According to a recent working-conditions survey, many employers are not doing the routine maintenance they should to keep their labor and employment compliance in tip-top shape. There’s no guarantee that tuning up your workplace policies like you do your car will avoid lawsuits. But, some routine preventive maintenance will go a long way to ensuring better compliance and fewer problems.
The EEOC has sued Cleveland-based Dave’s Markets, alleging the chain tolerated a workplace rife with sexual harassment. The lawsuit claims that a longtime male manager made repeated and unwanted sexual advances against female employees, and the company did nothing to stop it.
It’s one of the toughest HR problems: Handling a sexual harassment claim when the alleged harasser is a supervisor. But all is not lost. With proper planning, you can minimize the liability risk. Here’s how:
Employees who complain about discrimination are protected from retaliation—but not from every consequence of their complaint. Take, for example, what often naturally occurs when someone files a harassment complaint that turns out to be unfounded or unworthy of drastic action like firing the alleged harasser. There’s bound to be backlash from other employees ...
It’s frustrating when an employee continually claims to be the victim of discrimination while internal investigations show that just isn’t so. If an employer is confident the employee’s charges are false, it can terminate the employee. That’s true even if you turn out to be wrong—because what matters is your good-faith belief that the employee made up the discrimination claims.
Most employers have policies in place to prevent or stop sexual harassment by supervisors and co-workers. Today, that isn’t enough. The reality is that you must also protect employees from customer or client harassment. Unless your sexual harassment policy addresses such harassment, you may find yourself facing a jury trial.
If you use employment contracts for key employees, and those contracts include a “for cause” discharge clause—essentially allowing you to terminate the contract (and employment) for specified reasons—include a paragraph that includes acts or omissions that occurred before the contract was signed.
Occasionally, employees work up the nerve to complain about sexual harassment only to get cold feet about pressing their complaints or naming names. What should you do if an employee complains, but then just asks for a transfer instead of identifying the alleged harasser? That’s the situation one employer recently faced.
Many sexual harassment complaints turn out to be much ado about very little. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can close the case and forget about the whole thing. That can be especially dangerous if the person about whom the complaint was made is a supervisor who still has authority over the employee who complained. Here’s how to handle the aftermath of a closed harassment complaint:
Do you know exactly how you should respond to a sexual or racial harassment complaint? If you don’t, now is a good time to come up with a strategy—before you have to implement it. Advice: Your plan should spell out exactly how the harassment investigation will be handled, who will handle it and what will happen if the allegations prove true.
Discipline one day after complaint? See you in court ... Obscure terms could trigger race-bias suit ... Teach front-line staff how to handle legal papers ... Employees can have more than one "employer" ... Employee is her own lawyer? Don't pull punches.
If bosses question employees about sexual relationships, you could wind up facing a sexual harassment complaint. And it may not be a simple case of quid pro quo harassment, but rather a hard-to-defend hostile environment claim.
Courts take retaliation seriously. In fact, they may hesitate to say an employer discriminated against an employee based on race, sex, age, disability or some other protected characteristic, but they’ll clamp down hard if they have the slightest suspicion that the employer punished the employee for merely alleging discrimination.
Terminations aren’t always clean. Sometimes they’re damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situations. That’s often so when you conclude that an employee harassed another and must be terminated. With nothing to lose, the fired employee may try to concoct a discrimination lawsuit.
Occasionally, employees work up the nerve to complain about sexual harassment only to get cold feet about pressing their complaints. What should you do if an employee complains, but then just asks for a transfer instead of identifying the alleged harasser? That’s the situation one employer recently faced.
The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t decided any big sexual harassment cases for several years. That doesn’t mean the problem has disappeared or that employers should slack off in their efforts to prevent and fix sexual harassment. Instead, review your training program to make sure sexual harassment gets the attention it deserves. Then be sure to investigate any harassment complaints you receive.
Here’s a bit of good news: Employees who believe that their co-workers have discriminated against them or harassed them on account of their protected characteristics can’t sue under both Title VII and state tort laws. That takes away one potentially expensive avenue for recovering damages.
When an alleged sexual harasser is a supervisor, employers aren’t liable if there was no tangible employment action taken—the harassed employee wasn’t fired, demoted or otherwise punished—and the harassment was stopped promptly. But it doesn’t always work out so neatly in larger organizations.
Workplace investigations sometimes open a can of worms. What if, for example, you find out that an employee complaining about sexual harassment had engaged in wrongdoing, too? Even if the wrongdoing is related to the underlying sexual harassment complaint, you can and should punish the employee for that.
Celeste Bruno used to work for Key West Mayor Charles “Sonny” McCoy. She claims he constantly regaled her with tales of his sexual conquests and asked prying questions about her and her husband’s sex life. She filed a sexual harassment complaint with the EEOC claiming the county knew of the mayor’s behavior and did nothing to stop it.
