Recently in Employment Discrimination Category

Jimmy Fallon, the late-night talk-show host, is facing an employment lawsuit from a disgrunted former employee, reports the Houston Chronicle.

The lawsuit, filed by Paul Tarascio, arises out of the allegations that Mr. Tarascio was fired because Jimmy Fallon prefered to work with a crew of females.

In other words, gender discrimination is being alleged. And the allegations in the complaint are a bit unusual. For example, allegedly Fallon’s director, David Diomedi said that “Jimmy just prefers to take direction from a woman.”

Texas is a big state with a lot of workers in all areas and walks of life. In any working environment conflicts between workers and employers may arise. Below are our picks for the Top 5 Texas employment law stories of 2011.

5. Dr. Pepper Snapple Age Discrimination Verdict

Plano's Dr. Pepper Snapple Group was hit with a massive age discrimination verdict after six workers with more than twenty years of tenure alleged that they had been pushed out due to their ages. Dr. Pepper Snapple was ordered to pay $18.5 million.

Plano-based Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPSG) got hit with a massive age discrimination verdict, one that will send shockwaves to other companies, reports Employer Brief.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2009, alleged that six workers with more than twenty years of tenure, and over the age of 50, were forced out of their jobs. Their allegations were stark; namely, that they had been driven out and eliminated by being put in job positions where they might get injured or voluntarily quit.

As a result of the more strenuous jobs, the workers got all sorts of physical ailments, reports Employer Brief.

Johnny O. Barton, a worker at Arrington Lumber and Pallet Co. in Tyler, is suing his employer for obesity discrimination, reports the Southeast Texas Record. Barton was with the company for at least eight years, working in the processing department. He was let-go when he apparently took too many days off. The irony is that he was getting treatment for his obesity. Now he has sued.

Texas is one of the many states in the country that does not have an anti-weight-discrimination statute, as noted by FindLaw’s Houston Employment Law Blog.

Blockbuster was fined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to the tune of $2 million to settle an employment discrimination lawsuit, reports Employer Brief.

Blockbuster, based in Dallas, is described as having subjected:

female temporary employees to sexual harassment, retaliating against them for resisting sexual advances and complaining, and subjecting Hispanic temporary employees to national origin and race harassment and other discrimination. The litigation concerned events that occurred in 2004 and 2005 at a distribution center in Gaithersburg, Md.

An employee of Macy's was fired for not letting a teenage transgender person use the women's fitting room at a store in Texas and the fired employee is now taking her complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, reports My San Antonio.

Natalie Johnson, the former Macy's employee, removed a teenage transgender person in the women's dressing area despite the teen's protests, reports ABC News.

Dakota L. Meyer, a U.S. Marine that earned a medal of honor for fighting against insurgents in Afghanistan, sued the military contractor BAE Systems OASYS for retaliation and defamation and slander, reports Employer Brief.

President Obama had awarded Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer, United States Marine Corps, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, while serving with Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8 in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

The highest authority in the country for dealing with employment discrimination was extremely busy in 2011. In fact, the busiest it has ever been in terms of charges of discrimination.

Apparently the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity received a record 99,947 charges of discrimination in fiscal year 2011, which ended Sept. 30, the highest number of charges in the agency's 46-year history, reports Employer Brief. Aggrieved workers received more than $364 million in monetary benefits through the EEOC's enforcement. This is also the highest level in the Commission's history.

Major League Baseball will be adding protections against sexual orientation discrimination in the next baseball collective bargaining agreement with its players, reports the Dallas Observer.

Other sports leagues, like the NFL, NHL, and Major League Soccer, already had similar protections for gay players in place. Now the MLB has joined them.

Baseball has already protected the rights of players based on their race, color, religion, or national origin. The new collective bargaining agreement will add the words “sexual orientation” to the list of protected categories, reports KCBS.

Nikki Williams is a lesbian teacher and basketball coach alleging discrimination against Life School Waxahachie for her termination after the administrators learned her sexual orientation, reports the Dallas Voice.

Life School is a group of charter schools in North Texas with Brent Wilson as the executive superintendent. A Texas charter school is a new type of school that began forming in after 1995, reports Texas Education Agency.