Layoffs Herald a Heyday for Employee Lawsuits
February 3, 2009
At a time when large numbers of workers are being laid off under corporate downsizing plans, displaced workers more often complain that they have been treated unfairly or improperly in their dismissals. As a result, the level of employment law litigation is seeing a sharp increase, The New York Times reports. The paper reports that the Obama administration has emboldened the unemployed with a sense that government will be more aggressive in enforcing employment laws. By signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law last week, President Obama opened the door to employee lawsuits which would have previously been blocked by a statute of limitations. A number of other proposed workplace laws that would strengthen employee rights are posed for passage under the watch of the new administration.