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The Lawsuit between Deidre Dare and Allen & Overy

When the issue of Deidre Dare with the ever vibrant law firm, Allen and Overy, was thrown open, much was said. No one could believe Deidre would be joyful at last. Notably, Allen and Overy firm is a member of the Magic Circle; hence this could be easily understood. To Deidre, there has been a general belief that no one can ever file a lawsuit against the high-powered firm successfully.

After her graduation from Colombia Law School, Deidre Dare was offered an office work by Allen and Overy Law firm. As an energetic and promising young graduate, Deidre had a nice start with the firm. She enjoyed every aspect of the firm until suddenly her appointment was terminated.

What could have caused such abrupt termination of work? A long story was compiled as regards this, but at the end, Deidre left some titillating fiction on the incidence. This created a more confusing atmosphere as it could not be understood if her experience in Russia has actually prompted that. Much was not clear then.

However, after the termination of her appointment, Deidre Dare, whose real name is Deidre Clark filed a lawsuit against her previous workplace, Allen & Overy, on different grounds in London, but the lawsuit was dismissed based on the jurisdictional grounds. With strong determination for justice, she went ahead and filed another lawsuit, this time in New York. She filed a lawsuit against Allen & Overy for wrongful termination of her appointment, sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and retaliation.

In an interview last year, when Clark was interrogated on the on-going lawsuit, she said she was very optimistic as she strongly believes that the New York would be judicial enough and make her smile at the end. She said all these things confidently, although not because she was a member of the New York bar, but because she really believed that New York would take jurisdiction.

When the final court decision was read out last week, it became obvious that Clark's move to New York was productive, although the claim against inappropriate termination of her appointment was dismissed. Giving the decision at the Supreme Court of New York, Justice Marcy S Friedman rejected the motion for the count on wrongful termination of appointment which was the third count. The Justice said the will to terminate Clark's employment is within the firm's legal power. However, Justice Freidman withheld other counts on sexual discrimination and harassment alongside the count for retaliation.

Reacting to this, a spokesperson for Allen & Overy expressed their utmost joy about the legal declaration that the termination of Clark's appointment was lawful and justifiable.

On her side, Clark also expressed joy (although, over expressed, according to Allen & Overy) that she won at last, at least for other withheld counts. To Clark, the withholding of the counts against sexual harassment and discrimination is worth celebrating. She threw a party for herself on the 'victory' as she believes it is very hard to have 'won' the case against the giant firm.

DOJ Steps in on Louisiana Dept. Of Public Safety and Corrections Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

The Department of Justice filed a consent decree in the U.S. District Court of Louisiana. The form resolves sexual harassment allegations placed against the LDSPC, or Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

The LDSPC office administrator, Laura Arceneaux, was the victim of a sexually hostile work environment by her supervisor between the dates of May 2002 and December 2008. The harassment came to head with two separate attempts of sexual assault by her supervisor, the District Administrator Ferral Veillion.

The case has some added weight to the situation since four other employees have come forward claiming that they had full knowledge about the sexual harassment against her, but did nothing about it what so ever. The suit is also alleging that the LDSPC has no way of effectively reporting sexual harassment or assault when it needs to be confronted.

If the courts decide to accept the Justice Departments consent decree, the LDSPC will be required to create an effective method of reporting sexual harassment, as well as providing each employee and supervisor sexual harassment training. The certificate of completion from those classes is what will make all difference in any future sexual harassment cases. Finally, the decree would award Arceneaux with $50,000, including some other expenses incurred along the way.

The $50,000 award may seem small to some, especially after considering that she was victimized for 6 straight years. The fact that she didn't come out with the information sooner makes others wonder why she waited so long. In defense of her delayed actions, some would say that fear of losing a job that pays for a good way of life can be very strong. When physical sexual abuse happened, even she couldn't look the other way.

The Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division quoted the federal law that requires every employer to create and maintain a harassment free workplace. The Justice Department did take note of the LDSPC's new efforts to provide effective policies that would prevent harassment and give the proper amount of relief to the victim.