The town of Morristown has settled a long-running sexual harassment case for just under $1 million. The case involved IT specialist Ann Marie Spagnola, who alleged her boss, Eric Maurer, subjected her to sexual harassment by exposing her to sexually explicit materials.
Employers that have anti-harassment policies and clearly communicate them already have a leg up. But the real winners are employers that also carefully track every harassment complaint. They increase their odds of winning harassment cases because they can show whether an employee complained about behavior when it happened.
Q. An employee of ours has filed several sexual harassment complaints. But when we have investigated, they have turned out to be false. Can we do something about her?
Don’t think that because your organization doesn’t have direct control over some workers, you’re not their “employer” under federal law. Simply put, you’re probably the employer if you assign projects, control the means by which assignments are completed, specify the skills required, control how the work is done and hire and decide how much to pay the worker.
Lissa Hannan, a Verizon employee in the Pittsburgh area, filed a complaint alleging a male contractor sexually harassed her. The company essentially put her on hold and then hung up. Ten days after she filed her complaint, Verizon fired Hannan. The company ended up agreeing to pay her $37,000 to settle the lawsuit.
Some people have more trouble than others managing personal relationships. When such a person has a supervisory role, the result can be disastrous. Don’t fear discharging a lousy manager based on what you observe or find out following an investigation.
If you have ever been tempted to fire an alleged harasser just because you suspected the alleged victim might sue, consider this: The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that fear of being sued is no excuse for firing a suspected harasser without investigating.
Last year, in Thompson v. North Am. Stainless, the 6th Circuit recognized a claim under Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision for associational retaliation: “Title VII prohibit[s] employers from taking retaliatory action against employees not directly involved in protected activity, but who are so closely related to or associated with” employees who engage in protected activity. I remain critical of this standard because it leaves open the issue of how close is close enough.
Some companies mistakenly believe that offering an employee the option of quitting or being fired can save them from a later lawsuit. That isn’t always the case even if the employee decides to resign. In fact, an employee who quits to avoid being fired may have been “constructively discharged” and can still sue ...
Murphy Ford of Chester will pay $244,000 to settle sexual harassment complaints from three female employees. According to a complaint filed with the EEOC, the women complained to management about the dealership’s service manager who used to grab his private parts and make sexually explicit comments.
A Clemmons Burger King is the latest fish caught in the EEOC’s teen sexual harassment net. Burger King will pay $85,000 to a teenage employee who was subject to unwanted touching, sexual advances and requests for sexual favors from the store’s general manager.
Before firing any employee who has filed a harassment complaint, make sure your reasons are solid—and extremely well documented. That means checking to make sure supervisors followed company rules. Ensure that other employees with similar records were also fired. And be sure all documentation you are relying on was clearly created before the discrimination complaint.
Graffiti usually appears where the author is least likely to be caught creating it. Popular workplace spots are lavatories and work site portable toilets. And offensive graffiti can create an almost instantly hostile work environment. That’s why HR should remind supervisors to immediately report any graffiti—no matter where they find it.
Q.What kinds of information and documents should we keep in our personnel files?
A. You should include pretty much all documentation concerning an employee’s history with the company—attendance, pay history, job history, discipline and evaluations—except medical documentation and, perhaps, protected activity information concerning matters such as discrimination and harassment complaints.
There’s no time like now to review your sexual harassment policies and processes. First, remember that sexual harassment by a supervisor is the most dangerous kind. But that’s not the case with most sexual harassment complaints, however—the ones that occur between co-workers.
Question: “Last year, I made a sexual harassment complaint against my boss. He kept telling me to wear short skirts and asked if I had thong underwear. He offered to bring me wine and even showed up at my house. When I complained, the president said it was my fault because I wasn't firm enough when I told my boss to stop. He said we should forget about it and tell no one, because “nobody got hurt." Now my boss constantly follows me around the building, asks about my lunch plans and watches out the window when I leave. People have seen him going through my trash. This may not be harassment, but it’s annoying. What can I do until I find another job?” — Need Help
Muskegon County faces a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit claiming the county failed to respond to sexual harassment complaints dating back nine years. In 2000, Eva Amaya, a former computer analyst for the 60th District Court, complained about inappropriate touching by co-worker Eugene Beene ...
The best way to prevent a lawsuit is to promptly respond to every harassment complaint you receive from employees. Conduct a thorough investigation, reach a conclusion and document that you followed up and found no further problems. Be especially sure to show how you counseled or disciplined the harasser...
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act protects employees from sexual harassment by co-workers. But what happens if management stops the harassment but the co-workers find other ways to make life miserable for their victims? It’s HR’s responsibility to make sure a victim of sexual harassment isn’t targeted for other mistreatment ...
On Jan. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Title VII protects from retaliation employees who cooperate with employers’ internal harassment investigations. Some attorneys worry the decision will open the litigation floodgates for employees who believe they have suffered retaliation.
