A federal lawsuit has been filed against a Cincinnati landlord who has been blackmailing his female tenants into having sex with him for the last three years.  Henry Bailey is a landlord who owns 22 apartment units across the city.  The lawsuit stated in detail that the landlord would enter his female tenants’ apartments without warning, make unwelcome sexual advances and comments, and evict tenants who would not comply with his demands.  The U.S. Department of Justice receives thousands of housing complaints every year but only files suit for about 30. Read More.

Issues of sexual harassment are governed by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. As well as by state-level sexual harassment statutes which prohibit sexual harassment to and provide victims with a means to pursue justice.

Sexual harassment can occur in one of two ways: Quid pro quo harassment or hostile work environment harassment.  Quid pro quo harassment can constitute a one-time occurrence or involve repeated behavior requiring a person to tolerate some form of sexual harassment in order to get a job, keep a job, get a raise or promotion, or to receive some other benefit. This harassment can come from a prospective employer, a current employer, a manager or supervisor, or a co-worker. The sex and sexual orientation of your harasser does not matter.  Employers that foster or allow these conditions to continue can be found liable for the conduct of the offending employees. For more information, see: http://www.lmblaw.com/new-york/sexual-harassment.php

The lawyers at Leeds Morelli and Brown strive to successful judgments for their clients, including any former employees or recently fired workers who have been sexually harassed in the workplace.  If you or someone you know has been faced with sexual discrimination or sexual harassment, please contact our office, Leeds Morelli & Brown, PC, 1-888-5-JOBLAW, at One Old Country Road, Suite 347, Carle Place, NY, 11514-1851.

Italy’s prime time television has been singled out as a “parade of prurience”  which is inescapable and a reflection of the society’s deeper problem with the evolving role of women. Italian media headlines focus on stories of teenage models, paid escorts, and Moroccan belly dancers who cavort with 74-year-old Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.  Before Berlusconi won prime minister election in the 1990s, the media mogul owned 45 percent of Italy’s television market. He gained control of state television when he became head of government. As a result, his influence on the way Italian women are portrayed on television is great.  Many are convinced that there’s nothing they can do about gender discrimination. Measures to stop it, especially against women of reproductive age, are ignored because there’s no one to enforce them.  As a result, only 45 percent of all Italian women work outside the home, which holds the lowest rate in the European Union. Compared to Norway, where 80 percent of women and in Britain where 72 percent of British work outside the home. Additionally, when Italian women do have jobs, they earn about 20 percent less than men.  Read More

Unlike Italy, the United States has laws which are very firm on cases of gender discrimination and sexual harassment.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act regulates various types of discrimination including gender discrimination. Additionally, sexual harassment statutes prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace.  There are two common types of sexual harassment: quid pro quo harassment and hostile work environment.  A hostile work situation typically involves repeated behavior that is abusive or offensive, or that interferes or alters the victims’ ability to perform their job.  Employers that foster or otherwise allow these conditions to continue can be found liable for the conduct of the offending employees. Read More.

Leeds Morelli & Brown, PC is a nationally recognized firm in the area of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.  Our firm has been successful in matters of civil litigation and discrimination throughout Long Island and the New York City area.  For more information, contact Leeds, Morelli and Brown, PC at 1-800-585-4658 for a free consultation.

A former bodyguard for Britney Spears has filed a lawsuit against the pop superstar, alleging that he was subjected to repeated sexual harassment by the singer. Fernando Flores filed the sexual harassment lawsuit in suburban Los Angeles, alleging the singer intentionally inflicted emotional distress. The lawsuit claims that Spears, among other things, exposed herself to Flores and summoned him to her bedroom while she was naked. Flores is seeking unspecified damages from the Grammy Award-winner and his former employer, Advanced Security Concepts Corp. The bodyguard worked for Spears for only six months, having resigned after he had “exhausted his administrative remedies” with a state agency. Full Article: Washington Times

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. When investigating allegations of sexual harassment, EEOC looks at the whole record: the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination on the allegations is made from the facts on a case-by-case basis. For more information: EEOC Website.

Leeds Morelli & Brown, PC is a nationally recognized firm in the area of employment law. Our firm has had considerable success in matters of employment discrimination throughout Long Island and the New York City area. For more information, contact Leeds, Morelli and Brown, PC at 1-800-585-4658 for a free consultation.

By GetLegal.com

A former Nashville schools Payroll Coordinator was awarded about $1.5 million dollars by a Federal jury on Monday, January 25, 2010 based on a claim that she was wrongfully terminated in 2003 when she cooperated in a sexual harassment investigation of a school official.  The former employee, Vicky Crawford, who worked for the district for thirty years, sought lost wages, future wages and pension benefits.

Court documents indicate that Crawford told investigators that a co-worker would ask to see her breasts, grab his crotch saying, ”You know what’s up,” and on one occasion even pulled her head to his crotch.  Human resources officer Veronica Frazier asked Crawford to cooperate in an investigation and assured her that she would be protected from retaliation.  However, Frazier testified that no action was taken against the co-worker because there were no witnesses to his behavior.  Attorneys for the city claimed that Crawford was once a good employee, but was fired for poor job performance since her work had become subpar.  Crawford has been unable to get a job since 2003, has lost her house, car, and her professional reputation since an article in The Tennessean quoted Metro officials stating that she might have embezzled from the district’s payroll department.  New York Times Article

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is the main federal law that protects employees from discrimination based on sex and sexual harassment.  States and cities may also have their own statutes that prevent sexual harassment provided they do not conflict with the federal law.

