Employers are free to pay employees different rates based on training, experience and education. You’ll be fine as long as you can justify your pay criteria. However, an employee’s sex is never a legitimate differentiator.
Discrimination and Harassment
Discrimination and harassment claims often increase in a down economy. Learn the proper techniques for conducing proper workplace harassment investigations, providing sexual harassment training, and more to reduce claims of employment discrimination and preventing sexual harassment in the workplace.
Before you authorize hiring or promoting a candidate who doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for the position, consider the potential for litigation. The fact is, if an employee or applicant who does meet the requirements belongs to a different protected class than the worker who got the job, you could wind up facing a lawsuit.
If a pregnant employee hears anything other than “Congratulations!” when she shares the news, she may get suspicious. And things will really get messy if the employee suddenly finds herself contending with schedule changes and comments indicating her pregnancy isn’t exactly welcome news.
Looks like the National Basketball Association will make up for time lost to the lockout by playing on both the basketball and legal courts for the next few months. A former NBA security official claims his firing last summer was retaliation for reporting sexual harassment incidents.
Minneapolis-based grocery chain Supervalu faces a lawsuit from a former employee at a distribution center in Pennsylvania. Long-time employee Terri Wolfinger claims the company changed the lifting requirements in her job description to prevent her from returning to work after she injured her arm.
If a supervisor believes an employee has such a negative attitude that it warrants firing, do your HR duty! Immediately ask for documentation of the problem. It can’t wait until after the termination occurs. After-the-fact, subjective assessments may not survive a court challenge.
To prove age discrimination, a fired employee must be age 40 or older and show that she was replaced by someone under 40 who was less qualified. Marcy Starnes, who managed the Carmel Cinema in Putnam County, didn’t have to look far to find her replacement. It was her daughter.
Philadelphia-based Imperial Security will pay $50,000 to settle EEOC charges it discriminated against a woman and fired her because of her religious attire.
The federal Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is suing New York Mills-based Lund Boat Co. and parent company Brunswick Corp., alleging discrimination against women in its hiring practices.
Many employers wrongly assume that they can automatically terminate an employee once she used up her 12-week entitlement of FMLA leave. Such a policy could spell trouble.
