Category Archives: Employment

Man vs. Bank: Who’s Right?

On February 19th, Londell McMillan sued Barclays Bank for a loan default “fabrication”. The British bank had sued former partner of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s entertainment, media, and sports group, just a few months earlier, for a $540,000 loan payment from 2010.

The case began when McMillan joined LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & McRae, right around the time of their merger with Dewey Ballantine, and was told he needed to pay a contribution to the firm’s operations. McMillan claims however that he never took out the loan, as the CEO emailed him two days before the due date saying it was already paid. Barclays declined to comment.

Gay Auditor Sues Against Library of Congress

Last August, Peter TerVeer, a talented gay former auditor for the Library of Congress’s Inspector’s General Office, filed suit against his old boss, John Mech, harassed him with religious homophobia and eventually got TerVeer fired.

Though originally close friends, the two grew apart after Mech’s daughter saw TerVeer liking Two Dads.us Facebook page. After that, the religious lectures began, and TerVeer complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity office and Mech’s supervisor Nicholas Christopher, though to little avail. Mech (with Christopher’s help) allegedly “continued to manufacture a negative paper trail” to downgrade TerVeer’s performance ratings. Advised to take an extended medical leave to deal with stress, he was ultimately fired for missing 37 consecutive work days though the library officials had signed off for disability time off.

The lawsuit claims discrimination based on “sex stereotyping” and violation of Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act. Terveer wants his old job, back pay, compensatory and punitive damages for emotional distress, and an order restraining Mech.

Former Teacher Sues St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School

Emily Herx, a former teacher at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, sued the school and the Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese in federal court for firing her because she underwent in vitro fertilization.  This lawsuit comes after the EEOC found the diocese violated her civil rights, specifically sexual discrimination, as well as violating the Americans with Disabilities Act as infertility is considered a disability under the law.

According to the lawsuit, she was fired for “improprieties related to church teachings or law.”  However, Herx, as a language arts teacher, was not required to complete training in the Catholic faith nor is she a minister.  Her supervisors said nothing during her first round of treatment, but during the second she was asked to meet with the Reverand John Kuzmich, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.  During this meeting, the pastor told her he feared that her treatments would cause a scandal and had already filed a complaint about the treatment from another teacher.

The lawsuit asserts that her being fired is solely on her treatment as she received high marks as a teacher.  Furthermore, the pastor communicated this as well.  During a meeting after she was told her contract would not be renewed, Herx was told she was a “grave, immoral sinner.”  However, Herx knowing that the Catholic church condemns destroying embryos, stated that she nor her physician ever destroyed a single embryo.  Finally, male teachers have undergone medical treatments such as vasectomies or whose spouses receive fertility treatments and have not been fired for such actions.

Herx is seeking compensation for her financial losses and emotion distress, as well as punitive damages.

Discriminated Veteran Fired at Home Depot

Brian Bailey, a Home Depot employee, was recently fired because of his military obligations.  This violates a federal law and, thus, the Justice Department filed suit.  They allege that Home Depot fired Bailey because he sometimes had to leave work for military obligations.  This violates the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

Justice lawyers have requested that he be reinstated to his position and receive lost compensation and other benefits.  Home Depot has yet to respond; however, this case is significant as many military personnel come home from the war.