Discrimination / Harassment

Testifying for fellow employee in race case provides retaliation protection

12/23/2013

Employees who testify in an internal investigation, an agency investigation or in court are protected from retaliation whether or not they belong to the same protected classification as the employee whose case their testimony supports.

Train and track to beat harassment lawsuits

12/23/2013

Employers aren’t required to prevent all harassment—just to stop it when it happens and take reasonable preventive steps. Two of those: Providing anti-harassment training to every employee and tracking who gets that training.

One supervisor slur typically won’t equal a ‘hostile’ workplace

12/20/2013

Courts don’t expect workplaces to be places of complete harmony. However, they do expect employers to take complaints seriously. They want to see that employees are disciplined when they make offensive comments.

Use formal hiring and promotion process to protect against discrimination suits

12/18/2013

Job-seekers who know how to apply for open positions can’t claim discrimination unless they can also show they followed the process. At the same time, a standard process lets employers track applications and easily show a judge why someone didn’t get the job she sought.

Chronic complainer? Ignore her at your peril

12/18/2013

Handle every complaint the same way, no matter the source. Don’t fail to investigate just because an employee has cried wolf in the past.

OK to discipline worker who has complained, but be sure you can justify your decision

12/17/2013

Courts don’t want to tie management’s hands; they just want to protect employees from genuine retaliation. That’s why the standard for retaliation is anything that would dissuade a reasonable worker from complaining in the first place. Most minor discipline doesn’t reach that level.

Race discrimination: Using independent contractors won’t earn you amnesty

12/17/2013

Don’t assume that just because a worker is an independent contractor, he can’t sue you when his contract isn’t renewed. While he may not be able to sue under Title VII for various forms of discrimination, he can still sue for alleged racial discrimination under Section 1981 of the original Civil Rights Act.

Fired for 1st violation? Better explain why

12/13/2013

There’s a first time for everything—including firing someone for violating a rule. But that may spell trouble if other employees weren’t punished for breaking the same rule.

Same misconduct warrants same punishment

12/13/2013

You might assume that firing an employee for breaking a safety rule would be “safe” from judicial criticism. But if you don’t punish all workers equally for violating the same rule, you may run into trouble if the employee can show that others outside his protected class weren’t punished as severely.

USERRA

12/12/2013

HR Law 101: USERRA requires employers to re-employ persons returning from duty in the uniformed services if they meet five cirtieria. Employers must provide to service members a notice of their rights, benefits and obligations …