New York City Personal Injury Lawyer - Workplace Discrimination

Wisniewski Lawsuit will Continue after her Death in Fire

Paul Napoli — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:12:49 GMT

While there is some doubt in the minds of the public and Bianca Kuros’s friends and family as to whether the fire that took her life was suspicious or not there is no doubt that the lawsuit she filed in July will continue on.

Bianca Kuros filed a lawsuit for $20 million dollars in July 2009 under her maiden name of Wisniewski. This claim involved harassment at her place of work. She was claiming that she was propositioned, groped, and subjected to lewd comments at her place of employment (270 Park Ave. construction site). Her complaints about this harassment eventually led to the loss of her job. Where a male employee replaced her.

This case was very much in its early days, though already having sparked a lot of curiosity. Two days before a first hearing (court conference) Bianca Kuros died in a fire at her home in Queens. It is understood that although Kuros herself would not need to have appeared at this hearing it would have been dealing with potential evidence. Since her death this hearing has now been postponed until November 3.

Wisniewski’s lawyer, Steven Witels, points out that the family has a right to pursue the complaints made and expects that someone, probably a family member will take over in seeing the lawsuit through.

Wisniewskis case has been seen as an interesting one by many. A Polish immigrant who was left widowed worked hard to obtain her Safety credentials. She was seen as being very good at her job and held the position of Safety coordinator at the construction site owned by JP Morgan Chase. Her $20 million dollar claim is against JP Morgan Chase, Total Safety Consulting (her employers) a male worker on the site, and others.

Bianca (Wisniewski) Kuros was seen by many to be a great role model of what women can achieve. Her family and friends are devastated by her death and some believe it is suspicious in its timing. Her boyfriend Bogdan Balumut hopes that the fire will be investigated closely.

While initial reports came in stating the fire was being treated as ‘suspicious’ it seems that is no longer the case. The fire is still under investigation but at this point is being seen as ‘not suspicious’. There have been reports of Bianca receiving troublesome calls shortly before the night of the fire, which started shortly after 3:00 am. The two-alarm blaze was apparently halted in its spreading by cement and steel flooring and structures in the building. Initially firefighters went to the wrong address and this delay may have cost Wisniewski her life. Her 16 year old daughter Olivia was hospitalized along with two males in their 50’s. Bianca’s eldest daughter Nicole (aged 18) was not at home at the time of the fire.

Wisniewski’s lawyer says she was an incredible woman who certainly didn’t deserve any of this. While the fire itself continues to be investigated the sexual harassment lawsuit will continue on regardless of its findings.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Napoli

Workplace Discrimination Claims On The Rise

Chrissie Cole — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 09:09:00 GMT

Newly released figures show that discrimination claims against bosses dramatically increased by nearly a third in 2008.

The report shows, almost half of all workplace discrimination cases are race-related while age discrimination complaints at work have more than doubled.

“Overall, 85 percent of all complaints made to the Tribunal last year were work related,” Melanie Pine, director of the Equality Tribunal. “The employment cases that come to the tribunal vary in nature, covering all aspects of working life,” she said. “Many of these cases are complex and involve several issues and usually more than one person.”

The Equality Tribunal is an impartial forum to hear or mediate complaints of alleged discrimination under equality legislation.

The equality legislation prohibits discrimination on 9 grounds - gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Construction Worker Injured At WTC Tower

Chrissie Cole — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:19:00 GMT

A construction worker was injured in an accident last week in the basement level of the former Deutsche Bank tower, where workers were removing debris. The site is also where two firefighters were killed more than a year ago.

The construction accident happened when the excavator struck the LVI Environmental Services worker and he broke his right leg.

The contractor was cited by the New York City Building Department for failure to provide enough shoring or netting for fall protection.

The accident is the most serious at the site since LVI took over the job cleaning debris and dismantling the building, which was badly damaged on Sept. 11.

Last month, the former subcontractor, John Galt Corp., and three construction officials were indicted on manslaughter charges for the firefighters' deaths in a 2007 blaze. #

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole