With a Democratic-controlled Congress, President-elect Barack Obama will likely push for several key employment law priorities, including simplifying union organizing and expanding FMLA coverage.
Q. Our new plant manager wants me to revise our sexual harassment policy to require employees to submit complaints in writing. He says this will formalize the procedure and help ensure that only valid complaints are filed. I don’t think this is a good idea. Is it?
Protecting yourself and your organization from lawsuits starts the minute you decide to hire someone. Potential lawsuit land mines line your path. To stay out of court, build your hiring process around these principles:
Q. We have an employee who claims to be a witch. She contends that witchcraft is her religion and has asked for certain holidays off. Are we required to accommodate this employee’s request?
Q. I know employees can be required to waive their rights to sue to resolve employment-related disputes, either through a negotiated release or binding arbitration agreement. Can an employer also require employees to agree to waive their rights to file EEOC charges?
An Alice-based oil field services company has settled a reverse race discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC. The commission filed the suit in 2008 on behalf of Bert Yaklin, a white parts-department employee of Coil Tubing Services, which supports the petroleum industry in Texas and Louisiana.
In a case that has simple yet profound lessons for employers, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an employer wasn’t liable for co-worker harassment—all because the company acted fast and effectively when it discovered the harassment.
The EEOC has filed national-origin and race discrimination charges against Immokalee-based packing company Six L’s. The complaint alleges Haitian employees endured a hostile work environment in which they were continually degraded by a largely Hispanic cadre of manages who considered Haitian workers “slaves.”
Propak Logistics, an Arkansas-based freight management company, has drawn the ire of the EEOC, which is suing the firm for refusing to hire applicants who weren’t Hispanic for nonmanagement positions at its plant in Shelby.
Unlike employees, independent contractors can’t sue under Title VII for alleged discrimination. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have legal options if they believe they’ve suffered race discrimination. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has just concluded that an old Civil War-era law still outlaws discrimination in contracting.
A former Teknor Color Co. employee is suing the Jacksonville company for violating the ADA and the Civil Rights Act when it terminated her from her crew leader position.
Several cases on the U.S. Supreme Court's docket this term involve employment and labor-related issues. One of the most notable of these will decide how much time plaintiffs have to file a lawsuit when they believe they have been unfairly penalized by hiring tests. Other cases will resolve issues involving an alleged whistle-blower, pension benefits, race discrimination and labor arbitration.
You are no doubt familiar with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It prohibits various kinds of discrimination and also spells out tight deadlines for when employees must file complaints with a state discrimination agency or the EEOC. But there is another avenue employees can use to get into federal court, as long as race is at the core of the discrimination claim: Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is accusing Norfolk Southern Railway of sex discrimination in a lawsuit filed recently in Maryland. The lawsuit says Norfolk Southern supervisors deprived a female employee of an opportunity for the training she would need to be promoted to a yardmaster.
In the days before ending its 2008-09 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two important employment law rulings. Now it's harder for employees to win age bias lawsuits. Also, the court ruled on race bias in pre-hire testing.
Have you checked your company’s bulletin boards lately? Do they show the correct, updated federal- and state-law posters? As this week’s new court ruling shows, poster mistakes can actually breathe new life into supposedly dead employment lawsuits …
The EEOC has filed charges against Crom Corp. and Crom Equipment Rentals, two Gainesville construction companies, for firing a black worker after he complained of racial harassment following an alleged series of disturbing events.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was designed to ensure pay equity for women. It does a whole lot more than that! Learn how this landmark legislation affects all protected employee classes and could influence your employee benefits program.
Claims of pregnancy discrimination have gained attention again with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen. In light of the decision, now is the time to conduct an audit of your practices, policies and plans to make sure they comply with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ’s requirements.
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.
Last year, U.S. employees filed a record number of legal complaints claiming they suffered discrimination at work. You know that U.S. anti-discrimination laws require managers to treat all applicants and employees equally. But what, specifically, do the laws require of supervisors and managers? Here’s a rundown:
On April 1, the U.S. Supreme Court held that arbitration provisions in collective-bargaining agreements that clearly and unmistakably require arbitration of Age Discrimination in Employment (ADEA) claims are enforceable.
Q. Carlos, a longtime Latino employee, frequently complains that he is paid less than his white, non-Latino counterparts. He blames this pay discrepancy on a previous supervisor who allegedly denied him several promotions in the late 1990s because of his national origin. I have heard about the Lilly Ledbetter Act. Could it affect us in this case?
Under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, each paycheck that unfairly pays a worker less than it should is a discriminatory act. Now is the time to audit your pay policies. Involve your attorneys—to take advantage of attorney-client privilege protection while you correct any discriminatory practices you uncover.
In what some employment law attorneys are calling one of the most important employment law cases of the decade, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 29 that the city of New Haven shouldn’t have thrown out promotion test results of all firefighters just because it feared the test would have a disparate impact on black firefighters. What's the practical impact? Read on ...
Despite the daily economic lamentations, some employers are still hiring. Employers that are hiring may think they are in the catbird seat because they may have hundreds of applicants for each position. But a bonanza of applicants is no excuse for shoddy hiring practices.
The Supreme Court has ruled that women whose retirement benefits are worth less because they weren’t credited for time spent on maternity leave before enactment of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act can’t sue to recover lost funds. The decision in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen generally followed the reasoning the High Court used in its landmark Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber ruling: If a policy was legal at the time alleged discrimination occurred, employees can’t challenge it retroactively.
The Supreme Court on May 18 ruled that women whose retirement benefits are worth less because they weren’t credited for time spent on maternity leave before enactment of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act can’t sue to recover lost funds. Learn more about a case with important implications for benefits programs.
On Jan. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court once again expanded the ability of employees to sue for retaliation. The court held that an employee who answers a question about a fellow employee’s improper conduct during an internal sexual harassment investigation is engaging in “protected activity” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
A new EEOC document spells out the best practices employers should follow to avoid discriminating against workers who care for ill family members, an issue that's especially critical in a down economy. Follow our links to download your copy of this important EEOC guidance.
J.C. Penney has agreed to settle a racial discrimination suit filed by Reinell Singh, an African-American employee at a Staten Island store. Singh alleged her supervisor used racially offensive names when referring to her and ultimately fired her because of her race.
Last year, U.S. employees filed a record number of legal complaints claiming they suffered discrimination at work. You know that U.S. anti-discrimination laws require managers to treat all applicants and employees equally. But what, specifically, do the laws require of supervisors and managers? Here’s a rundown.
Despite the daily economic lamentations, some employers are still hiring. Those employers may think they are in the catbird seat because they may have hundreds of applicants for each position. But a bonanza of applicants is no excuse for shoddy hiring practices. You must make sure they comply with state and federal laws.
On Jan. 29, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which may be the most important change in anti-discrimination laws in decades. It applies to all pending compensation-related lawsuits, but limits back pay to two years. Employers can look ahead to many years of legal wrangling over the interpretation of the seven key words of the act: “a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice.”
A Beaumont-area Victoria’s Secret employee recently filed suit in Jefferson County District Court alleging she was discriminated against because of her pregnancy. Krystal Burns brought her suit under Title VII, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Texas Labor Code.
As an employer, you may be used to cases moving quickly through the EEOC and on to court. That’s because employees must file EEOC complaints within 300 days of the alleged discrimination. They then have 90 days after the EEOC dismisses the complaint to file a federal lawsuit. But black employees can also file a lawsuit under another section of the Civil Rights Act.
Carole Smith, who worked for property management firm Normandy Properties, sued the company for pregnancy discrimination, and a jury awarded her $600,000 in compensatory damages. Then it assessed the company $1.2 million in punitive damages.
People who identify themselves as Native Americans and believe they have been discriminated against may be able to sue based on two distinct claims for the same characteristic. Such individuals can claim discrimination based on national origin or race.
So you’ve had enough. The employee messed up big time again and you
can’t take it any more. Thank goodness all your ducks have been lined
up by a supervisor who documented previous poor performance. There’s
even a “last chance” agreement in the employee’s file. What a gift! Go
ahead and pull the plug. This is a worry-free decision, right? Not so
fast, as a new court ruling shows. First, you better make sure the
previous documentation was written by an unbiased supervisor. This begs
the timely question: “Who can you trust any more?”
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against the city of Bonita Springs, claiming it violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by harboring a racially hostile environment in the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Do you sometimes let employees bend company policy … just a little? It’s
really no big deal, right? A new court ruling warns that if you start
bending a policy for one, you’d better be ready to bend it for all.
Being flexible can sometimes be fatal.
HR Law 101: The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who can perform a job's essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation. All employers that have 15 or more employees must comply with the law ...
Nieland Bynoe was hired as a driver for UPS Freight in 2007. He hadn’t even made it through orientation, however, before he was fired for refusing to shave his beard and cut off his dreadlocks ... The EEOC has sued on his behalf.
HR Law 101: Protecting yourself and your company from lawsuits starts the minute you decide to hire someone. Potential lawsuit land mines line your path. Federal laws provide a patchwork of legislation protecting workers and applicants from discrimination by employers ...
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.
A health care workers’ union has filed a lawsuit against the city of Fresno, claiming it violated the union’s constitutional rights by failing to allow a union advertisement on city buses.
During this term, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider employment cases concerning arbitration, pregnancy discrimination, protected activity and union fee use.
Title VII prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from religious discrimination. It outlaws treating employees or applicants differently based on their religion in any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, promotions, discipline and pay. To help employers comply with the law, the EEOC issued new, specific guidelines in 2008.
An Elkhart employer is off the hook for retaliatory discharge for now—but maybe not for long. Lisa Lubarsky was reportedly a good employee of INOVA Federal Credit Union in Elkhart. But then she sued in a South Bend federal court for retaliatory discharge under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...
Hiring decisions are tough, especially when you add the worry over whether rejected applicants may think you discriminated against them. But as long as you don’t actively conceal critical facts about whom you hired, rejected applicants have to move fast to sue ...
No matter how careful employers are, they still can be sued. Recognizing the risk, more employers are choosing to protect themselves with employment practices liability insurance (EPLI), which covers your organization if it’s hit with an employment lawsuit. But it’s important to know which coverage is right for you ...
Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and applicants based on their religion. The EEOC recently published guidance to help employers deal with employees’ religion-based questions regarding time off, free speech, religious clothing and more ...
The definition of a disability is now satisfied if a claimant shows that he has been subjected to an action prohibited by the Americans with Disabilities Act because of an actual or perceived impairment without regard to whether the impairment limits or is perceived to limit a major life activity.
The presidential campaign has everyone talking politics, and inevitably a lot of that talking takes place at work. As the campaign season moves toward the general election, many employers are re-examining their workplace policies concerning political activities and speech. Evidence suggests employers must educate employees concerning workplace political speech ...
When an employee announces she’s pregnant, her employer had better be aware of the federal pregnancy discrimination law, state maternity leave laws and the employee’s right to FMLA and pregnancy disability leave.
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 ...
Train managers, executives and, yes, business owners that discrimination on the basis of religion is illegal. They need to understand that making assumptions based on religion—how certain customers would perceive a waitress’s headscarf, for example—is a virtual invitation to be sued. Hire and promote based only on skills and talent ...
Employees who complain about co-worker or management discrimination against employees are protected from retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. But what about employees who complain to management that their co-workers may be discriminating against customers? Are they protected from retaliation, too? Not in Illinois ...
Sukhbir Channa, a practicing Sikh, has sued Walt Disney World after the theme park fired him for allegedly not having the “Disney look.” Channa wears a turban, beard and long hair—practices required by his religious beliefs. This is a case in which a company’s dress code collides with workplace diversity, and it may be a sign of more conflict to come ...
Do criminal background checks lead to bias? The EEOC will have to weigh that question when it investigates discrimination charges filed against Madison Square Garden by Charlene Clarke. Clarke, a black woman from the Bronx, accepted a food worker position at The Garden in September 2007. One month later, the arena withdrew its offer after Clarke’s background check revealed a misdemeanor assault charge ...
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that employees who want to sue for most kinds of employment discrimination under Texas state law must use the provisions of the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. They can’t sue under the Texas Whistleblower Act in an effort to sidestep the CHRA’s rather complex procedures or miss its short filing deadlines ...
Question: Employers often feel cornered when poor-performing employees take
job-protected FMLA leave. Can you terminate such employees while
they’re out on leave? It often comes down to one question: How well
have you documented the poor performance? …
Employers that think their liability ends when a terminated employee walks out the door better think again. A recent New Jersey case expanded employees’ rights to sue employers for post-termination nonemployment-related conduct. In the wake of the decision, courts may construe common employer acts as retaliation ...
When one of your employees
confides in her manager that she’s being harassed by a co-worker, what
will that manager say? Hopefully, it’ll be something more constructive
than “Go along with it,”...
An Indiana employer must now respond to charges it misled employees when it promised FMLA benefits in its handbook, even though the company is too small to be covered by the FMLA. The case, recently decided by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, shows the problems that arise when employers promise more than they are willing to deliver in their employee handbooks ...
In November 2004, members of the board of Maracci Temple 13 in Detroit called Eronda Garner into a meeting. Garner, a part-time bartender for the Grenadier Lounge, which the temple runs, was pregnant. The board told her she was being let go because it feared tending bar was unsafe for a pregnant woman ...
Earlier this year, the U. S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, whose decisions apply to Michigan employers, expanded the coverage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s anti-retaliation provision when it held that the fiancé of an employee who made a complaint to the EEOC could bring a retaliation action when he was discharged by the employer ...
Colorado (like nearly every other state) historically has been an “at-will” employment state. That means employers are free to fire an employee, and an employee is free to quit, at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. But this fall, that could all change. Ballot Initiative 76 would amend the state constitution to eliminate at-will employment ...
The risk is real: Even if you draft airtight employment policies, an employee could sue you tomorrow ... and a jury may believe his story. That's why more companies are adding employment practices liability insurance (EPLI). Here's our primer on EPLI, including a list of questions the most important questions to ask when shopping for coverage.
Q. About six months ago, we hired a new employee for our accounting department. Although he successfully completed his probationary period and has no formal disciplinary actions issued against him, he simply has an unpleasant personality and does not mesh well with the other employees in the department. Can we simply terminate him? After all, Ohio is an “at will” state. ...
The economy’s current slowdown—following seven years of growth—is erasing two decades of progress for working women. Women historically have weathered recessions relatively well. A new congressional report says that trend ended in the fourth quarter of 2007, as both employment rates and pay began to fall.
Asking your administrative assistant to fetch you coffee may be
old-school, but is it sex discrimination? In a recent case, a female
employee got in such a froth about her bosses’ demands for coffee that
she said, “Get your own coffee and see you in court!” ...
The growth of XM and Sirius satellite radio service has brought uncensored radio programming into cubicles, warehouses and breakrooms. And as a new court ruling proves, employees who overhear such sexual banter—even if it’s not directed at them—can sue for harassment ...
When an employee who was fired or didn’t get a promotion sues, it’s easy to get angry—especially if you don’t believe you or your organization’s supervisors did anything wrong. But that’s a mistake. The better approach is to remain cordial and civil. Here’s why ...
While Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination based on national origin, it does not separately protect employees from discrimination based on their citizenship status. What counts is alleged discrimination based on the country of origin, not whether someone is a citizen of the United States or some other country ...
Georgia employers have long believed they were off the hook when employees failed to file EEOC discrimination complaints within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. But employees who charge race discrimination under a previously little-known post-Civil War discrimination law aren’t bound by the 180-day limit ...
For the first time, the Indiana Supreme Court has endorsed a claim brought by a former employee against a supervisor (rather than the company for whom he worked) on the grounds that the general harassment was so severe as to constitute illegal bullying ...
Bad news for employers: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 27 that employees who suffer retaliation after voicing complaints about on-the-job race discrimination can file lawsuits under a little-known Civil War-era law. The result: increased risk of retaliation lawsuits and bigger jury awards.
In December, the EEOC issued new guidance on employment tests and selection procedures under three laws: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The key to complying is to make sure each employment test is directly job-related and focuses on business necessity ...
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act caps how much employers have to pay for everything except back wages in discrimination cases. The limits on punitive damages depend on how many employees the company has. Now a federal court has clarified a fine point—the employee number that counts is how many employees the company had in the year the discrimination took place ...
Employers, take notice: A new type of accommodation is required in New Jersey. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has signed into law an amendment to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) that makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee because of a sincerely held religious practice or observance ...
Do you have to treat transgendered job applicants differently? Which
box, if any, do you check on the application—male or female? And what
special laws must you know about?
Is there’s a “good ol' boy” network growing in your organization? If promotions and raises tend to go just to employees who win management's favor—and not to those who perform, regardless of race or gender—you could easily find yourself on the losing end of a big lawsuit. How big? Try $24 million!
Jennifer Ohda was hired in 2004 as a part-time mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in South Bend. On her first day, Ohda was assigned to a male training officer named Dale. At the end of Ohda’s shift, a supervisor, Linda Batteast, said, “Dale, tell your little helper to go home tonight and eat something.” ...
Even though Florida’s Civil Rights Act does not outlaw sexual orientation bias, employers must still comply with local ordinances that do. And employers also should prepare to comply with potential changes in federal laws. Incorporating anti-gay bias training into your regular anti-discrimination training carries a number of benefits ...
Exactly what is race? And who is a member of a protected class based on race? Does the color of one’s skin count more than the country of origin? Those are some of the questions a federal appeals court recently tackled ...
The alphabet soup of federal HR laws—ADA, ADEA, FMLA and so forth—comes with a side order of compliance headaches. But some of those laws apply only to some organizations. Don't waste your time worrying about compliance if you don't have to. Here's the skinny on which laws you might be able to ignore—and which you absolutely must not ...
The recently enacted Ohio Veterans Package amends the Ohio Civil Rights Act to bar discrimination based on “military status.” As a result, Ohio employers now face new legal requirements on both the state and federal fronts for how they treat military employees and their families ...
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 ...
Good news for employers with strong anti-nepotism policies: The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a claim based on alleged familial status discrimination. The court ruled that Title VII does not protect family members from an employer’s decision not to hire a relative when company rules bar nepotism ...
Indiana is about to join 14 other states that already have enacted laws to support breastfeeding women by protecting their right to express milk in the workplace. Starting July 1, 2008, Indiana companies that employ at least 25 workers will be required to provide certain basic facilities for women to express breast milk during the working day ...
Q. We are a small not-for-profit organization with eight full-time and 20 (give or take) part-time employees. One of our full-time employees is asking about maternity leave. We currently do not have a policy in place for maternity leave. What are our options? ...
The Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) is the state’s super anti-discrimination law combining the elements of several federal laws, including Title VII, the ADEA and the ADA. While those federal anti-discrimination laws cover employers with 15 or more employees, the MHRA covers all employers regardless of size ...
