The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has lost a case involving a woman who alleged Wal-Mart fired her because of her age.
A U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri jury found for Wal-Mart on April 7.
Yvonne Loskot was 67 when she was fired from the De Soto store’s optical center. At the time, she made just under $18 an hour and was the highest-paid optician at the center, according to the EEOC.
Appeals court judges Thursday asked how, beyond the language of a state statute, administrative law judges can be fired.
Ron Holliger, general counsel for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, told the judges the Legislature has the power to create, abolish, modify or change any position – including through appropriations legislation.
“It’s been a general proposition of American law for many, many years that the body that creates a public office can abolish that position,” Holliger said at the hearing before the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District, at the University of Missouri Law School.
A federal judge has rejected a Springfield woman’s claim that her monkey was a service animal and that she was disabled.
Debby Rose had sued the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, CoxHealth hospital and a Springfield Wal-Mart because she was not allowed to take the monkey, named Richard, into restaurants and other businesses.
A Springfield woman who fought to have her monkey declared a service animal said Thursday she was shocked a federal judge rejected her lawsuit.
“It’s devastating; it’s devastating,” Debby Rose said of the outcome of her lawsuit against the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, Cox Health and Wal-Mart East.
“I feel like I’m discriminated against in Greene County. What can I say?”
A Cole County judge said three administrative law judges can’t be terminated from their positions for budgetary reasons.
Earlier this year, five administrative law judge positions were dismissed from their posts. Four of the judges were let go, and a retiring judge was not replaced. Gov. Jay Nixon said the move was meant as a cost-cutting measure in the midst of a tough budgetary situation.
But three of the judges – Henry Herschel, John A. Tackes and Matthew Murphy – sued to keep their positions. They argued that they could only be dismissed under a specific system set up in the state’s statutes.
The futures of three administrative law judges are in the hands of a Cole County judge.
Attorneys presented final arguments on Wednesday in a case deciding whether the three ALJs can stay on job. Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration dismissed Henry Herschel, Matthew Murphy and John Tackes earlier this year, citing budgetary concerns. Two other judges’ positions were also cut.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem issued a preliminary injunction earlier this year that prevents the Nixon administration from firing or retaliating against the three judges. The plaintiffs are seeking a permanent injunction that would keep them in place.
A Cole County circuit judge has issued a preliminary injunction that prevents three administrative law judges from being forced out.
Henry Herschel, Matthew Murphy and John Tackes sued in June to prevent Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration from dismissing them. While Nixon said they were let go for budgetary reasons, an attorney for the judges says the move violated statutes that lay out a specific dismissal process.
Judge Jon Beetem issued a temporary restraining order late last month, a move that prevented the judges from leaving their positions for 15 days.
Three administrative law judges contesting their dismissals will get at least a couple more weeks to continue at their posts.
Jon Beetem, a Cole County associate circuit judge, issued a temporary restraining order against a bid by the state to lay off three administrative law judges. Without such an order, the three men – Henry Herschel, Matthew Murphy and John A. Tackes – would have been forced to leave their positions by June 30.
“The Court finds that plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm in the form of the loss their appointments as Administrative Law Judges in the absence of this order,” Beetem wrote in the two-page order issued Monday.
A Cole County judge said he will decide by Tuesday whether to keep three dismissed administrative law judges on the job.
Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration dismissed four administrative law judges earlier this month, while the position of a fifth judge who retired will not be filled. The judges are supposed to leave their posts by June 30 – the end of fiscal year 2009.
Three of the judges – Henry Herschel, Matthew Murphy and John Tackes – sued earlier this week, arguing that state law protects them from being dismissed without a formal process.
Three dismissed administrative law judges have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration, arguing that the move was illegal under state statute.
The three former judges – Henry Herschel, Matthew Murphy and John A. Tackes – are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court. The petition alleges that Nixon’s administration and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations unlawfully dismissed the judges.
Missouri Lawyers Media reported last week that the three plaintiffs and a fourth ALJ, June Doughty, would be dismissed effective July 1. In addition, the position of a retiring judge won’t be filled. Neither Doughty nor the retiring judge, Ron Harris, are parties to the lawsuit.