Alaska Employment Law

“Mom” as discrimination:  A supervisor told an employee that part of the reason she was not promoted was because she was a “mom.”  Is that direct evidence of sex discrimination?  Not according to the 9th Circuit (Farris and Beezer) in an unpublished opinion:

The term “mom” means “mother,” which is a “female parent.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 764, 774 (1984). There are two components to the term, one concerning gender and the other concerning parental status. In order to construe the term as discriminatory, an additional inference is required that [the supervisor] used the term with a discriminatory animus based upon Peters’ gender. The necessity of such an inference means that the term “mom” alone is not direct evidence of discrimination. 

Peters v. Shamrock Foods, 2007 WL 4553528 (9th Cir. Dec. 27, 2007)(unpub.).  Judge Thomas dissents, calling use of the term direct evidence of “sex stereotyping,” and citing several out-of-Circuit opinions.

AVVO rating of John Henry Browne:  Here’s the federal court opinion dismissing John Henry Browne’s challenge to his AVVO rating.  Browne was Vic Kohring’s attorney in the recent VECO-related trial.

I-9 form: Use of the new I-9 form  became mandatory yesterday.  The California Labor & Employment Defense Law blog has the details on what’s new about the form.

False arrest:  Judge Sedwick has granted reconsideration and entered summary judgment for the woman who was arrested in May 2004 at the Anchorage Sears Mall for a Wells Fargo bank hold-up committed by somebody else.  Sedwick has now held that the Anchorage Police not only detained but actually arrested her, and that they did so without probable cause. 

Mitchell  v. Anchorage Police Department, 2007 WL 4511176 (D.Alaska Dec. 26, 2007).

Isaac and Moshe Zorea represent Carolyn Mitchell.  Joyce Weaver Johnson from the Municipal Attorney’s Office represents the city and the police officers.

Non-legal extra: Progressive Alaska has a well-written  feature on the Top Ten Alaskan Political Events of 2007.