Author and journalist Matt Taibbi has returned to writing for Rolling Stone magazine with an article profiling JPMorgan Chase whistleblower Alayne Fleischmann. Taibbi is most acclaimed for his books, Griftopia and more recently, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap. The ACLU of Illinois is pleased to be welcoming Mr. Taibbi as the guest speaker at the first annual ACLU Lunch on April 17, 2015 in Chicago.

The Rolling Stone article reveals what Taibbi refers to as "one of the biggest cases of white-collar crime in American history." For years, JPMorgan Chase was engaged in a massive scam reselling bad mortgages as above-subprime securities. Taibbi writes about when Fleischmann first became suspicious of the scam:

A few months into her tenure, Fleischmann would later testify in a DOJ deposition, the bank hired a new manager for diligence, the group in charge of reviewing and clearing loans. Fleischmann quickly ran into a problem with this manager, technically one of her superiors. She says he told her and other employees to stop sending him e-mails. The department, it seemed, was wary of putting anything in writing when it came to its mortgage deals.

"If you sent him an e-mail, he would actually come out and yell at you," she recalls. "The whole point of having a compliance and diligence group is to have policies that are set out clearly in writing. So to have exactly the opposite of that – that was very worrisome." One former high-ranking federal prosecutor said that if he were taking a criminal case to trial, the information about this e-mail policy would be crucial. "I would begin and end my opening statement with that," he says. "It shows these people knew what they were doing and were trying not to get caught."

Read the entire article.
Join Matt Taibbi at the ACLU Lunch on April 17.

With just a few days to go before Election Day we know you are being barraged with political advertising, mailings and emails for specific candidates. The ACLU of Illinois wants to remind you that there are two critical ballot issues worthy of your support. 

The first is an advisory referendum question that asks whether insurance plans in Illinois that offer prescription drug coverage should also cover prescription birth control. The ACLU urges a strong YES vote on this question. We must send a strong signal to legislators, other elected officials and regulators that birth control for women is a medical necessity and must be treated with dignity and respect, not as some political football.

The second question is a proposed constitutional amendment that explicitly protects voting rights in Illinois. This measure also deserves a strong YES vote from you. The ACLU historically has worked to expand and protect voting rights for all persons in the United States and we would like to see these principles enshrined in Illinois' state Constitution.

Please keep these issues in mind when you go to vote.

Thirty-six years ago this week, the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act was signed into law. The law protects pregnant workers from job discrimination, and requires that employers treat pregnant workers the same as other workers in similar situations (like those with temporary disabilities).

Unfortunately, many women are still denied reasonable accommodations at work when they get pregnant. For example, Quinniya Hearn was working at Chicago’s Roseland Community Hospital as a mental health counselor when she became pregnant. According to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on her behalf, Ms. Hearn asked Roseland to accommodate her high-risk pregnancy by temporarily excusing her from restraining disorderly and combative patients.  Roseland refused to accommodate her medically ordered restrictions, but granted the same request when made by a male security guard with an injury. Roseland later fired Ms. Hearn, allegedly because of her pregnancy as well.

The EEOC has made fighting pregnancy discrimination a priority issue in recent years, filing a number of lawsuits and issuing new guidance on pregnancy discrimination for employers. In April, EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum expressed shock at how many employers and employees don’t realize that pregnancy discrimination is illegal.  Illinois recently addressed the issue by enacting a law that expands workplace protections for pregnant employees, including requiring employers to tell employees about their rights.
 

Have you experienced pregnancy discrimination at work?  Tell us about it here.