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

Discrimination / Harassment

Difficult employee broke your rules? No need to fear legitimate termination

01/24/2014

Do you have a difficult employee you just know is going to sue you if you fire him? That’s no reason to treat him with kid gloves. Just make sure you have a rock-solid reason for the discharge. You may still be sued, but the case likely won’t go far.

Be alert for health, safety whistle-blowing

01/24/2014
Here’s a warning for federal government employers: Just about any internal complaint about agency wrongdoing may be protected activity under the Whistleblower Pro­­tec­­tion Act (WPA).

Complaint? Warn boss against adverse action

01/24/2014
Don’t let your organization fall into the retaliation trap. Make sure all supervisors understand that nothing should change for an employee after he files a discrimination complaint without prior approval from HR. Then, act only if it’s clear the proposed action has nothing to do with the complaint.

Dumb idea of the month award: ‘Maternity Projection’ charts for female staff

01/24/2014
A New York company took career planning a bit too far when it actively tried to predict which female employees would become pregnant and miss work. It created a “Maternity Pro­­jec­­tion” chart to determine how soon each female employee was likely to have a child. A federal court green-lighted a jury trial, saying the chart was enough evidence of bias.

In case of he-said/she-said harassment, can we make employees hand over text messages?

01/22/2014
Q. One of our employees was recently accused of sending sexually harassing texts to another employee. The complaining employee said she was so upset by the texts she deleted them; the accused employee adamantly denies sending the texts. Can we search the accused employee’s cellphone or is there a way to retrieve the messages from the complaining employee’s phone?

Justify move to outsource troubled department

01/22/2014
Before outsourcing, carefully lay the groundwork. Document the underlying financial and practical reasons, especially if the department is troubled and some employees have filed discrimination or harassment complaints.

Beware discipline immediately after complaint

01/22/2014
Before you authorize disciplinary action against an employee who has just complained about discrimination or harassment, prepare for a legal fight. If you follow through and the employee sues, few courts will quickly dismiss the case.

Constructive Discharge

01/17/2014

HR Law 101: Some supervisors try to skirt the whole issue of firing someone by resorting to constructive discharge. Their logic: If we make an employee’s time at work so intolerable, he or she will choose to resign. That’s an unwise strategy …

1 comment won’t make hostile environment

01/15/2014
Here’s some good news for HR managers handling sexual har­­assment complaints. As long as you act fast, investigate and use your best efforts to prevent a repeat performance, one sexually explicit comment isn’t grounds for a lawsuit.

It’s business as usual, even after sex change

01/14/2014
If you have an employee going through a sex change or other gender-identity issues, follow the ­lesson from the employer in this case: Treat such employees as you always have and make sure they aren’t harassed by co-workers. But don’t fear legitimate discipline or an evaluation based on performance.