New York Paralegal Blog

  See Updated Story! Manhattan District AtSee Updated Story!torney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced charges against DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN, 62, for the sexual assault of a maid at the Sofitel New York hotel on West 44th Street. The defendant is charged with two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, one count of Attempted Rape in the First Degree, one count of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, one count of Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree, one count of Forcible Touching, and one count of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree. The top charge, Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, is a class B violent Felony, carrying with it a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa C. Jackson remanded the defendant. The next court date is May 20, 2011. According to the criminal complaint filed by the District Attorney, STRAUSS-KAHN shut the door his hotel room, thereby preventing the victim, a member of the hotel’s cleaning staff, fr...

CHICAGO – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on 5/6/2011 that a federal judge has entered a $195,000 consent decree to resolve a national origin harassment lawsuit brought by the agency against the Hilton Lisle/Naperville Hotel in Lisle, Ill. In its lawsuit, EEOC charged that the Hilton Lisle/Naperville violated federal law by subjecting Hispanic employees in the hotel kitchen to offensive comments. Specifically, the EEOC charged that the hotel’s executive chef regularly referred to Hispanic employees as “s--cs” and “wetbacks.” National origin discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit, captioned EEOC v. Fireside West, LLC d/b/a Hilton Lisle/Naperville , No. 09 cv-5979, on Sept. 28, 2009 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The three-year consent decree resolving the suit, a...