- Adoption
- Sex CrimesCarol is admitted to practice law in state and federal courts in Minnesota and Wisconsin and the Seventh and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals. She received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University - Bloomington, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her JD from Indiana University - Bloomington. Her practice focuses on employment law, intellectual property law and mediation/arbitration. Carol is Of Counsel to Bakke Norman. She is fluent in French. In her free time, Carol has been involved in community organizations, including service on the boards of our local United Way, YMCA, Youth Action Hudson, Hudson Area Swim Association, local and State Bar Associations, and St Croix Valley Sexual Assault Response Team.
- Assault
- Restraining Order3 In Byers a female employee terminated a sexual relationship with a male coworker. Due to problems Byers had terminating the relationship, she obtained a restraining order against the coworker. After showing the restraining order to her employer and explaining its meaning, Byers continued to be harassed by the coworker. Byers reported the problem to her employer on numerous occasions. The employer talked to the coworker, but the harassment continued. Despite the fact that the coworker was jailed several times for violating the restraining order, he was not suspended, terminated, or otherwise reprimanded by the employer. After this had continued for more than a year, Byers notified her employer that she could not return to work while the coworker continued to work there.
- Trade Secrets
- Intellectual PropertyIntellectual property (IP) consists of certain creations of the intellect, including technological, marketing, literary, and artistic creations. Patents, copyrights and trademarks are the most common legal tools used to protect intellectual property. In general, they provide an exclusive right to use and commercialize the creation.
- Workers CompensationUntil recently, an employee who sustained an emotional injury from harassment on the job was barred from pursuing a claim for the harassment under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA). The Labor Industry Review Commission (LIRC) dismissed such claims on grounds that the Worker's Compensation Act (WCA) contains an exclusive remedy provision barring all claims against an employer when liability exists under the WCA. LIRC's position has been upheld by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in often-cited decisions such as Schachtner v. DILHR
- Wrongful Termination5 Following a well-reasoned opinion in Brockmeyer v. Dun & Bradstreet, which held that "an employee has a cause of action for wrongful discharge when the discharge is contrary to a fundamental and well-defined public policy as evidenced by existing law," the Bushko court retreated. The plaintiff in Bushko claimed he was fired for making internal complaints about plant safety, hazardous waste, and honesty. The employer argued that it had every right to discharge its employee, as he had no contract of employment. Obviously troubled by the prospect of every adverse employment decision being open to court scrutiny, and thus swallowing up the employment-at-will rule, the Bushko court sought to balance the employer's and employees' interests. It opted to limit the public policy exception (and thus an actionable claim for wrongful discharge) to those employees fired for refusing a command, instruction, or request of the employer to violate public policy as established in existing law.
- Employment DiscriminationEmployment discrimination takes many forms, including any prohibited action having an adverse effect on the terms or conditions of employment. An example would be refusing to consider a woman for a job entailing overnight travel on the assumption she would have child care problems. Another form of employment discrimination is allowing a sexually — or otherwise discriminatorily — intimidating or harassing environment to prevail. For instance, allowing offensive jokes or racist remarks after an employee has complained about it. An employer is required to provide all employees with a work atmosphere free from such intimidation or harassment.
- Employment ContractWhile it is generally not the case, some employees do have a contract of employment with their employer providing for a specific term of employment, or promising that an employee will not be terminated unless good cause is shown. Employers who want to be able to terminate employees freely should not enter into employment contracts without legal advice.
- Employment LitigationWhile we believe that every effort should be made to avoid costly litigation, we are experienced in handling and litigating large and small employment claims, at administrative levels, as well as in state and federal court.
- Disability DiscriminationIn 1988 the court of appeals decided Schachtner v. DILHR, holding that the exclusive remedy provision of the WCA barred an employee who was refused rehire after a work-related injury from pursuing a handicap discrimination claim under the WFEA. Two years later a similar result was reached for part of an employee's discrimination claim in Norris v. DILHR. In Norris a mentally retarded employee, who was refused rehire after a work-related injury, was barred from bringing a disability discrimination claim based on the work-related injury, but was permitted to bring the same claim based on his mental retardation.