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Discrimination / Harassment

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.

‘No swords at work’ rule: How is that religious bias?

01/13/2014

Anyway you slice it, ­employers these days should hesitate to deny an employee’s religious request without first checking with a lawyer. It’s all just very complicated with so many religions and their different rules on grooming, clothing and attendance. But can you draw the line when a religion requires followers to wear a sword into the workplace?

Gender Discrimination

01/11/2014

HR Law 101: Your supervisors probably understand that they can’t pay a male more than a female to perform the same job or dole out promotions only to males. What they may not appreciate are the more subtle forms that gender discrimination may take. They may not make an effort to scrutinize their decisions to uncover any entrenched patterns of discrimination and practices that discourage women from applying for promotions or asking for raises …

ADA: Overview

01/11/2014

HR Law 101: The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who can perform a job’s essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation. All employers that have 15 or more employees must comply with the law …