In a wrongful termination case filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a transgender nursing assistant alleges that she was fired from her job at Genesis HealthCare due to her gender identity. The plaintiff alleges harassment beginning in February 2020 when a nursing director purportedly made offensive comments toward her. Following these remarks, the plaintiff said [...]
In another sexual abuse lawsuit brought against a Catholic diocese in Connecticut, the plaintiff alleges he was raped by a former priest at his sister’s wedding in 1992 when he was nine years old. The lawsuit claims the church knew that the defendant, now-deceased Kiernan Ahern of the Diocese of Bridgeport, was a threat to children [...]
A $2.6 million settlement was reached on behalf of 5,500 employees and former job applicants at Google resolving job pay discrimination claims. Plaintiffs alleged that from 2014 and 2017, the search engine giant discriminated against female employees and employees of Asian descent in the states of California and Washington. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that Google was [...]
A $73 million medical sexual abuse settlement reached on behalf of University of California, Los Angeles students has been preliminarily approved by Central District of California District Judge R. Gary Klausner. The settlement resolves allegations that Dr. James Heaps, a former UCLA gynecologist, made sexual comments or sexually abused students during exams. The case was brought [...]
With online schooling becoming the “new normal” over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cyberbullying has dramatically increased among students. The shift from traditional classroom settings to remote learning can make it easier for bullies to target victims. Cyberbullying can have devastating consequences for its victims, including physical and mental injuries, or even death [...]
After serving a wrongful conviction sentence, a Philadelphia man was exonerated and released in 2019. He was awarded a $9.8 million settlement after serving 28 years in jail for a 1991 murder he did not commit. Leading to his exoneration, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit completed a 15-month reinvestigation which uncovered multiple problems [...]
School bullying can seriously impact a student’s safety. Victims and witnesses to the bullying may be fearful of the bully, and may be reluctant to report the incident. However, a mobile app called STOPit enables students and parents to report bullying without revealing their identity. The app is a two-way messaging system where students can message [...]
A December 2020 lawsuit alleges a North Carolina Catholic priest sexually assaulted an altar boy on church property for several years. The plaintiff, now in his 20s, was between the ages of five and seven years old when the alleged assaults occurred. The defendant priest had already served an eight-year prison sentence for sex crimes and [...]
Sexual abuse has become far too prevalent in recent years—particularly among members of the Catholic priesthood. According to the Washington Post, in 2019, allegations of sex abuse by the Catholic clergy increased 4-fold compared to the prior five years. The annual audit released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops surveyed 200 diocese and religious entities [...]
A 20-year old Harvard student was recently named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 social impact list. Her contributions to stop cyberbullying led her to the honor. The first-generation Indian immigrant was the victim of cyberbullying herself, which prompted her to create a new technology called ReThink. The program is designed to detect hurtful messages drafted online [...]