Lawsuits may be inevitable in today’s litigious society, but losing them is not. Follow these 10 rules to prevent the most common employment-related lawsuits—or at least increase your chances of winning them.
Here’s something to keep in mind when you find yourself having to terminate an employee who may later sue for race or other discrimination. Past positive evaluations and promotions can be used as solid evidence you didn’t discriminate against the employee.
It’s bound to happen. An employee will complain about supposed sexual harassment and you will have to investigate. How you handle that investigation could make the difference between winning a retaliation lawsuit and losing it—big time. Here’s the best approach:
Q. We are investigating a sexual harassment complaint. One of the employees accused of wrongdoing refuses to be interviewed without his lawyer. I know the attorney has no right to be there, but what are my options?
Not every sexual harassment complaint is legitimate. A thorough investigation may wind up showing that one of the parties is lying. Can you fire the presumed liar if he or she brought the complaint in the first place? The answer is a qualified “yes” ...
Doesn’t it seem like once an employee complains about harassment or
discrimination they enter some kind of “employee protection program,”
much like the witness protection program? They become practically
untouchable because employers are so afraid of being hit with
retaliation lawsuits. You may have legitimate business reasons—such a
restructuring—to eliminate a complainer’s job, just first sit back and
think how it will look to a jury ...
Sometimes it takes awhile for a company to find out how well an employee is going to work out. For example, it took Guardian Alarm Company of Michigan 21 years to figure out that Ronald Schocker wasn’t a good fit. Now a judge has said, “Wait a minute!”
Sometimes, an HR internal investigation reveals that, although harassment occurred, it didn’t rise to the level of illegal harassment. Don’t let that finding lull you into ignoring the complaint—and certainly don’t allow anyone to punish the person who complained ...
Many employees seem to believe that they can get job protection and immunity from reasonable discipline just by complaining to management about alleged harassment. But employees who make pests of themselves by reporting every comment they overhear or interaction they see aren’t automatically protected from retaliation ...
Be sure to take it seriously when employees come forward with sexual harassment complaints. Ignoring their complaints could embolden the harassers. To prevent such an unnecessary escalation, make sure you visit the work site and talk to everyone. Check for telltale signs of harassment, such as offensive posters or jokes on bulletin boards ...
Employees who complain about discrimination or offer to support another’s discrimination complaint sometimes fear that doing so will blacklist them from promotions or raises. When they, in fact, lose out on promotions, those denials can confirm their fears—and prompt them to file lawsuits. You can put a stop to that by making it absolutely clear why you chose to promote the person you did ...
Earlier this year, a federal jury in Florida awarded $630,000 to 14 female prison employees who alleged that the state Department of Corrections created a hostile work environment by failing to prevent lewd behavior by male inmates. The court made it very clear that employers must ensure all employees have a harassment-free workplace, regardless of who the harasser is ...
Sometimes, employees who know they are in trouble will file a discrimination complaint as a pre-emptive strike. They assume their employers will worry that a court might see any further disciplinary action as retaliation. Don’t be intimidated by this tactic! ...
Don’t dismiss a sexual harassment complaint just because an employee waits to come forward. A recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals case shows that employees can prove they really did feel harassed even if they waited a long time before complaining ...
According a recent Zogby International survey, 37% of U.S. workers report that they’ve been bullied at work. Not surprisingly, they say, the overwhelming majority (72%) of bullies are bosses. Workplace bullying is harassment that’s not necessarily based on an employee’s protected characteristic, such as gender or race. But, unlike harassment based on a protected class, bullying may not be illegal ...
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has agreed to pay more than $143,000 to settle sexual harassment complaints by Mary Harris, a GDOT secretary, and Carrie Hart, who staffs the front desk in the commissioner’s office ...
What happens if an employee has tolerated mild harassment for years without complaining and then the behavior escalates? If the employee stops work, takes disability leave and then files a sexual harassment complaint, what should you do? ...
In these difficult times, your organization may have to undergo a reduction in force (RIF). If you do, it pays to develop objective standards for who can stay and who must go. By outlining your plan and sticking with it, you reduce your chance of losing a lawsuit a former employee might bring. Remember that fired employees will visit an attorney, who will try to find a reason to sue you ...
Have your supervisors and managers kept up with the changes by regularly reminding all employees—new and old—how they can report alleged sexual harassment? If not, you need to set up a training schedule. It’s the best way to ensure no employee will come out of left field with a sexual harassment complaint, take it to court—and win ...
Janice Keels joined the Passaic municipal payroll as a judiciary clerk in 1999. Almost immediately, her supervisor noted that she had poor interpersonal skills. For example, Keels complained in May 2000 about a co-worker, saying she would hit her if she had to, and repeating, “I’ll hit her” ...
Employers know they have to investigate sexual harassment complaints. It’s the only way to avoid liability in some sexual harassment cases. But your investigation doesn’t have to be perfect—just prompt and reasonable ...
