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A Tampa Florida federal court allowed a disabilities discrimination Plaintiff to pursue her claim against her employer. In Doers v. Lincare (Case no. 8:14-CV-3168 M.D. Fla.) an employee informed her supervisor that she had anxiety and that she needed a companion dog when traveling. Soon after the Plaintiff informed her supervisor of her disability, the supervisor began writing up the employee, put the employee on a performance plan and fired the employee. Before learning of the employee’s disabilities, the supervisor had given the employee a positive evaluation. The court found

Tampa Bay disability discrimination attorneys see many cases of workplace discrimination that are not only wrong, but also illegal. In these cases, it is important for victims to know their rights.

It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate based on an employee’s disability, however, not every medical condition is a disability. To have a legally protected disability a person must be qualified for the job, and be disabled in one of three ways:

The person has a physical or mental condition that substantially limits a major life activity (walking/talking/seeing/hearing/learning);
The person has a history

Court finds that ATM, a Florida manufacturer, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it fired an employee because he had a back surgery six years prior.  The manufacturer required Mr. Matanic to pass a physical examination after it hired him and required him to go to  a local medical facility for an examination.  The medical facility, upon learning that Mr. Matanic had a prior surgery, required a medical release from the doctor who performed the surgery six years prior.  Mr. Matanic could not produce the release, the medical facility would not

Attorney James M. Thompson represented a female Hillsborough County, Florida maintenance worker who was subjected to sexual harassment by her supervisor. After she complained to the County, she had her evaluation altered, she was placed on probation and she was fired. Even after the first complaints, the harassing supervisor put a banana to his crotch and told the worker; “I’m going to f-ck you.” After she complained again, the worker was fired by the County. After a five day Federal jury trial, the jury returned a verdict of $260,000 representing $85,000

In a recent employment law case argued in Federal court in Tampa, the court ruled that because his disability was open and obvious, an employee did not need to ask for obviously needed accommodations from his employer. The court allowed employee to proceed with his accommodations claim as well as his employment law disability and retaliation claims against the City of Venice. Tampa employment lawyer James M. Thompson represented the employee.

Reprinted by permission of CCH’s Employment Law Daily. © 2011 CCH Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.

A police department records clerk who was injured while employed

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employee could maintain a claim of retaliation even when he himself did not engage in the protected activity of filing a discrimination charge. The Court reasoned that an employer may engage in retaliation against an employee who complains of discrimination by taking action against others as well as against the complaining employee. When the employer does so, the employee who was adversely affected can maintain his own action for retaliation even if he was not the person who engaged in protected activity. To

The US Supreme Court has confirmed that oral complaints related to failure to pay wages and overtime may constitute protected activity for FLSA purposes. This means that if an employee makes a protected oral complaint that he or she is not being paid earned wages or overtime wages for hours worked, the employee may then have legal protections from an employer taking retaliatory actions against the employee. The Court, however, left unanswered the question of what type of complaint is considered protected. At a minimum it appears that the complaint