• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Discrimination / Harassment

Male culture can be factor in sex bias case

08/19/2015
If your workplace appears to be dominated by men—especially at the highest levels of the company—then that could hurt your efforts to defend against a sex discrimination lawsuit. Fortunately, all other factors being equal, it won’t be a game-changer.

Can a church ask about an applicant’s religious beliefs?

08/13/2015
Q. As a church employer, is it legal for us to request an applicant to state his or her religious beliefs, or to require them to be of our beliefs?

Being yelled at isn’t grounds for quitting

08/13/2015
Not all workplaces are civil and pleasant environments. Supervisors and co-workers sometimes lose their tempers and raise their voices. If it doesn’t happen often and isn’t related to a protected characteristic such as race, occasional yelling  doesn’t justify quitting.

Effects of EEOC settlements linger for years

08/11/2015
Need another reason to prevent discrimination and harassment? You could wind up paying for infractions for a very long time to come.

Ensure direct way to report discrimination to HR

08/05/2015
If you don’t know about alleged discrimination, you can’t fix it. That’s why you should inform employees that they should report discrimination directly to HR. Then tell supervisors they must pass along every bias complaint—and warn them that they’ll be disciplined if they tell employees to keep their complaints quiet.

New challenge for Texas employers: Transgender employees’ restroom rights

07/29/2015

Time was when an employer’s only preoccupation with restrooms was whether the cleaning crew was keeping them stocked with soap, towels and toilet paper. Enter the new reality: Federal agencies and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights groups are contending that transgender employees should be given the right to choose between restrooms having an “M” or a “W” on the door.

Confidentiality conundrum: Can you reveal complaint in order to stop sexual harassment?

07/29/2015
What should you do when a male employee claims his co-workers are sexually harassing him? You can’t just ignore the complaint simply because it came from a man. But should you discuss the complaint with the co-workers and ask them to stop if they are engaging in harassment? Wouldn’t that make matters worse?

Kung Fu Saloon taps out following bias slap-down

07/29/2015
The Kung Fu Saloon chain, with locations in Austin, Dallas and Houston, has agreed to settle U.S. Department of Justice charges that it has repeatedly refused service to Asian and black customers.

Manager using slurs? Quick discipline limits your damage

07/24/2015
What should you do if you receive reports that a manager has uttered offensive slurs?

New boss is tougher on employees? That’s not bias without other evidence

07/24/2015
Does the arrival of a tougher scoring supervisor also mean extra liablity? Not necessarily, as a recent case shows.