In recent months, the EEOC has made a lot of noise about new initiatives to combat workplace discrimination. Three of the most prominent include (1) the E-RACE Initiative, (2) employment testing and (3) protections for caregivers ...
Q. Our company is trying to reduce our medical insurance costs. I have been asked whether we could eliminate coverage for contraceptives. If we provide health care that includes a prescription drug benefit, are we required to provide coverage for contraceptives? ...
Federal employees are required to contact their agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity counsel within 45 days of experiencing alleged discrimination unless circumstances beyond an employee’s control prevent her from contacting the counselor. But it takes more than a blanket “I was depressed” to win an extension ...
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 ...
HR Law 101: When designing compensation plans, employers should take into consideration whether the pay schedules have a negative impact on older workers. Several pay discrimination cases have reached the Supreme Court in recent years ...
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (the legal basis of many discrimination lawsuits) applies to anyone over whom an employer exercises control—that is, dictating the “manner and means” by which the individual performs the job. That means the law may cover even an otherwise independent contractor ...
Eugene Gates Jr. had worked in a Charlotte, N.C., grocery store for nearly 40 years when it was purchased by Compare Foods, based in Freeport, N.Y. Shortly after the buyout, Compare cut his hours in half and gave his shifts to a young Hispanic worker ...
Eugene Gates Jr. had worked as a meat slicer in a Charlotte grocery store for nearly 40 years when it was purchased by Compare Foods, of Freeport, N.Y. Shortly after the buyout, the company cut his hours in half and gave his shifts to a young Hispanic worker, telling Gates the company needed someone who could better relate to the store’s customers ...
As U.S. senators, front-running presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama each earn $169,300 per year. But what if pay rates in the Senate reflected demographic realities of the modern American work force? Then Clinton would make $130,361 a year, while Obama would earn $125,282.
Here’s yet another reason to clean up the workplace and make certain it’s free of harassment, graffiti and other evidence of a hostile work environment: Employees can collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in punitive damages even if they weren’t physically or financially harmed by the hostile workplace ...
HR Law 101: Two laws govern U.S. immigration policy: the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, which was amended in 1990. For each new employee hired, U.S. employers must complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The I-9 establishes the employee’s identity and legal work status.
Goshen-based Supreme Corporation, the nation’s leading truck body manufacturer, has agreed to pay $427,000 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit with the EEOC and seven former employees ...
On-the-job racism in America is a growing problem more than 40 years after the Civil Rights Act made employment discrimination illegal. That's why the EEOC has launched a new education and enforcement initiative called E-RACE (Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment.).
Are your
managers giving you only half the story when recommending a
termination? Watch out! As a new court ruling says, this kind of
“willful ignorance” on your part is no defense to discriminatory
conduct ...
While workplace bullying certainly has existed for as long as mean people have worked alongside others, only recently has it emerged as an issue for the courts to handle. As awareness of “workplace bullying” arises, so does potential litigation and liability for employers ...
Can a boss hire or promote people simply because he has a religious
obligation to “help his own?” Can managers incorporate their religious
beliefs when making employment decisions?
Businesses must stay abreast of an alphabet soup of federal laws—ADA, ADEA, FMLA and so forth—each with its own requirements. Further complicating matters, most states have their own laws that override the federal requirements. To comply, you first must know which laws apply to your business, based on the number of people you employ ...
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? ...
Q. A former employee has brought a charge of racial discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. I employ 10 people. Will I have to defend this claim? ...
If you thought last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Ledbetter case made it clear that employees must file EEOC complaints within 300 days of suffering a discriminatory pay decision, think again. That deadline applies only to sex discrimination cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act ...
Q. We are a nonunion plant that uses a seniority-based bidding system for work shifts. A recent hire has complained that due to his lack of seniority, he is consistently being scheduled to work on Saturday, which is his Sabbath. Do we have to accommodate his religion by honoring his request to never work on Saturdays? ...
Employees whose jobs involve telling their employers that they may be violating laws aren’t necessarily protected from retaliation under North Carolina law or under the federal Title VII—if the reporting concerns areas covered by the Civil Rights Act or the Fair Labor Standards Act ...
Advances in genetic research have renewed attention on the workplace implications of genetic testing. Genetic research has many potential benefits. But there is growing concern that employers with access to genetic information may use it to discriminate ...
The EEOC has slapped The Geo Group, a Boca Raton-based prison management company, with a religious discrimination lawsuit over the company’s 2005 ban on Muslim head scarves ...
Whether an employer is liable for workplace harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or state law oftentimes turns on the status of the harasser. If the employee’s supervisor is the harasser, liability for adverse action harassment is automatic. If, however, the harasser is a fellow employee or a supervisor other than the employee’s, the employee must show that the employer knew or should have known about the harassing behavior ...
