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Discrimination / Harassment

Male candidate needs to ‘support his family’? That’s no reason to pay him more

04/15/2014
Here’s a warning to pass on to any manager or supervisor involved in employee interviewing, hiring or supervision: Never make a sexist comment about pay or benefits. It may come back to haunt the organization should an employee later sue for sex discrimination or pay equity.

Know the law: Background checks continue to trip up employers

04/14/2014
If you don’t follow the rules, background checks can cause more trouble than they prevent. Your background process can also become the basis for a class-action lawsuit.

Board members may count as employees for Title VII suit

04/14/2014
Some small nonprofit organizations may think they don’t have to follow Title VII anti-discrimination rules because they only have one or two employees. They could be wrong if the board that manages the organization pays officers to attend meetings and generally holds them accountable for assignments and meetings.

Document that employee requested transfer

04/14/2014
If an employee requests a transfer, be sure to document that he did so.

Handling new hires or promotions from within, document every step of interview process

04/14/2014
Document every step of the interview process for new applicants and internal candidates. Make sure the process is uniform and that every interviewee gets the same treatment.

One insensitive comment isn’t enough to create a hostile environment

04/14/2014

People say stupid things all the time. When it happens at work, the consequences can be profound. But many dumb slips of the tongue turn out to be merely insensitive, not malicious. As long as the comments don’t become frequent or more severe, there won’t usually be any lasting damage.

Beware firing worker who moonlights while out on medical disability leave

04/14/2014
It may seem wrong for an employee who is out on disability leave to work another job. But firing her for allegedly lying about her medical condition may backfire in the form of a disability or retaliation claim.

Here’s an easy way to prevent age bias claims

04/14/2014
One of the best ways to prevent age discrimination is also one of the simplest: Make your hiring process age-blind by removing age tipoffs from your application.

Still no handbook? Act fast after complaint

04/14/2014

Do you work in an HR department that still hasn’t gotten around to creating an employee handbook? Don’t despair. As long as everyone in HR and management makes sure employees know the company won’t tolerate sexual harassment and encourages immediate reporting of harassment, you can probably escape liability by acting fast on any reports you do receive.

No need to tolerate personal woes that spill over to workplace arguments

04/09/2014
When bad romance spills over to the workplace, you don’t have to put up with the aftermath. Set strict rules about behavior and don’t tolerate loud arguments, threats or other disruptions.