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Discipline / Investigations

Tollway EEO officer claims punishment after complaints

11/01/2010
An Equal Employment Opportunity officer with the Illinois Tollway has sued the agency, claiming she was suspended in retaliation for two reports she wrote alleging contracting improprieties by its former chief procurement officer.

Steamed at Maxwell House, employee wins reinstatement

10/25/2010

Francena Smith will return to her former job at Kraft Foods’ Maxwell House division in Jacksonville following an arbitrator’s decision. Smith filed an EEOC gender discrimination claim alleging she was disciplined more harshly than several male workers who were also involved in incidents at the plant that caused contamination of the coffee.

Document all efforts to investigate complaints

10/25/2010
One of the best ways to show you took a harassment or discrimination complaint seriously is to come up with figures quantifying your efforts to resolve it. A critical step: logging the number of hours you spent investigating claims, along with a detailed account of all the other steps you took.

Can we talk? How to tackle tough disciplinary conversations

10/19/2010

Managers often have to confront “challenging” employees who, while typically good at their jobs, too often display unprofessional or downright obnoxious behavior. The best way to tackle such problems is to meet with employees right when you spot the problem behavior. Here’s how to do so in a way that protects the organization from employee claims that they weren’t treated fairly.

Employee lied during internal investigation? That’s a firing offense you can act on

10/04/2010

Employers know they must conduct prompt and thorough investigations once an employee complains about discrimination or harassment. The integrity of the investigative process depends on the honesty of all participants. You don’t have to tolerate employees who lie during an investigation, even if the lie is a minor one.

Hey, boss, you better call HR! Warn managers against trying to resolve complaints informally

09/30/2010

Sometimes, managers and supervisors just want their employees to get along and get their work done. When they hear someone complaining about sexual or other harassment, they may be tempted to blow it off as a distraction and just ignore it or tell the co-workers involved to stop it. That’s not good enough.

When investigating bias, there’s fast … and too fast

09/27/2010
You no doubt know you should act fast to investigate when employees complain about discrimination. But that doesn’t mean you need to rush to complete your inquiry in just one day.

Congress probes bias at Air Marshal’s Cincy office

09/24/2010
The Cincinnati field office of the Federal Air Marshal Service faces a Congressional inquiry after being named as the defendant in six civil rights lawsuits and 15 EEOC complaints. U.S. Rep. Ed Towns, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., have called for the investigation.

Cincinnati accountant got rich, then got jail time

09/24/2010
A former accounting manager for Cincinnati-based Clark Western Building Systems has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return as part of a nine-year embezzlement scheme she concocted. Kimberly Prebles almost got away with millions; now she has to pay it back—and then some.

Remind bosses: Report all harassment complaints

09/24/2010

Lower-level supervisors sometimes fail to respond to sexual harassment complaints, even if they’re familiar with their company’s policies. Some may consider sexual harassment a less-than-serious problem. Others may simply not want to admit it’s a problem at all. That’s where education comes in. Regularly remind all supervisors that the consequences of ignoring harassment complaints can be serious.