Employees who must stop working at a certain point in their pregnancies because a union agreement compels the leave are not entitled to unemployment compensation in Ohio. That’s true even if the pregnant employee could physically work and would have done so if it were an option ...
Q. An employee of ours has a very distinct, offensive odor. I received several complaints about the smell, so I confronted the employee, hoping to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, he did not respond well and threatened to sue. Does he have a case? ...
Good news for federal employers: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) doesn’t give your employees additional rights to practice their religion. Instead, when an employee claims an employer’s grooming policies interfere with his right to practice his religion, only Title VII applies ...
In May 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Inc., a case that limits the potential liability of employers in wage discrimination claims brought under Title VII. Although New Jersey state courts often look to federal decisions for guidance, it is uncertain how Ledbetter will be applied in a state court action involving the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination ...
New Jersey law provides more time than federal law for employees to sue their employers for discrimination. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) allows employees to make discrimination claims up to two years following termination, longer than under the federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. That means employees who miss their EEOC filing deadline for federal claims still can sue under state law ...
If you think you can prevent employees from suing you directly by negotiating a union contract specifying that all employment disputes go to arbitration, think again. Even if the collective-bargaining agreement specifies that every employment-law dispute will be arbitrated, your employees still can go to state or federal court with their claims ...
Q. We have a company policy requiring male employees to keep their hair cut short. One worker says we can’t force him to cut his hair because we don’t tell female workers to do the same. Is this true? ...
Q. Can we require a job applicant to cut his hair as a condition of employment even if he alleges that his religion forbids him from cutting his hair? ...
A federal jury has awarded a Tyson Foods supervisor $1 million, illustrating again that preventing racial discrimination is much cheaper than trying to litigate your way out of a preventable lawsuit. Take this opportunity to remind managers that what they say does matter.
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 ...
The EEOC recently issued enforcement guidance declaring that disparate treatment of employees who care for children, parents or other family members violates federal law. “Disparate treatment” generally means an employer intentionally treated employees differently because of a protected factor such as race, gender, age or—in this case—their need to care for family members ...
The Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA) is North Carolina’s super anti-discrimination law combining elements of several federal laws, including Title VII, the Fair Labor Standards Act, OSHA and USERRA. The Employment Discrimination Bureau in the state Department of Labor (www.nclabor.com/edb/edb.htm) enforces REDA ...
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) case involving FedEx drivers. Employees in three states, including Florida, filed an ADEA suit against FedEx, citing policies designed to “drive out older workers” ...
Citing the toxicity of secondhand smoke, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed Senate Bill 500, the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, into law on July 23. The law takes effect Jan. 1 and requires employers to provide smoke-free workplaces for all employees. The new state law does not mean employers can ignore local anti-smoking ordinances. Municipalities may still enact smoking bans that are tougher than state law, but all Illinois jurisdictions must meet the new state standards when the law takes effect ...
North Carolina mirrors America’s growing diversity in many ways. Today, mosques occupy old churches, co-workers wear burqas and yarmulkes, and some employees request “prayer breaks.” Religious diversity is a reason for celebration, but it also presents challenges in the workplace ...
Religious discrimination can take many forms, including, apparently the forced singing of "Happy Birthday" to that embarrassed-looking guy sitting with his buddies in the booth by the window.
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...
Try this on for gross: A female employee gains access to her boss’s e-mail account without permission and discovers a vulgar e-mail sent by a male co-worker to the boss. The subject of the e-mail: her genitals. So, does this count as a hostile work environment? ...
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.
n a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has handed employers a major victory. No longer will you have to worry that an employment decision you made years—even decades—earlier will come back to haunt you ...
Employers use a wide variety of tests to determine whether job applicants can perform the jobs they seek. The tests usually measure the candidates’ knowledge, skills and abilities. But if tests cover anything other than the employee’s ability to perform the job’s essential functions, employers could find themselves defending the tests in court ...
Good news for government employers: Employees who sue for discrimination under both the federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Florida Civil Rights Act don’t get to collect double damages ...
Good news if you’ve ever wondered whether that arbitration clause you had your employees sign is valid. As long as certain conditions are met, employers can require employees to sign an arbitration agreement as a condition of employment ...
The U.S. Supreme Court handed employers a major victory in a new 5-4 ruling. No longer will you have to worry that an employment decision you made years — even decades — earlier will come back to haunt you ...
Few issues are as personal and potentially divisive as religion. Controversies generated by the “war on terror,” the abortion debate and other moral and ethical questions sometimes spill over into the workplace ...
Q. Our new plant manager wants me to revise our sexual harassment policy to require that complaints be in writing. He says this will formalize the procedure and help ensure that only valid complaints are filed. I don’t think this is a good idea. Is it?
Two recent court decisions—one by the U.S. Supreme Court and another by a Georgia court—mean employers may soon see a spike in lawsuits brought by employees rushing to meet a 180-day deadline for filing discrimination claims.
