Management Training

Final rules are now in place for enforcing Executive Order 13496, the White House decree requiring all federal contractors and subcontractors to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The following questions and answers cover some of the issues you may have to deal with.

The California State Senate and State Assembly have approved a bill that would restrict the use of credit reports by employers that conduct background checks on job applicants and employees. But enactment isn’t a sure thing, based on the recent history of similar legislation.

Q. Our company would like to review applicants’ credit information when we make hiring decisions. Can we do this?

Sometimes a newly minted supervisor takes the opportunity to settle old scores with former co-workers. That can create liability for the employer. That’s why—before the promotion goes into effect—you must train the candidates on sensitive issues such as harassment and retaliation.

So your work rules are fair and neutral. There’s no way employees belonging to a protected class would sue you, alleging the rule has a disparate impact. Guess again—it happens. Consider this recent case, which has resulted in years of legal wrangling.

Don’t fret needlessly that every decision you make is the absolute correct one. What really counts is that you acted fairly and honestly. Good faith is all that is required, as the following case shows.

An Applebee’s restaurant in Fayetteville is facing an EEOC sex discrimination lawsuit after managers allegedly reneged on a promise to promote Amanda Antisdel to a bartending position and then hired a less experienced man instead.

Are you considering using personality or other screening tests to decide which job applicants to hire? If so, make sure you fully understand what you are doing and how those tests work. There are plenty of companies eager to sell you tests and assessments that they say will take some of the work out of the screening processes. But if those tests aren’t valid and end up screening out members of a protected class, you may be buying more than a test.

Here’s a new Florida case you should be aware of. A federal district court judge has allowed an FMLA interference case to go forward based on an employee’s testimony that she was absent due to a serious health condition when her employer terminated her.

Employees who are punished for complaining about alleged illegal discrimination can sue for that retaliation. And they don’t have to show that actual discrimination took place—just that they believed in good faith that it did. Still, that doesn’t mean that every vague complaint can be used as the basis for a retaliation claim.