Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Four Million Sounds About Right

Hard to prove.  Harder to punish.  These ladies got a nice present under the tree.

4 Woodland Hills restaurant workers awarded $5.7M in age discriminaton lawsuit

LOS ANGELES - Four former servers at a Woodland Hills restaurant were collectively awarded $5.68 million in a lawsuit alleging they were laid off from their jobs because of their ages.
The plaintiffs, Martha Aboulafia, 61, Cheryl B. Colgin, 61, Regina Greene, 49, and Patricia Monica, 70, had a combined 47 years of service at Cable’s Restaurant at 20929 Ventura Blvd. All were let go by the restaurant’s new owner in 2010, according to trial testimony.
The women sued Cable’s and its owners, GACN Inc., in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2011, alleging age discrimination and wrongful termination. On Dec. 17, a jury deliberated for less than two hours before unanimously awarding a combined $1.68 million in compensatory damages to the women for lost wages and emotional distress.
In a second phase of trial the same day, the jury added a combined total of $4 million in punitive damages after finding that the restaurant acted with fraud, oppression and/or malice after terminating all four, then replacing them within a short time with younger women in their 20s.
The restaurant was advertising for the plaintiffs’ replacements even after promising them that their minimum-wage jobs were safe, according to their attorney, James Rosen.

9 comments:

TJandTheBear said...

10YT at 2.98

Cinco-X said...

Creeping up, but still historically low...the question might be "can the treasury handle 10 Year rates with a 3 or 4 handle"?

Rob Dawg said...

The Fed holds trillions. Can they suffer the "losses" of net present value? It seems a stupid question on the face but look deeper. We are totally screwed if a dollar devaluation results in asset confiscation instead of taking up debt.

Cinco-X said...

Rob Dawg said...We are totally screwed if a dollar devaluation results in...

Deflation bad...That said, the Fed can probably print more than we think it can because there's no other currency ready/able to step up and take over the role of reserve currency. Of course, continuing current policies will hasten the day that one will...

TJandTheBear said...

Cinco-X,

From what I've read it's the banks that can't handle 10YT > 3%, and that there's also a huge number of people swimming naked with rate swaps.

If rates continue to creep up things could get very interesting very soon.

Cinco-X said...

TJandTheBear said... Cinco-X,
From what I've read it's the banks that can't handle 10YT > 3%, and that there's also a huge number of people swimming naked with rate swaps.
If rates continue to creep up things could get very interesting very soon.


This may well be true, though it's not clear to me why the banks have issues with the 10-Y and the Treasury does not...Still, if either the Treasury or the major banks balk at a 3 handle, I'd expect asset purchases to resume or return to previous levels. For the record, I never expected QE to end, and until I see it in some sustained fashion, I stand by that assertion.

Son of Brock Landers said...

Rob - The problem I see is we have a devaluation forced on us from external dollar holders, then the banks need a lifeline and the pols choose to enforce a bail-in. With what? well the assets of the rich must be protected, no debt writedowns and what's over there? Oh 401Ks and IRAs. Who holds them? Well, no one in the lower class and lookie here, that same lower class is voting for candidates that fundraise from the uppercrust (1% skews 2-1 lib). This doesn't even touch the SS math that just moved up auto-25% cut in 2029 instead of the 2040s. That will continue to deteriorate in the face of no jobs recovery.

TJandTheBear said...

Cinco-X,

The banks are holding the bag on lots of long-dated, low rate paper, so higher long rates come directly out of their hide.

We agree that QE is ultimately headed higher, not lower. If long rates climb too far the Fed will be forced to buy them down, 'cuz the economy overall can't afford them.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps accounting gimmicks will save the banks
again. Remember mark to market.
Sporkfed