Some new mothers returning to work after giving birth request time off during the workday to express and store breast milk. Some states have passed specific laws protecting nursing women from harassment and discrimination ...
Philadelphia landmark Geno’s Steaks made headlines when it posted a sign that reads, “This is America. When ordering, please speak English” ... Although the Geno’s case deals with an attempt to apply an “English-only” rule to customers, it highlights a growing issue in U.S. workplaces ...
Too many companies’ sexual harassment policies are ancient history—drafted almost a decade ago after the U.S. Supreme Court laid down strict liability rules for how employers must protect employees from sexual harassment. But a dusty binder on a shelf won’t do anything to protect your company ...
Try this on
for gross. A female employee gains access to her boss’s e-mail account
without permission and discovers a vulgar e-mail sent by a male
co-worker to her male boss. The subject of the e-mail: her genitals.So,
does this create an illegal hostile work environment, even though the
e-mail was not sent to the woman and she was never intended to read it?
Employers can establish reasonable dress code requirements, including grooming standards. However, it’s not an absolute right ... If an employee cites religious reasons for not complying with the dress code, look further. Don’t automatically discipline ...
Illinois mirrors America’s growing diversity in many ways. Today, mosques occupy old churches; co-workers wear burqas and yarmulkes; and some employees request “prayer breaks” ...
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act makes it illegal to retaliate against employees who complain about discrimination. Ordinarily, employees must show a strong time-related connection between their initial complaint and the alleged retaliation. However, employees can file years later if they can show that the individual who allegedly retaliated waited until he was in a position to order a payback ...
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 ...
Two new resources on federal compliance and a legislative attempt to address last week’s Supreme Court decision on pay discrimination head this week’s news from Washington.
This week’s
important U.S. Supreme Court ruling on pay discrimination resulted in a
major victory for employers nationwide … and an unusually heated debate
between Supreme Court justices. The 5-4 vote means employees no longer
can sit on wage discrimination claims for years. They have only 180
days to file their claims with the EEOC or the claim is forever barred.
Period. Sounds like good news, right? But be aware: This ruling
likely will, in the short run, lead to a spike in pay-discrimination
claims...
The U.S. Supreme Court handed employers a major victory this week by clarifying that workers who claim pay discrimination must file their complaints within 180 days of the alleged offense. But this ruling could, in the short run, lead to a spike in pay-bias claims.
Employers need to keep their eye on a growing trend: a groundswell of support for more freedom to practice religion in the workplace. And support for the movement is coming from some unexpected quarters: the U.S. Supreme Court and a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators ...
Pennsylvania mirrors America's growing diversity in many ways. Today, mosques occupy old churches; co-workers wear burqas and yarmulkes; and some employees request "prayer breaks." Religious diversity is a reason for celebration in a pluralistic society, but it also presents challenges in the workplace ...
Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 has become an increasingly common route for African-Americans to bring to federal court a variety of discrimination claims not covered by Title VII. But claims of national-origin discrimination aren’t allowed under Section 1981...
One part of the federal law that bans job discrimination (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) makes it illegal to retaliate against employees who engage in “protected activity,” such as filing a discrimination complaint. But here’s a key point to remember: That protected activity must be related to discrimination claims under Title VII ...
Conventional wisdom holds that if you have fewer than 15 employees, workers can’t sue you for sexual harassment in Georgia. Well, conventional wisdom is wrong ...
Georgia mirrors America’s growing diversity in many ways. Today, mosques occupy old churches; many workers wear burqas and yarmulkes; and some employees request “prayer breaks.” Religious diversity is a reason for celebration, but it also presents challenges in the workplace ...
Ohio mirrors America’s growing diversity in many ways. Today, mosques occupy old churches; co-workers wear burqas and yarmulkes; and some employees request “prayer breaks.” Religious diversity is a reason for celebration, but it also presents challenges in the workplace ...
You’d think
that going into a retail store to pay retail prices with real green
money would be a sight for a salesperson’s sore eyes. Not the case at
Dillard’s Department Store in Kansas City, which is now facing a messy
lawsuit because of one saleswoman’s rudeness.
HR Law 101: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination based on race, national origin and religion. The law applies to all employers that have at least 15 full- or part-time workers and includes U.S. companies that employ Americans abroad ...
HR Law 101: Section 1981, a little-known section of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, prohibits racial discrimination in the making and enforcement of contracts. Now, employees are increasingly using Section 1981 instead of Title VII to sue for discrimination because there's no cap on damage awards ...
HR Law 101: Since passage of the 1991 Civil Rights Act, jury trials now are allowed when the plaintiff alleges intentional discrimination and seeks compensatory or punitive damages. However, a jury can’t be told of the statutory limits on the amount of compensatory and punitive damages it can award ...