Sexual harassment can occur in one of two ways:
I.    Quid pro quo harassment which can constitute a one-time occurrence or involve repeated behavior requiring a person to tolerate some form of sexual harassment in order to get a job, keep a job, get a raise or promotion, or to receive some other benefit. This harassment can come from a prospective employer, a current employer, a manager or supervisor, or a co-worker. The sex and sexual orientation of your harasser does not matter.
II.    Hostile work environment which involves repeated behavior that is abusive or offensive, or that interferes or alters the victims’ ability to perform their job.

Employers that foster or allow these conditions to continue can be found liable for the conduct of the offending employees. Please see http://www.lmblaw.com/new-york/sexual-harassment.php for more information.

The lawyers at Leeds Morelli & Brown P.C. strive to secure successful judgments for their clients, including any former employees or recently fired workers who have been sexually harassed in the workplace.  If you or someone you know has been faced with sexual discrimination or sexual harassment, please contact the offices of Leeds Morelli & Brown, PC, 1-888-5-JOBLAW, One Old Country Road, Suite 347, Carle Place, NY, 11514-1851.

Leeds Morelli & Brown P.C., is pleased to announce that it is has joined with The Workplace Project to stamp out work place discrimination in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Nassau and Suffolk Counties.  As reported by News 12, Newsday, and 1010 Wins, Leeds Morelli & Brown P.C. is representing six women who were the victims of vile and degrading sexual harassment while working as package inspectors at Alan Ritchey, a shipping contractor.  Since 2003, these women have been subjected to a pervasive pattern of harassment and threats at the hands of their managers and co-workers.  When they complained, rather than acting to remedy the situation, the company terminated them.

Founded in 1992, The Workplace Project exists “To end the exploitation of Latino immigrant workers on Long Island and to achieve socioeconomic justice by promoting the full political, economic and cultural participation of these workers in the communities in which they live.”  One of The Workplace Project’s primary goals is to end the exploitation of workers on Long Island.  They approach this important task by providing workers with support, education and working to ensure that New York State enacts and enforces laws to protect them.

As one of the preeminent labor and employment law firms in New York, Leeds Morelli & Brown P.C. shares these goals with The Workplace Project and has spent years fighting for the rights of its clients.  The firm is experienced with all manner of labor and employment issues ranging from discrimination to non-compete agreements and employment contracts. Leeds Morelli and Brown attorneys have represented both employers and employees in many venues including, but not limited to, The New York State Division of Human Rights, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and New York State and Federal Courts with positive results. If you are facing an employment issue, please feel free to contact Leeds, Morelli & Brown, PC at 1-800-585-4658 for a free consultation or view their web page at www.lmblaw.com.

By: Elizabeth Lopez

Elizabeth Williams was a fundraiser at Binghamton University. In March 2009, Williams filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that two senior officials with Binghamton’s athletic department encouraged her to flirt with potential donors with the hopes of attaining donations for the school. The suit also alleges department officials tried to use her as a sexual “plaything” to ply money from donors, and that university officials took punitive measures against her once she reported the harassment.

Williams has been with the university since 2008, and the athletic department since January. Her lawyer writes in the suit: “She discovered that her new bosses viewed women as playthings and expected women in the department to raise money by exploiting their sexuality”.

The suit claims that Binghamton University bosses even would remember the type of women certain donors liked. One such donor reportedly liked “big-chested, loud-mouthed women”. One donor even solicited Williams to join him and his wife in bed, for a donation of course. The University’s response? “Binghamton University has zero tolerance for harassment or discrimination of any kind.”

On July 9, 2009, Williams officially filed the sexual harassment suit in Manhattan Federal Court. She alleges not only that her bosses sent her to New York City to flirt with potential donors, but also said that a boss groped her in an elevator. Elizabeth Williams’ allegations are detailed in a huge $11.5 million suit filed in New York’s Federal Court.

At Leeds Morelli & Brown we educate our clients on the proper procedures for filing a claim with the EEOC for sexual harassment and also give our clients advice on how to handle their situation appropriately until a claim has been filed. At Leeds Morelli & Brown, we strive to ensure the safety of our clients and help our clients manage a stressful situation. For more information, contact Leeds, Morelli and Brown, PC at 1-800-585-4658 for a FREE CONSULTATION.

GetLegal.com reports that Janet Bianco, a 55 year old nurse, was awarded 15 million dollars for her sexual harassment claim against a doctor at Flushing Hospital in Queens, New York – making the award the largest sexual harassment judgment to ever be awarded to an individual in a New York state court.

Janet Bianco, who worked at Flushing Hospital from 1993-2005, endured several years of unwanted sexual jokes, propositions and groping from a doctor who worked at the hospital. The harassment eventually escalated to two sexual assaults against Bianco in 2001. According to a medical expert who testified at trial, Bianco now suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression as a result of the prolonged harassment Read the rest of this entry »

LAW FIRM BLOG 

Doctors are supposed to be the guardians of our mental and physical health. Therefore, it is all the more troubling when a doctor abuses his position and engages in behavior that cause psychological distress and physical harm to innocent parties. This was the situation that Janet Bianco, a nurse at Flushing Hospital in Queens, New York, found herself in when she was sexually harassed and assaulted by a doctor, in the course of her employment. As reported by the New York Daily News, Ms. Bianco’s repeated complaints to her supervisors and requests for assistance were barely acknowledged and in some cases ignored outright.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/02/23/2009-02-23_flushing_hospital_nurse_gets_15_million_.html

Like scores of other people who have faced discrimination in employment, Ms. Bianco turned to the law firm of Leeds, Morelli & Brown for help in defending her rights. Leeds, Morelli & Brown  continued the firm’s tradition of zealous and dedicated representation. The jury awarded $15 million dollars- the largest sexual harassment award to an individual in New York. Read the rest of this entry »