Minneapolis Wrongful Termination Law Blog

Both Minnesota state law and federal law prohibit co-workers from harassing each other. As a result, many, if not most employers have policies in place that are supposed to prevent sexual harassment and provide ways of reporting it and fixing the problem if and when it does occur.

Unfortunately, many employers are not very good about following their own policies. In many cases over the years, employers have followed official procedures to report sexual harassment at work, only to have management brush aside their concerns or not follow through on promised action. In some cases, employees are even punished at work for reporting harassment. In some of the most extreme cases, the supervisors in charge of administering sexual harassment policies at work are the individuals responsible for the harassment.

Sexual harassment in the workplace has been illegal under Minnesota and federal laws for many years, and most employers have policies in place to prevent it and to punish those who don't abide by the policy. Nonetheless, many employers continue to turn a blind eye to reports of sexual harassment.

A jury recently awarded $20.2 million to seven women and one man who claimed their former employer created a hostile work environment where severe sexual harassment was commonplace. Management officials of the former employer, a travel agency, did not even show up in the courtroom.

Minnesota residents may have read about recent accusations of wrongdoing at the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office. The controversy involves a man whom President Obama had nominated to run the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and so has become highly politically charged. However, at its heart, the accusations concern something that affects many Minnesotans: whistle-blower protection.

A whistle-blower is an employee who reports illegal action by an employer. Minnesota and federal laws contain protections for public and private whistle-blowers to encourage employees to speak up, and discourage employers from firing or otherwise retaliating against employees who report unlawful activity. Some of these protections are written into federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Others are spelled out in state laws or judicial precedents.

For more than 20 years, the Americans with Disabilities Act has made it unlawful for employers to discriminate against workers who have disabilities, but this kind of discrimination is still all too common in Minnesota and around the nation. Workers are still denied employment opportunities, wrongfully fired or otherwise mistreated due to disability discrimination.

Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that it had filed charges against Presbyterian Healthcare Associates Corp., claiming that the large health care company unlawfully refused to hire a qualified applicant simply because of his physical handicap. The lawsuit seeks back pay for the man, as well as punitive damages and other remedies.