The Inbox – Hurricane Season Already? Edition

Let’s just be clear about one thing today.  Our great colleagues in Tampa may be used to hurricanes and tropical storms all the time.  But for those of us in Zuckerman Spaeder’s Washington, Baltimore, and New York offices, it’s far too early to have to deal with the “remnants of Hurricane Andrea” that are passing overhead today. 

Or maybe we’re just a little bummed that the Nats have fallen below .500.  

In any event, there’s been a lot of interesting stuff in The Inbox – take a look below: 

The judges in this one won’t be sitting in the balcony:  A film editor on Walt Disney’s Muppets movie has sued the company, alleging it failed to protect her from racial and gender discrimination.

Employment agreements cross into Canada just like, uh, whatever we export to them any more: An interesting piece on a decision by a court in British Columbia, holding that an employee of both Verizon and its Canadian subsidiary was entitled to receive notice in advance of her termination under Canadian law.

Do you want a non-compete with that flat screen:  Best Buy, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, is expanding its use of non-compete agreements beyond the C-Suite.  Under the new plan, vice-presidents who want to be eligible for the electronics retailer’s stock bonus plan will need to agree not to work for a competitor for a year after leaving the company. 

“And you should see how quick he is with the collection plate”: Two former teachers at a California religious school claim in their suit against the school that they were fired for failing to provide “pastoral reference letters” and for refusing to go to spiritual counseling.  They allege  religious discrimination, wrongful termination, and retaliation under California law, and seek compensatory and punitive damages. 

From the “unusual job requirements” department: Staying in the explosive zone of religion and the workplace, this is a great story from Courthouse News about an urban planner in Tybee Island, Georgia – a nice-looking resort town on the Georgia coast where you can rent Southern chef Paula Deen’s personal vacation home  -- who alleges he was fired because he: 1) wasn’t Episcopalian – he was Mormon – and refused his supervisor’s suggestion he go to an Episcopalian church to “fit in” with the community; 2) refused her suggestion that he go drink at the local bar, Hucapoos, also to fit in; and 3) refused her suggestion that he fit in by playing bingo and other card games. 

And that’s three: The excellent Blog of the Legal Times reports that Booz Allen Hamilton now faces a third gender discrimination suit by a former principal in its legal department.  Carla Calobrisi says she was demoted, subject to a glass ceiling that wouldn’t allow women over forty to advance, and ultimately forced to resign; the consulting firm calls her suit “curious” because she voluntarily resigned, it claims, over two years ago. 

• The Inbox