On April 5th, 2024, Kennedy Hunt P.C. filed a complaint against Breath Source LLC, R Empowerment, and Travis Steffens in violation of Missouri common law, the Missouri Minimum Wage Law, and the Missouri Wage Payment Act.  According to the lawsuit, the defendants employed our client as the Director of Customer Support starting in October 2022 at a salary of $77,000 a year. Our client’s employment ended in about July 2023.  According to the lawsuit, the defendants failed to compensate our client for the hours of work performed from about March 1, 2023 through the end of his employment ..read more

A new Illinois law blocks housing discrimination based on sources of income, a huge step in addressing inequities for people with disabilities in the state that was nearly 20 years in the making. The legislation is an amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act and adds source of income as a protected class for seeking housing who may not have wage incomes and may not be able to work in a traditional job because of their disabilities.  The new law has huge impacts on people in Illinois. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, over half of the households in Illinois rely on ..read more

A new report from the FBI reveals hate crimes are steadily on the rise in schools across the U.S., nearly doubling between 2018 and 2022. Schools are now the third most common place for hate crimes in the country, a disturbing trend threatening some of the youngest people in the nation.  The FBI data reports a staggering 1,300 hate crimes were recorded in K-12 schools and colleges in 2022, compared to just 700 in 2018. Black students were the most frequent victims, according to the data. LGBTQ+ students follow with a reported 900 offenses, and Jewish students, with 745 offenses reported ..read more

Social media is now seen as the new frontier of discrimination – perpetuating long-held disparities in this country, especially as it relates to housing. Human rights organizations like the ACLU are now accusing platforms like Meta of perpetuating “digitial redlining” – which basically means using technology as a means to discriminate against users. This can especially occur with the advertisements a platform decides to serve someone, or not – which is based on gender, race, age, and other protected traits under the Civil Rights Act.  For example, a platform may use someone’s zipcode to d ..read more

On March 5th, 2024, Kennedy Hunt P.C. filed a complaint in co-counsel with the Law Offices of Joan M. Swartz against Pet-Ag, Inc. for employment discrimination based on his race, sex, color, national origin, and ancestry in violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Our client is a Hispanic male of Mexican ancestry and a member of one or more protected classes under the Civil Rights Act. According to the lawsuit, our client was employed by the defendant from September 2015 to November 2022 as a Senior Director of Operations.  In August 2021, our client go ..read more

On February 24th, 2024, Kennedy Hunt P.C. filed a complaint against Exel Inc. d/b/a DHL Supply Chain for discrimination in violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act and the Missouri Workers Compensation Law. According to the lawsuit, Exel Inc. d/b/a DHL Supply Chain employed our client as a lead materials handler. Per the lawsuit, our client was injured in the course of his employment and filed claims for worker’s compensation relating to the injuries, but continued to perform his duties with braces to support his wrist.  In November 2020, our client got a new supervisor. The lawsuit all ..read more

On February 5th, 2024, Kennedy Hunt P.C. landed a favorable default judgment in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County. The Court ordered Defendant Pace Transport, Inc., owned and run by former football player Orlando Pace, to pay $522,000 in damages to our client.  The default judgment found Pace Transport, Inc. to have violated the Missouri Human Rights Act and Missouri’s Workers Compensation Retaliation laws.  Defendant employed our client from approximately October 2015 to April 2018. The default judgment found that Pace Transport, Inc. terminated our client’s employment due to he ..read more

On January 26th, 2024, Kennedy Hunt P.C. filed a complaint against Gateway Regional YMCA and Patonville R-III School District for discrimination based on disability in violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act.  The lawsuit alleges Gateway Regional YMCA and Patonville R-III School District discriminated against minor Plaintiff because he has disabilities. He was diagnosed at birth with Down’s Syndrome.  Per the lawsuit: As part of its youth development programs, Defendant YMCA contracts with local school districts to provide students with before- and after-school care. Defendant YM ..read more

St. Louis Post Dispatch recently covered Kennedy Hunt P.C.’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Rockwood School District.  Per the Post Dispatch:  The Rockwood School District failed to intervene when a high school football player endured nearly two years of sexual harassment and hazing from his teammates, according to a lawsuit filed against the district. The suit, filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court, alleges the Eureka High School student was repeatedly assaulted, harassed and discriminated against starting his freshman year in 2021. On January 9th, 2024, Kennedy Hunt P.C. fil ..read more

The Illinois Times recently profiled Kennedy Hunt P.C’s favorable ruling in a years-long Fair Housing battle against the City of Springfield, Illinois.  On December 5, 2023, United States District Court for the Central District Of Illinois issued a favorable order in the years-long Fair Housing case Kennedy Hunt P.C. and the United States have jointly been fighting against the City of Springfield, Illinois. The court is now requiring the City to pay $61,982,50 in civil penalties to the Department of Justice, and $53,654.50 in prejudgment interest to our client, Individual Advocacy Group ..read more