Jacqueline Smith worked as a server in the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) John J. Madden Mental Health Center from 2000 to 2004. In September 2003, a co-worker, Eddie Spivey, allegedly called Smith a sexually explicit name while their supervisor, Bella Ynares, was present ...
When an employee complains about alleged discrimination or harassment by a supervisor, take a careful look at what each person says is happening. As the following case shows, sometimes just a poor working relationship—not discrimination—is the source of the problem ...
When it comes to sexual harassment complaints, you won’t land in legal hot water if you conduct a thorough and fair investigation—even if you reach the wrong conclusion. What matters is that you take the charge seriously, investigate and come to a reasonable conclusion based on the findings ...
Annie Ludwig began working for the Rochester Psychiatric Center (RPC) as a psychiatric nurse in the Adult Services Unit. Within a month, she was counseled to improve her professional knowledge, supervision and attendance. Otherwise, she would be in danger of losing her job ...
A federal court has ruled that employees who believe their employers harass them because of their military status may file complaints under USERRA. The harassment angle breaks new legal ground. As more veterans return home from active duty, will it open the litigation floodgates?
Employers that use third parties (referred to in the law as credit reporting agencies, or CRAs) to perform background checks and investigations need to be aware of the requirements of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ...
Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has placed Anthony Gutierrez, his office’s director of general services, on leave during an investigation of sexual harassment complaints by staff members Vanessa Stout and Cindy Stankoski ...
Q. A female sales representative submitted a harassment complaint to HR about comments posted by one of her co-workers on MySpace. Our company’s Internet policy addresses only use of the Internet and personal e-mail in the office. Can we discipline the employee? ...
Many organizations pride themselves on offering religious accommodations. But some may be a little too quick to pat themselves on the back. It’s not enough to simply offer religious accommodations such as flexible schedules or shift swapping to allow worship or even prayer breaks ...
Scott Savage, a former Ohio State University-Mansfield reference librarian, is suing the university over discrimination he says he suffered because of his Christian beliefs ...
An employer often bends over backward when an employee says she’s been harassed. It feels compelled to treat the complaining employee with kid gloves to avoid possible retaliation charges. That may be a mistake, especially if the employee becomes disruptive and generally uncooperative ...`
Ordinarily, employers can’t punish employees who stand up for co-workers who are being discriminated against. But what if the employee speaks out against the employer’s treatment of someone who is not an employee? As the following case shows, punishing the employee probably doesn’t violate Title VII ...
Three former employees of a Lowe’s store in Longview, Wash., have filed a lawsuit alleging their managers repeatedly sexually harassed and then fired them for complaining about it ...
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Ellerth v. Burlington Industries were a wake-up call for employers to take affirmative steps to prevent, detect and remedy unlawful workplace harassment. When harassment rears its ugly head, here's how to conduct your investigation.
Minor annoyances, favoritism or other unfair treatment in the workplace aren’t enough to sustain a discrimination lawsuit. As the following case shows, employees have to be able to tolerate some uncomfortable moments without resorting to the legal system for relief ...
If your organization leases
temporary employees from an agency, what should you do if one of them
complains she’s being harassed? Who should do the investigation—your
organization or the temp agency? A new ruling says that even though
temps aren’t your employees, you’d better take quick action to
investigate the situation and stop the conduct—and the agency should do
the same.
When employees file frivolous complaints, it doesn’t count as a protected activity. That means an employee can’t set up his employer by filing a nonsensical discrimination claim and then waiting for some perceived punishment or imagined slight to create a retaliation lawsuit. Courts seem to be catching on to that common practice ...
Do you have a serial harasser on your hands? Has the finger been pointed at the same individual more than once? If so, don’t try to weasel your way out of a confrontation by simply separating the harasser from the harassed. You may get away with it once, but you’re courting trouble (and a potentially big lawsuit) if you try it again ...
Having a dedicated hotline for employees to report harassment and discrimination makes good sense. A hotline helps two ways. First, it gives employees a way to raise sensitive issues without going directly to their supervisors—who may be part of the problem. The second benefit is important if an employer winds up being dragged into court over trumped up charges ...
Employers in a union environment may think that all employees have to follow the collective bargaining agreement to resolve discrimination claims. But if that process is tainted or woefully inadequate, employees can sue under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act instead ...
If you downloaded your company handbook from the Internet or took it with you from your last job—beware! Take a look at your anti-harassment policy’s reporting procedures. A new court ruling shows why you should take your policy out, dust it off and look it over closely … at least before a jury does ...
Your organization probably has a sexual harassment policy and provides training on how it works. But does your policy give employees more than one way to lodge a complaint? It should. Here’s why ...
When office romances sour, scorned lovers often use Title VII to allege that their former lover was a sexual harasser. And even if the lovers are happy, workplace romances can cause problems in the office or on the shop floor. If co-workers feel a love affair results in favoritism, the relationship may lead to charges of conflict of interest, harassment, retaliation or discrimination ...
