Katherine Thomas, Author at The Poliquin Firm

Interview with Mike Bradley on WGMD-The Talk of Delmarva

Katherine Thomas — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:45:01 +0000

Ron Poliquin gives a radio interview with Mike Bradley on The Talk of Delmarva - WGMD Click here for details are shared by Ron Poliquin, Attorney for Former Delaware State Auditor Kathy McGuiness.
08/16/2023 - Julia Hardy

If you have questions about your rights, we would love to hear from you. Leave us a comment here or find us on Facebook. If you us our contact us page, someone will get back to you!

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Interview on Delmarva’s Talk Radio – Employment Law

Katherine Thomas — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 02:30:00 +0000

Ron Poliquin, talks with Delmarva's Talk Radio host Dan Gaffney on Delaware Employment Law and Discrimination. Ron shares some examples of cases where he represents employees fighting to protect their employee rights.

Feel free to leave us a comment and follow The Poliquin Firm on Facebook . We hope you find the interview helpful.

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Supreme Court Update

Katherine Thomas — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 12:22:25 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com, your Delaware Employment Lawyer.

This is a special Supreme Court update regarding the rights of gays and transgenders regarding discrimination employment. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided by a six-to-three vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, known as Title 7, bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Supreme Court decided that gays and transgenders, under this law cannot be discriminated against in their employment. That means hostile work environment harassment or discrimination. In addition, gays and transgender individuals cannot be retaliated against for complaining about discrimination based on their status as gays or transgenders. All individuals cannot be retaliated against for participating in an investigation involving complaints of discrimination for gays and transgenders.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, an employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of different sex. Basically, what happened in this case, which was consolidated in Bostock V. Clayton County Georgia, I am going to give a brief description of the facts and scenarios in those cases.

In the Bostock case, Clayton County fired Gerald Bostock for conduct unbecoming of a county employee after he began participating in a gay softball league. Another case that was part of the suit was Altitude Express Inc. versus Zarda, which Altitude Express fired Donald Zarda within a few days of him identifying as gay. R. G. Harris Funeral Homes versus EEOC, the funeral home fired Aimee Stephens, who when was hired presented as a male, but later told her employer of her pans to live and work full-time as a woman. All three employees had sued under the federal statute.

The Supreme Court stated sex plays a necessary and indistinguishable role in the decision, exactly what Title 7 forbids in regarding all these decisions. It is a but-for cause, meaning but-for them being gay that they would not have been discriminated against. So, what does this mean to Delaware employees? Well, it means that it backs up the state law, which the state law already prohibits discrimination for transgender and gays and also gives employee attorneys, like myself, an extra weapon to go to Federal Court where there will be no doubt anymore on prohibitions against discrimination on the federal level against gays and transgenders.

Be your own best advocate. If you need to get expert advice on this, come see a qualified employment attorney such as myself. DoverLawOffice.com

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COVID Employee Alert

Katherine Thomas — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

This is a COVID employee alert on unpaid wages and overtime. There has been an uptick, extreme uptick, in the number of unpaid wage claims since the pandemic. There are many employers out there who are closed for various reasons, who are expecting employees to go weeks and sometimes months without pay and using the pandemic as an excuse.

This is not only wrong; it is illegal, and employees have remedies to solve these problems. Employees should not be expected to work without pay or work beyond 40-hours a week without getting paid overtime pay. The government has put in place many programs for businesses such as the Paycheck Protection Program to help employers get through this trying time. That does not mean that employees need to be sacrificing their pay for employers.

Another thing that has happened is that employers are asking employees to switch from salary to hourly. Now the whole point of going from hourly to salary is that you don’t have to work 40-hours a week. You are basically paid for your time and they are not keeping hours. But, because of the pandemic there are some employers who are asking or unilaterally switching employees pay from salary to hourly, so be careful of that. Don’t be a sucker, don’t let emotions, don’t let employers manipulate you.

There are many employees who are sacrificing their pay, their time with their family because they believe that they owe some loyalty to these employers or their boss. It is great to have loyalty but one of the principles of this country is that you should get paid for what you do and paid for your work. So, make sure you are getting paid if you have any issues you come see me, Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com, or see an otherwise qualified employment attorney and make sure you assert your rights. Be you own best advocate.

