Credit card giant MBNA has been ordered to pay 56,000 euro to a former female employee over pregnancy-related discrimination. The Equality Tribunal found the financial firm discriminated against Heather Lane when she became pregnant and retaliated against her for pursuing her case. Ms Lane claimed she was passed over for promotion and treated unfairly after she went on maternity leave in 2004 and 2005. The new mother returned to work but was without a computer, phone or desk for six weeks. She made a number of complaints against the company including their consistent failure to promote her, hostile attitudes from some members of management and delays completing performance reviews. More info here: http://www.equalitytribunal.ie/
Justice Department
Sues Owners and On-Site Manager of Kansas City Apartment Complex for
Race Discrimination and Retaliation
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on September 18, 2008 against
the owners and operators of an apartment complex in Kansas City,
Kan., and against the former on-site manager of the complex, for
violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against
African-Americans on the basis of race, and by retaliating against a
former employee of the complex for aiding and encouraging tenants to
exercise the rights granted by the Fair Housing Act. The
Department’s lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Kansas
City, alleges that Stacy Sturdevant, the former manager of the
Central Park Towers Apartments, a 195-unit complex for persons with
disabilities and elderly individuals, displayed racially hostile
items on the premises, including a hangman’s noose; distributed
racially hostile materials while on the premises; pervasively used
racial slurs and directed racially derogatory remarks to
African-American tenants and to persons who associated with
African-American tenants; and treated African-American tenants less
favorably than tenants in the terms and conditions of their tenancy.
More info here:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/September/08-crt-833.html