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Discrimination / Harassment

Home Depot could pay for mishandled firing

08/02/2018
Maurice Rucker, a 60-year-old black man, was a long-time employee at a Home Depot store in Albany, N.Y. He doesn’t work there anymore. His response to a customer’s racist rant got him fired.

IHOP stores settle with teens for $1 million

08/02/2018
The EEOC has reached a $975,000 settlement with two IHOP franchises in Illinois over allegations that management turned a blind eye to sexual harassment directed at teenage employees.

Five women leave Harrisburg, Pa. TV station in four months

08/01/2018
Harrisburg television station WHTM ABC27 is the target of a Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission complaint that alleges Robert Bee, the station’s general manager, created a hostile work environment for women.

When planning layoffs, conduct audit to ensure there’s no age discrimination

08/01/2018
Calculate the average age of the workers you plan to retain and compare it to the workers you plan to terminate.

It’s tough to prove bias if the manager who hired was also the one who fired

08/01/2018
A manager who knew of someone’s protected characteristic would not have hired that applicant and then turn around and fired the same individual because of that very protected characteristic. A biased manager would never have hired her in the first place.

Anti-harassment policy alone isn’t enough

08/01/2018
It goes without saying that every employer should have a robust policy prohibiting sexual harassment. But just having a policy isn’t enough.

#MeToo roils another show biz venue: the concert hall

07/31/2018
The longtime concertmaster for the Cleveland Orchestra has been suspended following allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

Avoid deviating from past disciplinary process

07/30/2018
When you have a disciplinary process in place and have used it before, don’t deviate from it unless you encounter truly extraordinary circumstances. Otherwise, you may face a discrimination claim.

Court outlines three categories of disability associational discrimination

07/30/2018
A California appeals court has outlined three types of illegal disability associational discrimination. Employers should take note and make sure managers and supervisors understand that they cannot use those reasons to justify not hiring, sidelining or terminating employees who care for or are related to disabled persons.

Problems discovered during protected leave? Document history and details of deficiencies

07/30/2018
Sometimes, managers or supervisors don’t realize the extent of a subordinate’s poor performance until the employee is out on leave and someone else has temporarily taken over the job. If that happens in your organization, be sure to carefully document the deficiencies before you take action.