Many think that the filing of this decree shows the Civil Rights Division's ongoing mission to prosecute those who commit sexual harassment. The Civil Rights Division also does their best with the funding they receive to educate and inform the public, in order to prevent as much sexual crimes as possible.

The situation in the LDSPC could have been avoided altogether if the employees and supervisors would have been required to take a sexual harassment class as a part of their employment. It is true that the staff would have to take the class due to the lawsuit, but if the classes would have been taken earlier, then the $50,000 relief payments to the victim could have been avoided. That would have meant saving the money, the lawyer fees, the lost wages, and the lost productivity

It’s still undecided if the courts will accept the decree, but if they do it will be a quick and easy resolution to a complicated situation

Drug Use and Sexual Harassment Involving Foreign Minister at the Star Casino

Drug Use and Sexual Harassment Involving Foreign Minister at the Star Casino

There have been recent evidence provided by investigative reporters on the local 7News that has suggested that drug use and sexual harassment claims by the staff are largely ignored by the Star Casino. As reported in Yahoo News, One foreign minister in particular was kicked out of the casino for sexually harassing behavior, but was allowed to return thereafter.

Staff employee and Casino Duty Manager, Elizabeth Ward, reported that the minister was sexually harassing the staff by making crude comments about his own genitals. The casino looks at customers as any casino does, with eyes of money. The minister is worth a lot of potential gambling profits and referrals to other high-powered friends. Because of that worth, the casino has been overlooking the unnamed ministers behavior.

There have been five separate internal reports claiming sexual harassment by the same minister, which have been closed up and denied by the casino. The foreign dignitary in question is officially recorded to have sexually harassed a staff member early in the morning on April 16th, 2011. The report involves a foreign politician that later rose to become a deputy prime minister.

The April 16th report claims the male foreign dignitary propositioned a male dealer for sex, then starting threatening the staff member while swearing and cursing. Even after this report was filed, the minister in question was allowed to return to the casino again and again, leading to further sexual harassment of the staff.

Some would say that the casino is looking after its best interest by allowing the famous dignitary to continue to visit the casino. Others, such as the staff, see this as a decline in the casino's practices and standards. The staff truly feels that the responsibilities the casino has towards its employees and other gamblers have been left aside for the good of short-term profit.

The local Casino Liquor and Gaming authority is inquiring about the rest of the reports, wanting the full reports with no details blackened out, which can happen. The interviews given to the local news channel, 7News, has also received requests from the Gaming Commission for copies of the interviews with staff and guests. The news interviews will be included in the official inquiry of the Casino's wrong doing, if any.

Some may say that sexual harassment has been blown out of proportion, while others say there is a larger call for education than ever before. In this case, if the dealers, and other staff, were to under go sexual harassment training, the continued harassment may not have gone on past the first couple of incidents. The staff would know what is sexual harassment and what isn't. The certificate of completion that each employee would receive upon completion of a harassment class would give the current harassment reports even firmer ground to stand on in a courtroom.

The staff, of course, isn't to blame for being sexually harassed; it's the manager’s responsibility to keep their employees safe from this type of behavior. When this does occur, it's the managers and Casino's job to ensure it never happens again, which the Star Casino have clearly failed to do.

Alabama Councilman Accused of Sexual Harassment

In Anniston City, Alabama the Councilman David Dawson is being charged with sexual harassment from last year’s incident while he was working for a pathology company. Council Dawson is named in the suit along with the Regional Medicine Center and Tim Jones – a RMC employee.

The Anniston Star reports David Dawson is the only one being accused of committing sexual harassment, but the suit names the other two entities as being negligent in their work and duties to prevent sexual harassment on the job. Last week an Ashville resident, Kay Dodd, filed the lawsuit in the Calhoun County District Court.

Kay Dodd alleges that Dawson was the reason for a hostile work environment while he was employed at Anniston Pathology. She claims the hostile environment came to a climax when Dawson's sexual harassment turned into sexual assault last August.

Gregory Harp, Dodd's attorney, claims that Dodd did everything in her power to make the harassment stop. She made several attempts to get the situation reconciled by going to the principals. The result of her efforts, she claims, ended in even more harassment from Dawson.

