Source: Washington Post
Link to the Supreme Court case docket here.
Link to the filed brief here.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White , No. 05-259 -- a case that could affect the legal rights of millions of workers who are covered by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
I wonder which way the court will lean--a presidency that backs big business and couldn't care less about the workers or human/civil rights? Or a high court that sells its soul on a daily basis and always sides with the administration?
Sexual harassment in the workplace is against federal law. An employer is also liable if he or she discriminates against an employee who files a sexual harassment complaint. But the law is vague on a key question: How harsh does the employer's retaliation have to be before it violates the law?
That was the issue at the Supreme Court yesterday, as the justices heard oral argument in Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White , No. 05-259 -- a case that could affect the legal rights of millions of workers who are covered by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the main federal law against job discrimination, and their employers.
White was hired as a forklift operator at Burlington Northern's Memphis yard in June 1997. Soon thereafter, she filed a sexual harassment complaint. Her supervisor transferred her to a more arduous job and then suspended her without pay for alleged insubordination.
After a 37-day suspension, a hearing officer found the charge against White meritless and reinstated her with back pay.
Phillips told the court that the law was not intended to prohibit this kind of treatment, because White's pay and benefits were not cut and the company corrected its mistake in suspending her.
For the parties involved, I hope the Civil Rights Act is not weakened, and the letter of the law is followed. Retaliation in no way, shape, or form should be allowed in the work place. Especially if laws have deliberately been skirted or broken.
We are in an age were big businesses have succeeded in eroding many of the workers' protections that unions struggled for years to bring about.
Isn't this case--or for that matter, the very existence of the Supreme Court--a waste of time at this juncture?
Until the Court holds some type of visible separation from Congress and the Bush White House, it has no credibility and is just another clear of example of how the world is laughing at our "failed" system.
A full narrative and analysis of this case is available at the law.cornell.edu website here.
Tags: [Civil Rights Act in danger again], [Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White], [Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments about the case], [sexual harassment], [transferred her to a more arduous job and then suspended her without pay for alleged insubordination]
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