Dallas Austin

On December 11, 2023, a federal jury concluded that Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Inc. (Jefferson) damaged Dr. Abraham in the amount of $15 million. Dr. Abraham was an orthopedic surgeon who formerly held clinical privileges and a faculty appointment at the hospital. The jury found that Jefferson violated Title IX when it failed to properly investigate his claims for sexual misconduct against a colleague and acted with a bias against him since the offending party was female. Dr. Abraham alleged he held a party in his home in June 2018 at which a “sexu

In determining whether a party has waived its right to arbitrate, must prejudice be shown? In Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., the United States Supreme Court in answered this question, no. In Morgan, Morgan sued her employer, Sundance, for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, alleging Sundance failed to pay her overtime while working at a Taco Bell franchise. When she was initially hired, Morgan signed an agreement requiring arbitration of any disputes. Morgan nonetheless filed her claim in the US District Court for Southern District of Iowa. In lieu of immediately invoking its arbitration ri

On October 23, 2023, a final rule regarding calculation of prevailing wage rates for federal contracting work took effect.  Almost immediately afterwards, two lawsuits were filed in Texas to stop enforcement of the rule.  Why has so much attention been paid to the final rule and how does the rule potentially impact you? The Associated Builders and Contractors (“ABC”) and Associated General Contractors (“AGC”) of America recently filed suit in the Eastern District of Texas against the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) to prevent enforcement of the DOL’s final rule “Updating of

A jury recently awarded $2.6 million in damages to a highly decorated police officer because of discriminatory behavior premised on her gender and sexual orientation.  How did this happen? Stacey Yerkes, who identifies as gay, filed suit against her employer, the Ohio State Highway Patrol (“OSHP”), where she worked from 1994 to 2018, and four of her direct supervisors. During her employment with OSHP, Yerkes was promoted to Criminal Interdiction Training Sergeant, a special role created for her and her work partner. In this role, Yerkes was tasked with representing OSHP by training law en

In August 2023, a California jury awarded $9.5 million for disparate treatment of an employee due to mental health disability. How did this happen? Lowry McCray was initially hired by WestRock Services, a global packaging manufacturer, in 1994. According to McCray, he received positive performance reviews and customer feedback throughout his employment at WestRock. By 2017, when WestRock transferred McCray to its La Mirada warehouse that was operated by a third party company, McCray was a distribution specialist coordinator for the company’s Beverage division. In January 2020, WestRock’s c