Over the course of a 16-year career, Ronnie McNorton found himself on the receiving end of many disciplinary actions by his employer, the Georgia Department of Transportation. But McNorton hung on and won several promotions. In 2002, that advancement stalled, ironically because McNorton helped another state employee get her career off the ground. If only he could have kept his stories straight ...
Although Florida’s state whistle-blower law applies only to state government and state contractors, don’t believe you are above the law just because you are a private employer. Rather than ignore a complaint—and risk expensive litigation—you need to establish policies to investigate whistle-blower complaints ...
A former recruiter for K-Sea Transportation of Staten Island is suing the company for $16 million, claiming it failed to address her sexual harassment complaints ...
Q. I know I’m supposed to investigate harassment complaints. I just don’t know what law requires it. Exactly why does an employer need to conduct an investigation of a harassment complaint? ...
When was the last time you read your company’s harassment reporting procedures? Could all employees in your organization understand how—and with whom—to file a complaint? It’s important to ask these questions in the wake of a new court ruling that should give you incentive to cut the legalese and confusion out of your reporting procedures ...
Sometimes, a problem employee claims harassment as a way to protect herself from legitimate discipline. When that happens, it may be tempting to ignore such claims on the presumption they are bogus. It may be tempting to dismiss her complaints as much ado about nothing. But you’ll ignore her at your own peril ...
It may seem obvious, but it bears repeating: Tell supervisors and managers to avoid discussing religion if at all possible. And never, ever use blunt terms to make an employee choose between her religion and her job. Instead, focus any discussion of religious accommodations on the company’s legitimate needs ...
The best—quite possibly the only—protection employers have against losing a sexual harassment lawsuit is an effective sexual harassment policy. But a policy isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if employees don’t know about it or find it hard to use ...
Sometimes employees who know they are in trouble at work will try to set up lawsuits. That way, they reason, if they get fired, they can sue for “retaliation.” It’s up to HR to ferret out such sneaky tricks and prevent those lawsuits. The best way is to make absolutely sure that you can justify any eventual discipline ...
When was the last time you read your company’s reporting procedures?
And where did you get it in the first place? Please don’t tell me you
copied it from your previous employer’s handbook or, worse yet, pulled
a “one-size-fits-all” policy off the Internet without customizing it. A
new court ruling shows why you should take it out, dust it off and look
it over closely...
If a victim of alleged sexual harassment waits months—or even a year or more—before complaining, you may wonder how serious her claim is. Don’t let your doubts affect how you handle the case. In fact, the best way to protect your organization is to act quickly on all harassment complaints, no matter how improbable, minor or tardy they may seem ...
If you thought only employees could put you on legal notice that
harassment is occurring in your workplace, maybe it’s time you looked
up … into the sky. A new court ruling says that “helicopter
parents”—super-involved moms and dads who hover over their kids’
lives—can officially flip your notice switch, requiring you to take
prompt effective action to stop the harassing conduct. If not, you’ll
see them both in court ...
Employees who quit in frustration when their harassment complaints go unheeded can sue, claiming they were “constructively discharged” because conditions were unbearable. That’s why it’s crucial for the HR office to respond to each and every complaint. Doing so can head off a surprise lawsuit ...
Corporate HR offices across the country began receiving e-mails last month that appeared to be from the EEOC but were actually bogus—and potentially dangerous ...
Here’s a risk you may not have considered: Ignoring a sexual harassment complaint may prompt the alleged victim to get help from outside law enforcement agencies. React inappropriately and you’re likely to have a retaliation suit on your hands ...
Many
companies have horribly confusing organizational charts—or no org
charts at all. A new court ruling issues a stern warning to employers:
If you want to avoid harassment liability, you’d better get your
straight-edged ruler out and connect employees to their supervisors by
name.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Texas employers, has refused to say that Title VII prohibits the use of polygraph examinations in harassment investigations. Now juries get to decide whether forcing an employee to undergo a polygraph exam is retaliation for filing a complaint ...
Twenty-two current and former workers for Casino Queen of East Saint Louis filed a federal lawsuit alleging the casino disciplines black workers more harshly than white workers and favors white employees in giving job assignments and promotions ...
Developing, implementing and enforcing a comprehensive anti-harassment policy is vital to create a safe and comfortable work environment and minimize the potential damage from harassment lawsuits. But having an anti-harassment policy is not enough; the policy must be implemented, promulgated and consistently enforced. Training employees and managers on harassment law and the employer’s harassment policy is an important part of an employer’s defense against a harassment claim—whether the alleged harassment was by a supervisor or a co-worker ...
Sometimes, truth is stranger than
fiction. That’s certainly true with the, um, “unique” religious
discrimination case that comes to us this month from America’s
heartland. The case hammers home a clear lesson: It’s never appropriate
for company leaders to force employees to adhere to certain religious
practice ...
