Attorneys Shelby Leighton and Valerie Wicks represent female officer in suit against Maine Department of Corrections for harassment, discrimination and retaliation

A female corrections officer has filed a federal lawsuit against the state that says she and other women have experienced “severe and pervasive” sexual harassment and discrimination during their work in Maine prisons. Autumn Dinsmore, 26, now works at the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren. She first filed a complaint to the Maine Human Rights…

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Attorneys Carol Garvan and Valerie Wicks in the news for protecting workplace rights of breastfeeding mothers and for women to negotiate equal pay

Community Surgical Supply Sued for Revoking Job Offer to Woman Who Asked About Breastfeeding Accommodations   Maine Human Rights Commission Found Sex Discrimination and Retaliation by CSS Portland, Maine. This morning, Siera L. Boucher filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal district court against CSS for sex discrimination and unlawful retaliation because she asked about…

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JWG Wins Court Victory for Workers’ Rights to Fair Pay, Defeating Chamber Of Commerce Lawsuit To Invalidate Portland Hazard Pay Law

A judge on Monday sided with JWG lawyers representing low-wage Whole Foods workers and rejected a bid by the Chamber of Commerce to invalidate a Portland voter referendum that requires employers to provide hazard pay to low-wage essential workers during the pandemic. Justice Thomas Warren ruled that the emergency minimum-wage provision passed by voters is…

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Attorney Shelby Leighton quoted in the news fighting for rights of grocery and other frontline workers for COVID-19 hazard pay

A lawsuit challenging the legality of a voter referendum that requires employers to pay Portland workers more during states of emergency is expected to reach the courts on Wednesday. … Attorneys representing two Portland Whole Foods workers intervening in the suit called the Chamber of Commerce’s legal challenge “shockingly anti-democratic.” They argue that under state law, Portland does…

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Essential Workers Oppose Chamber of Commerce Request to Strike Down Pandemic Hazard Pay and Obliterate Citizen Initiative Powers

On Monday, January 11, 2021, attorneys for two Whole Foods workers filed an opposition to a motion by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce to permanently invalidate the emergency hazard pay provision overwhelmingly approved by Portland voters. The Chamber’s motion not only seeks to throw out the hazard pay provision, but also challenges the validity…

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ATTORNEYS VALERIE WICKS AND CAROL GARVAN REPRESENT BANGOR PSYCHOLOGIST AGAINST NORTHERN LIGHT HEALTH FOR GLARING PAY INEQUALITY WITH HER MALE COLLEAGUES

A Bangor psychologist and member of the Bangor School Committee has sued Northern Light Health, alleging that she was paid about half of what her male colleagues were paid while working at Acadia Hospital. … “When Dr. Mundell reported this glaring pay disparity to management, instead of apologizing and taking immediate corrective action, they refused…

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Attorney David Webbert files employment discrimination complaints on behalf of Portland radio personality Randi Kirshbaum

Randi Kirshbaum, a DJ and manager at WPOR and WCLZ radio in Portland for 38 years, has filed an employment discrimination complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against her former employer. Kirshbaum, 66, was fired in May for refusing to return to the office on her doctor’s recommendation…

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