HR Specialist: North Carolina Employment Law

Complex state and local laws in the Tar Heel State can give employers the blues. Aggressive attorneys don’t stop with federal laws like FMLA, ADA and FLSA: they use state and local living-wage statutes, rural codes, plus discrimination and other laws to sue employers for sky’s-the-limit damages. This North Carolina-specific newsletter arrives monthly to help sue-proof every aspect of HR. Written in plain English, it’s your insurance policy for staying in step with current interpretations of state and local laws – and staying out of court. Learn more about HR Specialist: North Carolina Employment Law and the free report you’ll get when you subscribe...

Sometimes, employees don’t have enough information to judge whether something they observe at work is discrimination—or a legitimate management action.

Recent case: Police Officer Timothy Foxx received additional duties, including deciding who participated in training programs. Foxx didn’t receive a higher rank or more pay.

When Foxx’s superior officer disagreed with one of his training decisions (he told Foxx to never again register a particular female officer for training), Foxx protested, citing possible sex discrimination.

Then he lost the training coordinator position, but no other benefits or pay. He sued for retaliation.

The court rejected his lawsuit, concluding no adverse employment action had occurred—he had merely lost one of many duties. Plus, it wasn’t clear that discrimination had occurred. There could have been some other reason to deny training. (Foxx v. Town of Fletcher, No. 1:07-CV-336, WD NC, 2008)