There’s a new concern for managers and supervisors in New York state. Those who give out bad references or otherwise bad-mouth a former employee who claimed discrimination can be held personally liable for a conspiracy to retaliate ...
A federal jury has awarded $100,000 for pain and suffering to a former director of special education for the Malverne School District, who claimed she was fired for reporting sexual harassment. The director lost her underlying sexual harassment suit, but prevailed on the wrongful-firing claim ...
Lincoln, NE-based Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society will pay $285,000 plus a $50,000 annuity to Louella Rollins, a Pittsburgh-area woman who served as state manager for Woodmen in Pennsylvania. Rollins claimed that a man she supervised complained openly about having to work for a woman. She said the employee also grabbed and touched her ...
Remind supervisors, managers and HR staff: Don’t brush off or make light of sexual harassment complaints. Doing so can just add more fuel to the fire. When employees are ignored, they may begin to see every slight that comes their way—getting the cold shoulder at meetings or missing out on promotions—as retaliation for voicing their concerns about sexually hostile behavior. And that can make them much more likely to file lawsuits against your company ...
Question: Think you’ve got a dysfunctional workplace? Take a stroll through the recent 6th Circuit ruling in Parker v. General Extrusions.
The case describes a workplace in which Nancy Parker, one of the few
female employees on the machine-shop floor, was repeatedly taunted,
called names and physically harassed. The response from managers and HR
ranged from mild rebukes to outright humor.
When an employee says no to the sexual images posted in co-workers’ workstations and to their sexually laced comments, your company had better listen … and act. It shouldn’t debate over “how much” porn is acceptable. As a recent lawsuit shows, even if an employee initially tolerates a sexually charged workplace, she can drop the lawsuit hammer at any time ...
Responding to a harassment complaint is a lot like running a sprint
race—even if you start well and do everything right, one trip near the
finish will wipe you out. For HR, the most common problem comes
when it handles an initial harassment complaint or lawsuit just fine,
but then some genius in the office decides to “get back” at the
complainer in some way. Doing things 99% right just isn’t enough to stay out of court...
When an employee says “No” to the sexual images posted in
co-workers’ workstations and to their sexually laced comments, your
company better listen … and act. It can’t become caught up in a debate
over “how much” porn is acceptable. As a new lawsuit shows, even if an
employee initially tolerates a sexually charged workplace, she can drop
the lawsuit hammer at any time.
A Long Island woman has filed suit against Banc of America Securities, alleging the company “left her to hang out to dry and get punished by her co-workers” after she made a sexual-harassment complaint ...
According to the U.S. District Court, Eastern District, WayneStateUniversity appropriately handled sexual harassment complaints by an assistant director in the university’s Center for Chicano-Boricua Studies ...
In the good ol’ days, employers used to control all hiring decisions. Not anymore. Today, the EEOC has the power to decide whom you will have to roll out the red carpet for ...
Nothing disrupts a workplace like unbridled rumors, especially when it's about a sexual harassment complaint. Such chatter can make it hard to carry out a fair and impartial investigation. For that reason, you can—and should—be proactive about curbing idle speculation while your organization investigates ...
Firing an employee is a painful process. But delivering the news needn’t turn into a marathon discussion or airing of every management beef about the employee ...
Too many managers and supervisors offer unsolicited advice to employees who’ve filed discrimination complaints. The suggestions usually include being more of a “team player” and “not rocking the boat.” Tell managers such “helpful” career tips can backfire badly ...
When a company faces sexual harassment or other discrimination complaints, the investigation has to start as soon as possible. Sometimes that means suspending participants while you sort things out. A prompt conclusion to a thorough investigation is the key to avoiding retaliation charges when you tell everyone to take a “time out” ...
Do you have to tell your customers if you’re slapped with a sexual harassment verdict? You soon might have to. In a startling new court ruling, a judge in Illinois required a company to distribute a notice to its customers informing them of the $1 million sexual harassment verdict levied against it ...
While it’s never a good idea for someone with supervisory authority to engage in a sexual relationship with a subordinate, such an affair doesn’t always trigger employer liability ...
Can a supervisor be sued personally for alleged acts of discrimination in Michigan? Based on a January decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals, the answer is yes ...
Many HR professionals (and most supervisors) aren't prepared when called to serve as witnesses. One simple mistake can hurt your organization's chances and damage your professional image. Use the following eight tips to create practice sessions for yourself and other employees who serve as witnesses ...
Are your anti-harassment efforts legally bulletproof, or are they full of holes? Probably somewhere in between, if you're like most employers. Here are six holes that need patching in many employers' training and investigation practices ...
One wrong move (especially during the firing process) can send employees running for courthouse. Teach supervisors to avoid unnecessarily angering employees by pointing out the following common mistakes ...
