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Discrimination / Harassment

Prepare to protect this summer’s unique corps of teen workers

05/22/2023
If you plan to hire teens for seasonal jobs, brace yourself for a teen workforce like no other before it. Prepare to deal with more than the usual amount of teenage angst.

SHRM research: Weight bias clouds judgment of co-workers—and HR pros, too

05/22/2023
Twelve percent of U.S. workers say they have felt unfairly treated due to their weight at some point in their careers, according to new research by the Society for Human Resource Management. SHRM’s research, conducted from February to April, comes against a backdrop of ongoing conversations surrounding weight discrimination in the workplace and the potential introduction of state and local legislation to ban weight discrimination.

Heed EEOC’s latest anti-harassment guidance

05/22/2023
A new EEOC report on preventing and addressing workplace harassment of government employees offers important lessons for private-sector employers, too. The report urges all employers to take a multi-pronged approach to creating an anti-harassment culture in their workplaces.

Your anti-harassment obligations are 24/7/365

05/17/2023
An employer has the same obligations whether the harassment takes place in the workplace during working hours, in the break room, at the bar during happy hour, via text message or social media, in a grocery store aisle or in outer space.

390,000 good reasons to open official-looking mail

05/17/2023
Three women sued a limousine company claiming they weren’t hired as chauffeurs because of their gender. But the company never responded to the legal documents from the court.

Beware dress codes with gender-specific rules

05/15/2023
If your dress and grooming code includes gender-specific requirements, you could be courting a sex-discrimination lawsuit.

Honoring pronoun and gendering preferences proves complicated

05/12/2023
Here’s a recent case showing that the EEOC is moving full speed ahead with test case litigation designed to make clear that harassment based on preferred pronouns and gender identity violates Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination.

Manage the balancing act when accommodating employees’ religious beliefs

05/08/2023
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs and practices, can sometimes clash with employers’ legitimate business needs and may cause employee-relations problems. Here’s how employers can balance their own needs with their duty to accommodate workers’ religious beliefs and practices.

How HR should use AI: NYC law offers practical guidance

05/08/2023
More and more employers are using artificial intelligence software to improve HR processes such as recruitment, hiring and onboarding. Already, several states and cities have passed laws dictating how AI can and cannot be deployed, including in the HR field.

EEOC, other agencies monitoring AI’s impact on perpetuating discrimination

05/01/2023
The EEOC has joined forces with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to step up oversight of how artificial intelligence software might perpetuate unlawful discrimination.