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

Discrimination / Harassment

Good news: Court nixes long statute of limitations for rare associational claim

05/18/2015

Employees have many avenues to sue their employers for alleged discrimination. Most are common and have clear-cut deadlines. Some are more exotic. Consider, for example, an employee’s right to sue over her employer’s alleged discrimination against her because of who she associates with. Here’s what happened when one worker waited more than four years to make a so-called Section 1981 civil rights claim.

Pay attention to details when disciplining

05/18/2015
The more general your discharge reasons, the easier it is for the former employee to argue that discrimination was in play. Conversely, specific discharge reasons make it much harder to argue discrimination because chances are the fired worker won’t find someone similarly situated (i.e., who broke exactly the same rule) for comparison. See how this played out in a recent case.

‘Stop!’ makes harassment complaint count

05/18/2015
Conventional wisdom says that employees who fail to report harassment can’t later surprise us with a lawsuit, since it’s impossible to stop harassment that we never learn about. It turns out that’s not always true.

‘Your job or your daughter’: Yeah, that’ll draw a lawsuit

05/14/2015
A boss who allegedly asked a subordinate to choose between her job and her daughter will now have to explain his remarks to a jury.

Judge makes it crystal clear: Question about accent not enough for a lawsuit

05/12/2015
Asking a simple question such as what type of accent an employee has or what country he grew up in won’t be enough to prove national-origin discrimination. Courts expect employees to talk to one another and without evidence that curiosity about an accent or a co-worker’s background is tied to some sort of discrimination, judges won’t hold employers liable for national-origin discrimination.

Retaining younger workers but terminating older ones? Better have a good reason

05/08/2015
If you happen to fire an older worker but retain younger ones, you should expect a potential age discrimination lawsuit. If you’re prepared, you stand a dramatically better chance of winning.

EEOC conciliation process post-Mach Mining

05/07/2015
On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Mach Mining v. EEOC, a case that set new standards for challenging whether the EEOC engaged in a good-faith conciliation process before suing. In the wake of the decision, employers can expect more pre-litigation outreach from the EEOC.

Tossed: $10.5 million reverse bias suit against Ithaca PD

05/06/2015
A white police officer’s suit against the city of Ithaca has been dismissed. The officer alleged racial discrimination after he lost a promotion to a black officer.

NYPD settles sex harassment complaint for $110,000

05/06/2015
The New York Police Department will pay a female officer $110,000 to settle charges a superior officer harassed her and then retaliated when she refused his advances.

Second chances, patience make discharge decision stick

05/06/2015
Courts often reward employers for offering second chances to employees who might otherwise be fired.