Q. We have an employee who has filed several sexual harassment complaints. But when we investigate, they turn out to be false. Can we do something about her? —J.P., Oklahoma
Question: I report directly to the director and I also supervise the
receptionist/secretary in our agency. The problem is dealing with the
assistant director (AD), who is a bully. I have tried to let the
bullying slide, but the receptionist/secretary has submitted a
complaint to me on how uncomfortable it makes her feel when the AD
screams at me.
The AD gets mad about things I have no control over. She also makes
verbal changes on procedures and when we make the changes, she comes
back and states she didn’t say that. I handle payroll and she will come
in and make changes on payroll day. Then she comes into my office and
hollers and screams at me because I had to add information into the
payroll system. I have tried to speak to her. I have apologized to her.
But she is a bully, and I am at the point that I may need to look for
another position. The director speaks to her and she gets upset and
hollers at him, too. He allows it, and then I get it even worse. --- Anonymous
You know to keep employees' health records confidential and locked away. Yet some HR professionals and supervisors aren't so cautious when it comes to in-house talk of health information. Use the following court case to remind supervisors about the legal dangers of such gossip ...
In the good old days, employers used to have control over who they
hired. Not anymore. Today, the EEOC has the power to decide who you
will have to roll out the red carpet for.
The best harassment policy in the world isn't worth the paper it's written on if employees don't take it seriously. To show your policy has teeth, you have to let it bite ...
New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) prohibits discrimination against employees because of their “race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, liability for services in the Armed Forces of the United States, disability or nationality” ...
While it’s vital to react promptly when employees formally file sexual harassment complaints, what do you do if they approach you informally and don’t want to make a formal complaint? ...
If you don’t have an action plan in place for responding to sexual harassment complaints, develop one now. Don’t wait until the phone rings or an e-mail arrives detailing sexual wrongdoing. By then, it may be too late ...
A New Jersey appellate court recently granted a new trial to a former Paine Webber employee who claimed the company fired her for filing a sexual harassment complaint. During trial, the employee claimed Paine Webber withheld or destroyed critical documents ...
New Jersey attorneys may be feeling their clients’ pain on a whole new level. A recent district court ruling allowed an employee to sue the attorney who investigated her sexual harassment complaint (as well as her employer) ...
How would supervisors in your organization handle this
situation: A female employee walks into her boss’s office and complains
that one of her co-workers showed her pictures of himself engaged in
... activity best reserved for the privacy of one’s own home (get the
gist?). Pretty serious stuff. Apparently one guy didn’t think
so ...
Most organizations have comprehensive Internet, e-mail and electronic communications policies that spell out what's acceptable usage and what's not. But few employers have addressed a growing problem: the proliferation of employee Web logs, or "blogs" ...
HR Law 101: Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Courts are increasingly taking a dim view of employers that don't take decisive action to prevent sexual harassment ...
Q. A recent sexual harassment complaint reported the conduct of management employees at a private party. The party was outside the normal workday and wasn't sponsored by the company. What is the company's liability? —W.S., Wisconsin
If your organization doesn't currently make it clear that it prohibits supervisors from retaliating against employees who complain about discrimination, now's the time to hammer home that message ...
If you receive an EEOC or PHRC complaint, don't jump the gun to answer the charges. Carefully inspect the documents. If you don't question obvious problems now, such as lack of a verified signature, you lose the right to raise that issue later ...
Insubordination is a perfectly logical and legal reason to fire an employee. But juries will be suspicious if it looks like one of your supervisors "set up" the employee to give you a reason to terminate ...
Casting admiring glances or making other such flirtatious gestures toward a co-worker isn't sexual harassment under the Florida Civil Rights Act. That law doesn't require employers to guarantee that employees won't ever look at each other in a way perceived as a "come-on" ...
It’s been a few years since the U.S. Supreme Court laid down the law on sexual harassment.... Time breeds complacency, and too many organizations have let down their guard. The world’s best policy won’t do you any good collecting dust on a shelf ...
You and the supervisors at your organization may already know how to handle a sexual harassment complaint that appears genuine. But what should you do when you seriously doubt that a claim is legit? ...
Frivolous lawsuits will forever be a thorn in the side of HR. But, according to a new report, employees are becoming more successful in job discrimination complaints filed with the EEOC ...
If you’ve ever worried that participation in the internal investigation of an EEOC complaint might land you in trouble, you can take some comfort in a recent federal appeals court decision ...
Executive misconduct costs organizations an average of $900,000 a year:
more than six times the cost of manager misbehavior. Harassment and
other gender-related misconduct lead the list. So, what do you do?
Issue: Employees who are negatively affected by workplace discrimination can file lawsuits, even if they aren't the targets. Risk: The EEOC is encouraging such whistle-blower suits, which opens a new ...
Retaliating against employees for filing harassment complaints is an obvious no-no. But that doesn't mean employees automatically earn a "Do not touch" label ...
