The Minnesota Supreme Court recently issued what could turn out to be a significant opinion on the legal standard governing sexual harassment cases under the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA). At issue in Kenneh v. Homeward Bound, Inc. (Minn. 6/3/2020) was whether the requirement that workplace harassment be “severe or pervasive,” adopted from
sexual harassment
What Does the Fox News Settlement with Gretchen Carlson Mean for Ordinary Employers?
By Patrick Smith on
The headline was Fox News agreed to pay $20 million to its former anchor Gretchen Carlson to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit against its former CEO Roger Ailes. This is an extraordinary settlement, and not just because of the amount. Fox News agreed to a public settlement (usually they are confidential); publicly apologized to…
Eighth Circuit Reverses $4.5 Million Sanction Against EEOC
By Patrick Smith on
Two years ago, Judge Linda Reade of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa made headlines when she dismissed an EEOC lawsuit on behalf of 270 current and former female long haul drivers of Cedar Rapids based CRST Van Expedited. What was notable about the decision was not so much the dismissal itself as…
U.S. District Court in Iowa Imposes $4.5 Million Sanction against EEOC
By Patrick Smith on
On February 9, 2010, U.S. District Judge Linda Reade ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (link courtesy of Ross Runkel) to pay Cedar Rapids based CRST Van Expedited $4.5 million in attorney’s fees and costs it incurred to defend itself against a meritless sexual harassment lawsuit.
The action started in 2005 when a CRST employee …