Local Lawsuit

Local Lawsuit

Blanca Vazquez

Professor Elliott

LEG 100-Business Law I

October 27, 2011

Norfolk Southern is a Fortune 300 company Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products.

Norfolk Southern has had its fair share of lawsuits, many dealing with environmental issues and worker’s compensation matters. This particular lawsuit deals with sex discrimination. According to eeoc.gov, this stated that Norfolk Southern engaged in unlawful sex discrimination when it refused to provide a female employee with training necessary to obtain a promotion to a yardmaster position. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged Norfolk Southern in a lawsuit.

The railroad removed Kathryn Class from yardmaster training and replaced her with a less qualified male employee, the EEOC said in its lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Railway Company (Civil Action No. 1:09-cv-02566-RDB), filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The company claims it removed her from the training class based on its policy prohibiting individuals from directly or indirectly supervising, or being supervised by, a relative. The EEOC stated this reason was a ruse for sex discrimination because, despite this policy, the railroad has employed male employees who were supervised by a relative, or who supervised a relative.

Sexual Discrimination is when you are treated differently because of your sex and when the different treatment negatively affects the “terms or conditions of employment,” it is illegal. “Terms or conditions of...