Transgender Protection under Title VII

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects individuals against employment discrimination on the bases of race, color, national origin, sex and religion. Courts have struggled with interpretation of the federal statute and over the years discussed whether gender identity is protected under Title VII. Historically, the courts have not been sympathetic to transgender people and held that they were excluded from Title VII protection, even though it was obvious that they were discriminated because of their sex change. But finally, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that transgender individuals are protected under Title VII.

Exotic Dancers: Independent Contractors or Hourly Employees?

As an employment lawyer I often see cases with injustice in the workplace. Couple of years ago I represented an exotic dancer against her employer, as she was treated as an independent contractor and was forced to share her tips with the management. And I was glad she spoke up. From the beginning, I knew that this would be a class action lawsuit and I was not wrong. Recently CNN posted that over 2,000 exotic dancers were awarded $10 million in a class action lawsuit. Simply put, exotic dancers were cheated out of their wages because they were treated as independent contractors. However, it was proven that they are “hourly employees who deserved to be paid minimum wage.” These dancers suffered substantial monitory damages and I was glad to see the court’s acknowledgment. I am ready to fight this injustice so please contact the Dishman Law Firm for advice and representation!

Should We Trust Yelp?

            Not to my surprise, Yelp has recently received a lot of criticism. In his article Unfortunately, Reviews on Yelp Cannot Be Relied Upon for Vetting Purposes, Mark Baer addressed the issue of Yelp’s inaccurate reviews.

            As a member of Yelp I rely on its reviews to boost my law firm and increase my presence on the Internet. But it is unfortunate when one person has the power to ruin one’s reputation by harsh and untrue words. It is not until recently that I realized a good Internet presence is essential to a booming business. There are many reasons why one may want to post negative comments, but it is unfair when someone’s business has to suffer because of it.

            Note that in September of this year, the 9^th Cir. Court of Appeals rendered a decision that “even if Yelp removes positive reviews or writes negative reviews to pressure the companies to pay for advertising, that is at most, hard bargaining, and therefore perfectly legal.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-baer/unfortunately-reviews-on-_b_5893400.html. Therefore, where is an employer, like me, supposed to turn for good reviews?