Shortly after her complaints, Dawson actually resigned from his position, citing a disagreement between him and his employer of 30 years. When Dawson was contacted last Monday concerning the lawsuit, he claimed no knowledge of the suit.

Councilman Dawson did admit to knowing Ms. Dodd, but commented that he didn't threaten anyone's job, let alone Ms. Dodd's. Dawson refused to answer any other question about the pending lawsuit. He claims to never have been contacted about any sexual harassment claims and then pulled away to consult with his lawyer.

The partial owner of Anniston Pathology, Dr. Talbot, as well as the Chairman of RMC, Anthony Humphries, both declined to make a comment regarding the lawsuit. Humphries would only admit that he knew there was an ongoing lawsuit, but refused to comment further.

The lawsuit claims that Dawson was routinely making sexually charged jokes, discusses his sexual abilities in the bedroom, and to even hand out Christmas and holiday cards depicting sexual acts to Ms. Dodd and several other employees. The lawsuit goes on to claim that Dawson would threaten her job and express his abilities to control her job duties. One threat toward her job came during a company Christmas party. Dodd wanted to leave the Christmas function, but was forced to stay to protect her job.

In a more sexually charged incident on August 5, 2011, Dawson is accused of straddling Dodd’s chair and began licking and kissing her face. He then rubbed the crotch area of his pants against Ms. Dodd. The court filings are saying that Dawson has an ongoing reputation of harassing the females that worked for him and around him. The lawsuit goes onto claim that the RMC employee Tim Jones helped retaliate and intimidate Ms. Dodd.

The lawsuit claims that Tim Jones would harass Ms. Dodd about the sexual assault that was ongoing by David Dawson. Dodd is demanding compensation and punitive damages for the assault she suffered. She's not asking for a specific dollar amount and leaves that up to the juror’s best judgment during the trial.

Should Sexual Harassment be an Issue on Washington D.C. Metro?

It's no secret that sexual harassment has been a growing problem at offices and other places of employment across the Untied States. Is there the same issue in public, such as Metro in D.C? The most common reason for sexual harassment in public places can be the misplaced compliment being termed as sexual harassment. It's public exposure to sexual harassment that is being addressed by a group called Collective Action.

wusa9.com reports that Collective Action is going before the Washington D.C. City Council in the coming week to request that the city start a public broadcast awareness system on Metro. They plan on discussing the evidence of hundreds of letters from concerned citizens that have been sexually harassed while riding on the Metro system. Nearly 1/3 of those letters have been from incidences aboard the Metro busses and trains.

It's understandable to have some sexual harassment or random crime, but a full 1/3 of the complaints being centered on a single location is something the CA feels needs immediate attention. The CA has even named the platforms themselves as being a busy location for sexual harassment.

Holly Kearl is the CA spokeswoman, she claims that the group is aiming its guns towards real sexual harassment, not serious compliments. The sexual harassment acts they named include public masturbation, groping on packed busses and trains, as well as getting rubbed against on nearly empty trains. Sexually harassing comments still haven't escaped their crosshairs. They also feel that badgering people for dates and "sexual favors" is wrong all the same as a physical act of abuse or harassment.

The official city records shows that the Metro officers arrested 22 individuals for sexual harassment sexual crimes, including rape. The official records also document that there were another 41 sexually related assaults and over 40 cases of flashing and other non-violent acts.

Even though these numbers may seem large, the Metro claims the issue isn’t really an issue at all. There are over 340 million Metro trips every year and for less than a hundred sexual crimes a year, that makes the averages very low. The numbers do suggest this low average, but the Collective Action group argues that the incidents that don't get recorded are the ones they are worried about most.

There is some truth to what they worry about, such as the fact that Metro doesn't record verbal harassment on their official records. The CA also argues that the numbers are so low because the vast number of sexual harassment victims never reports the incident(s) they are involved in.

It's because of all this that the CA will show specific letters that they plan on showing to the Council. The CA is going to try to encourage the City Council to start a PSA campaign to rid Metro of the high number of sexual harassment crimes.  The other big question for City Council is the request for better sexual harassment training for Metro workers. Being able to identify a sex crime is just as important as preventing the sex crime itself. 

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