HR Law 101: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against workers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. An array of federal and state laws further refine the definition of discrimination ...
HR Law 101: Your supervisors probably understand that they can’t pay a male more than a female to perform the same job or dole out promotions only to males. What they may not appreciate are the more subtle forms that gender discrimination may take. They may not make an effort to scrutinize their decisions to uncover any entrenched patterns of discrimination and practices that discourage women from applying for promotions or asking for raises ...
HR Law 101: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978 prohibits discrimination on the basis of "pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions." Employers can't deny a woman a job or a promotion merely because she's pregnant or has had an abortion ...
HR Law 101: Sex discrimination and sexual harassment are illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The law requires that employers treat male and female workers equally in all terms and conditions of employment ...
HR Law 101: Workplace dress codes touch on a variety of issues, including workplace safety, freedom of speech, personal hygiene, customer relations, religious freedom, the minimum wage and racial and gender stereotypes. Employers have a number of legitimate reasons for imposing a dress code, but court rulings have limited their options...
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. My company offers 10 weeks paid maternity leave. Recently, a male employee asked whether he could take maternity leave. I said no, only women are eligible to take such leave. Was I right? —K.R., Maryland
Here's another point to get the attention of your managers and supervisors when they complain about yet another discrimination training session. If they don't pay attention, it's not just the company that may suffer. They could be sued personally, too ...
The federal job anti-discrimination law (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) prohibits two types of discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact. Because automated tests, such as résumé-screening programs, are blind to applicants' race, religion, gender and national origin, they likely can't create a disparate-treatment case. However, such programs can still have a disparate impact on minorities ...
In most cases, an employee who works for an American company can sue that company even when he or she works overseas. But you should be aware of important limitations, including those that cover noncitizen employees ...
When the U.S. Supreme Court opens its new term on Oct. 2, look for a clear theme to the employment-related cases it has chosen to address: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...
HR Law 101: In recent years, various forms of alternative dispute resolution have gained popularity. Mandatory arbitration in particular is attractive to employers because employees who sign arbitration agreements forfeit their right to sue in federal or state court ...
Florida mirrors America’s growing diversity in many ways. Today, co-workers wear burqas and yarmulkes, and some employees request prayer breaks. Religious diversity is a reason for celebration, but it also presents workplace challenges. Religious discrimination claims filed with the EEOC more than doubled in the past year ...
If your organization uses credit checks in the hiring process, you’d better have a sound business reason for doing so or you could face a new type of litigation ...
HR Law 101: When independent contractors are acting as a company’s agents, the company is liable for their actions, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003 ...
HR Law 101: A “protected” applicant is a person with one or more of the characteristics defined by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, sex, national origin, religion), is age 40 or older or has a disability. If your hiring process tends to screen out certain classes of applicants, you could be libel for discrimination ...
Don't allow discrimination to continue simply because the "discriminator" and "discriminatee" are among the same racial minority. The EEOC is warning that it's seeing more discrimination complaints between people of the ...
Issue: Courts are seeing a spike in discrimination claims involving people of the same race. Risk: Some supervisors wrongly ignore same-race complaints, believing, for example, that "blacks can't discriminate against ...
The U.S. Supreme Court last month set a four-year statute of limitations in so-called "Section 1981" discrimination cases. While most employees file discrimination cases under Title VII of the Civil ...
Issue: You must walk a fine line between allowing employees' religious expression and preventing that expression from harming the business or creating unbalanced treatment of employees. Benefit: Federal law says ...
After a workplace investigation, check with all parties involved (including witnesses) to make sure they haven't been retaliated against. The case: During an investigation into misconduct, employee Donny Abbott told supervisors ...
Issue: Done right, your job application is a great tool to collect applicant information and communicate key data about your organization. Risk: Unnecessary questions can run you afoul of federal ...
Issue: Managers sometimes ignore bias claims when the "discriminator" and the "discriminatee" are from the same protected group. Risk: Your organization is liable under bias claims regardless of who makes ...
The U.S. Supreme Court historically starts new terms on the first Monday in October. This year, for the first time in three decades, it began work in September. Reason: to ...
Issue: Requiring employees to speak English can be legally risky. Risk: Overly broad or misguided policies can trigger a national-origin discrimination complaint ...
THE LAW. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although Title VII doesn't specifically mention ...
Employees typically file race discrimination lawsuits under Title VII. But 20 percent of the work force is employed by companies that are exempt from the law because of their size ...
Issue: In addition to suing the organization, employees may go after you personally in court. Risk: Certain federal employment laws allow employees to sue their individual managers and HR reps, ...
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could hold down awards in workplace discrimination cases. At issue is whether a $300,000 cap on compensatory damages that ...
Jackie Lauture, an African-American, was an at-will employee at IBM for 16 years before she was fired for poor performance. She sued for race discrimination ...