Issue: Employers can be liable for sexual harassment if they "knew or should have known" about it but failed to act. Risk: Courts increasingly say you "know" of harassment once ...
Hopefully, you already take any discrimination or harassment complaints from minority employees seriously. But what if a white male blows the whistle about race discrimination he sees affecting his minority co-workers? ...
Don't think that you can automatically swat away a pesky sexual-harassment suit by saying the complaining employee didn't follow your complaint procedure to a "T." Courts may let employees pursue their ...
When it comes to handling employee complaints of unfair treatment, you'd better have a policy and a procedure in place to handle retaliation claims. That's the $520,000 message a federal ...
Keep an open mind in investigations; juries will punish 'kangaroo courts' When investigating a sexual harassment complaint, don't rush to judgment, and don't allow supervisors to sidestep any steps ...
If your workplace has a "creative" side to it, listen up: A court has ruled for the first time that you can defend a sexual harassment claim by arguing a "creative ...
Don't make the mistake of assuming that your obligation to investigate a harassment complaint ends when the victimized employee quits. Reason: The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that employees who ...
Issue: Whether employees who resign have the same right to file harassment lawsuits as those who are fired. Risk/benefit: A new Supreme Court ruling says "Yes," quitters can sue. But ...
While it may be tempting, avoid firing employees in reaction to their in-house complaints or lawsuits, even if you think the charges are without merit. Reason: A jury will likely see ...
Issue: Courts will frown on "rubber-stamped" discipline against an employee who has complained of harassment. Risk: You can be implicated as part of an internal "conspiracy" to retaliate. Action: ...
It's not impossible to discipline employees who complain of discrimination. They're not untouchable. Just make sure you can show that the discipline flows from objective performance factors, not retaliation. Still, ...
You've got a new reason to take a harder line on sexual banter and crude antics in the workplace. One of the most conservative courts of appeal sent a clear message ...
Issue: A new ruling lowers the bar on what courts consider sexual harassment. Risk: Allowing "boys to be boys", even if they don't target anyone for abuse, can now cost ...
You know to investigate harassment complaints when they land on your desk. But what if the complaining employee shows a lack of interest in her initial complaint, ...
Issue: Courts place the burden on employers to complete investigations of sexual harassment complaints, even in the face of reluctant complainants. Risk: Failing to pursue complaints actively will come back ...
Issue: Responding to employee harassment complaints is a high-stakes venture. Risk: A botched investigation can damage employee moral and spark a lawsuit. Action: Make sure you (or any manager ...
After railroad laborer Sheila White complained that her foreman sexually harassed her, her employer investigated and temporarily suspended the foreman without pay. Soon after, the company gave White's forklift duties to ...
When does a company officially "know" of a harassment complaint? It's not always when the complaint is lodged with the designated person in your reporting procedures. If your lower-level managers get ...
During a layover in Rome, two Delta flight attendants went shopping. Afterward, the male employee invited his female co-worker to his hotel room to sample a new wine. After drinking a ...
The president of Windermere Relocation Services really wanted to win the Starbucks account. He told Maureen Little, the firm's top corporate services manager, that he wanted to "do whatever it takes ...
It started innocently enough. After Romelia Frazier's car was stolen, she rode to work for several months with another Delco employee, Bester Spears. He had just divorced a woman who had ...
The Cook County, Ill., Sheriff's Department fired Harriet Rizzo when it discovered that she didn't have a high school diploma as required, and she had lied about it on her job ...
When Hattie Star complained that a co-worker had grabbed her, Star's supervisor confronted the alleged harasser and told him to stay away from her. The supervisor reported the allegations to his ...
Lynne Barrett told seven other employees, the CEO's son and two lawyers that her supervisor sexually harassed her. But she never reported the misconduct to any of the 12 managers designated ...
After downing at least nine beers during and after a company dinner, which followed a training program, Ray Zakaras spoke freely about his objections to the program and made rude comments ...
After complaining to her store manager several times about harassment, Gabrielle Breda decided to resign and sue rather than take her complaint up the chain of command. Company policy ...
For months, Richard Corliss hurled racial slurs at two African-American co-workers at McDonald's. When the two women complained, their supervisor said he couldn't control Corliss' mouth, claimed he didn't know how ...
Faced with a bad situation, Wax Works record stores managed to make it even worse, and paid a big price. One of Wax Works' store managers, Kerry Ogden, had compiled ...
Steven and Karen Holman are not only married and work together in the same maintenance department, but they also filed suit together claiming sexual harassment ...
If you were stunned when a jury awarded $26.6 million to Jerold Mackenzie for wrongful discharge after he was fired for discussing a sexual innuendo ...
You don't have to worry that the target of your harassment investigation will turn around and sue you for emotional distress. The 2nd Circuit said he ...
Protect your organization from employee lawsuits for harassment by focusing your attention on both preventive and corrective measures. Provide every employee ...
