September 15th, 2011 by BMBB Law
On September 8, 2011, Beranbaum Menken filed a disability discrimination suit alleging that Graham Windham, a New York-based foster care placement agency, discriminated against one of its employees because she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. The employee had performed outstanding work for the agency for years, overseeing the successful placement of countless children in foster homes throughout the city and earning accolades from the city of New York and Graham Windham itself. However, the complaint alleges that once her disability was discovered, her employer no longer believed that she was capable of performing her job, resulting in severe harassment, culminating in her termination. Under federal and local laws, such stereotyped assumptions about people with disabilities cannot legally form the basis for adverse employment actions. The suit therefore seeks compensation for violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as well as state and local human rights laws.
September 9th, 2011 by BMBB Law
The New York Labor Law requires that employees working for a contractor on a public project be paid “prevailing wages,” which are based on the union rate for that work and are generally higher than the typical wage. Beranbaum Menken has filed several lawsuits against companies who break this law by paying their employees less than the prevailing wage rate. In one of these cases, Judge Steven Gold of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has issued a decision certifying the case as a class action. Judge Gold decided that the case could proceed on behalf of all employees of SimplexGrinnell who worked on fire alarm and sprinkler systems on public projects in the State of New York. The judge also decided that the recent Supreme Court decision in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, which many saw as restricting employee class actions, was no impediment to a class action here. This case is titled Ramos v. SimplexGrinnell LP., 07CV981(SMG). No trial date has been set as of yet.
If you worked on public projects, be they for the state, a municipality, or a public school, and think you were not paid the “prevailing wage,” call or email our firm.