Well, I recently noticed that we have not posted any blog entries in several months regarding our Maryland clients — probably because we have been too busy settling and winning cases! In the last four months, we have reached favorable settlements for a number of clients, including the following:
* We obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of a pharmaceutical representative who resigned her job on the West Coast to accept a more favorable position with a different employer in Baltimore County, only to have the new employer rescind its job offer — after it was too late for her to return to her previous job. The new employer failed to realize that our client did not meet one of their job requirements, but once an employer makes a job offer, and the offeree accepts the offer, the new employer is limited in its ability to rescind a job offer.
* We obtained a large settlement for an administrative assistant in Baltimore County who was subjected to explicit sexual harassment and unwelcome touching by her boss — a senior executive at a financial services company. When our client complained about the harassment to other senior management, she was told there was nothing that could be done because of his position in the company. After contacting the company, we quickly negotiated a favorable settlement for our client.
* We negotiated a favorable settlement for a package delivery driver in Harford County who was not paid overtime for the time he spent each morning and evening preparing his truck and finalizing paperwork for his employer.
* We obtained a substantial settlement for a computer programmer at a local university in Baltimore who was subjected to disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act and was wrongfully terminated from his job after he refused to provide private medical information to his employer. We prepared our client’s charge and filed it for him with the EEOC, assisted our client in his dealings with the EEOC and eventually negotiated a settlement directly with his former employer and the EEOC.
* We successfully represented more than two dozen unemployment claimants in lower appeals hearings and hearings before the Board of Appeals in Baltimore City at the Department of Labor and Licensing.
* We represented more than two dozen clients in negotiating enhanced severance agreements or working out disputes relating to non-competition or non-solicitation agreements with their former employers.
* We obtained a large settlement for a client from Florida who accepted a job offer from a large educational organization in Baltimore, rented a new home in Baltimore, and, while accompanying a moving van with his possessions to Baltimore, was notified that the job offer had been rescinded because the new employer learned that he had previously filed for bankruptcy. While employers can sometimes take such information into account when deciding whether to hire a person for a job, we successfully argued that the employer could not revoke a job offer based on the fact that it learned about the bankruptcy after our client had accepted their job offer.
* We obtained a significant settlement for a client whose employment was terminated in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) while she was on maternity leave.
* We obtained a significant settlement for an administrative employee of a lobbying organization in Maryland who was unlawfully terminated based on her race.