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A longtime executive at the American Bankers Association sued the trade association in Washington, D.C., court Thursday, alleging that women and minorities who work amid its “old boys’ club culture” are subjected to pervasive harassment and discrimination and that she was fired for speaking up about it.

Plaintiff Christine Walika, a former ABA executive vice president, alleged in her complaint that the trade association violated Washington’s Human Rights Act as well as the district’s Family and Medical Leave Act when it fired her in May.

After she raised her concerns about issues like race...

At a NY Bar Association panel behind closed doors, Ben Brafman addresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan ("quintessential non-victims"), the Brett Kavanaugh hearings ("an embarrassment to watch") and a #MeToo movement he says could undo progress for women.

Harvey Weinstein criminal lawyer Ben Brafman offered a candid and detailed preview Thursday of his defense strategy, accusing law enforcement of grave misconduct during the investigation and arguing the former mogul charged with sexual assault has become a scapegoat for an entertainment industry “defined by sex.”

Speaking on a panel behind...

A new lawsuit alleges women and minorities employed by the American Bankers Association “are subjected to systemic discrimination and a culture of fear designed to deter them from reporting discrimination or otherwise advocating for equal opportunity,” the law firm Outten & Golden LLP said today.

Christine “Christy” Walika, a former executive vice president who worked for the organization for 25 years, sued the American Bankers Association in Superior Court in the District of Columbia, alleging the banking industry’s largest trade association violated the D.C. Human Rights Act and the D.C....

Mounting evidence shows the legal industry has a serious problem with bullying and harassment, a reality that some say is caused by structural inequality, while others point to a culture of aggression.

Preliminary results of a survey currently being conducted by the International Bar Association show that of nearly 5,000 legal industry respondents from across the globe, 43 percent report that they have been bullied while at work, including one in two women and one in three men. Meanwhile, 25 percent of all respondents said they had been sexually harassed at work, with that number landing at...

The headlines alone are dizzying. Since the New York Times reported allegations of serial predation by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein a year ago, at least 425 prominent people across industries have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct, a broad range of behavior that spans from serial rape to lewd comments and abuse of power.

That’s more than one newly reported person facing accusations each day, on average, for the last 12 months.

Hundreds of alleged bad actors—the vast majority men—were fired, resigned or faced other professional consequences. Some have apologized for specific actions...

In a famous study that illuminates gender discrimination in employment processes, musicians auditioning for a position in a symphony orchestra performed behind a screen so that the hiring jury would apprehend only the candidate’s playing of the instrument. Other considerations, such as the gender or physical appearance of the musician, would not come into play. Yet even with the screen, male musicians tended to fare better. The researchers conducting the study struggled to find out why; the male and female performers were similarly skilled. Finally it hit them: high heels make a distinctive...

• New rules on joint employment, worker classification likely
• DOL chief says agency pushed by inaction in Congress

The Labor Department is looking at changing regulations governing gig workers and other independent contractors, issues that have embroiled companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. in legal battles, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said in an interview.

“The workforce is changing. How we approach work is changing, and we need to start looking at our rules and recognize that what fit 20 or 30 years ago is not going to fit for the modern workplace,” Acosta told...

The court will review a decision from June by a federal judge in Seattle who found there were no uniform policies or job descriptions that tied together the thousands of women working in technical positions at Microsoft across multiple states who were part of the proposed class.

A federal appellate court has taken up an appeal of a decision denying class certification to thousands of women employed in technical positions at Microsoft, who claimed they were systematically passed over for promotions and raises.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit took up an intermediate appeal of...

Outten & Golden LLP, which focuses exclusively on representing employees, is pleased to announce that 28 of its attorneys have been recognized as being among the top lawyers in the 2018 editions of Super Lawyers and Rising Stars.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.  Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research. Each...

Restaurant servers and bartenders at International House of Pancakes, Denny’s, and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro restaurants who say their employers underpaid them had their case revived by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Sept. 18.

“This decision will help millions of waitresses, waiters, bartenders, and other hard-working servers get paid a decent wage and reasonable tips, and it will push back on unemployment rates for janitors, prep cooks, and others who don’t earn tips,” Jahan Sagafi, an attorney who argued for the workers, told Bloomberg Law by email Sept. 18.

Although the...