Thank you!

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Five things you need to know about medical malpractice

Katherine Thomas — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:03:31 +0000

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

I am here to talk about five things you need to know about medical malpractice claims. In my capacity as a civil rights lawyer, I have been able to successfully handle millions of dollars’ worth of medical malpractice claims. What is medical malpractice? Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor, healthcare profession, or some other agency to a negligent act omission causes an injury to a patient. The negligence might be the result of misdiagnosis, failure diagnosis, failure to treat, aftercare, or health care management. Just because there is an unfavorable outcome by itself does not mean there’s malpractice. There are five things you need to know about medical malpractice.

One – Do not be afraid to seek out a claim. Doctors screw up all the time just like everybody else. Medical errors are the third leading cause of death. Do not feel guilty about consulting with a medical malpractice attorney if you think something went wrong, that’s why that doctors' have insurance. Because doctors screw up and who should be left holding the bag? It certainly should not be the patient or the patient’s family.

Two – Two things need to be proven in a medical malpractice claim. One, the doctors deviated from the standard of care, meaning in the standard of care that is agreed to by the medical professional community and two, that there was a deviation actually caused the injuries.

Three – Get the right attorney, not all attorneys practice medical malpractice cases. The reason I got involved in medical malpractice areas is through my cross over into civil rights. Medical malpractice cases require a different type of expertise. They require a different type of statutory requirement than a typical auto injury case. So, don’t just assume just because somebody takes auto injury cases or personal injury cases that they take medical malpractice cases, that is not entirely the case.

Four - The statute of limitations always runs in a medical malpractice case. A medical malpractice case means a statute of limitations, that is how much time you have to file a lawsuit. If you have run out of the statute of limitations, and you can file after that time period, you will be out of luck. Claims against health care providers must be brought within two years of the date that the injury occurred. Now, if the injury was unknown and could not have been discovered within a two-year period, that action may be brought within three years. But in no event after the expiration of three years. That means that time goes fast.
In a lot of cases when our loved one is experiencing a medical emergency we are not thinking about lawsuits. We are just thinking about getting that person treated and we are thinking of getting that person healthy. So, remember that clock is ticking at the time you discover that there could have been a mistake.

Five – Don’t be afraid to get a second opinion regarding doctors and don’t be afraid to find a new doctor if you don’t feel that you are receiving proper medical care. A lot of top medical malpractice cases are discovered through second opinions by doctors. Your health is too important to place in the hands of a provider who has not earned your confidence, isn’t answering your questions, or is not giving you adequate time and attention.

Now, in medical malpractice cases, here is my last bit of advice, be your own best advocate. Seek out a qualified professional attorney to review the case and qualified experts serving in your case.

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2019 Federalists Society National Lawyers Convention

Katherine Thomas — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 23:11:22 +0000

This is Ron Poliquin from DoverLawOffice.com,

I am reporting here from the Federalist Society National Convention. This is an organization debating society dedicated to originalism and promoting the rural law protecting the Constitution.

I’m here with about three-thousand other attorneys. As you can see this place is a madhouse and we’re having some great forums, great debates. The one issue that’s come up, that’s currently being debated is whether or not the Supreme Court is going to take Title 7. Title 7 is the federal statute that protects discrimination based on gender, based on sex or will they expand that to sexual orientation.

Now just let you know; I will give you a little brief background of the law as it is. Right now, homosexual harassment and in the 1 Cal case was deemed a violation of Title 7.

There’s also been deemed a break if you’re a violation if you discriminate based on gender stereotypes. So that’s another way that homosexuals are people of different sexual orientation can be protected under federal law. Now, of course, this doesn’t include many state law protections that have been coming out such as in Delaware which actually does protect transgender, LGBTQ, and other forms of sexual orientation discrimination.

The question right now will be whether or not the Supreme Court will expand Title 7 to deem sexual orientation discrimination not just by gender stereotypes or harassment as a violation of federal law, which gets you into federal court and get you all the punitive damages, compensatory damages, and attorney fees that are allowed under the Title 7 case.

Anyways, Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com, coming from DC at the Federal Society National Lawyers Convention. Thank You!

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