January 17, 2009
Joseph Doescher and Daniel Raess worked side by side in the operating room at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove, Indiana. Doescher and the other perfusionists often had to put up with yelling, swearing, and belittling comments from Raess, the heart surgeon. Finally, Doescher reported the behavior to his supervisor. Raess got wind of it and retaliated.
In subsequent court proceedings, Doescher described looking up at Raess’ red face and popping veins. He was afraid Raess was going to hit him. In the end, Doescher left his job with a debilitating case of depression. Later, he sued Raess and was awarded $325,000 in compensatory (but not punitive) damages.
Shortly after the Indiana Supreme Court decided this high-profile medical case, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) issued a safety alert, requiring hospitals to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward workplace bullying.
Tags: bully MD, bullying trial, Doescher, healthcare bullying, Indiana
Posted in Bullying in the News, Court Rulings, Health Care | Post a Comment »
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WBI is the only United States organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals, research, public education, consulting for employers, and legislative advocacy.