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Discrimination / Harassment

Beware retaliation after employee complains

09/10/2013
Watch out if a supervisor suddenly gives a poor performance review to a previously good employee who has recently complained about discrimination. Unless you can clearly show that the employee’s performance was deteriorating, you might be setting yourself up for an otherwise avoidable retaliation lawsuit.

Courts bang the gavel: EEOC is out of order!

09/10/2013
It’s not often that the EEOC loses a lawsuit, but in recent weeks, the gavel has come down against the commission not once, but twice.

Calling supervisor to complain about alleged racial slur is protected activity

09/09/2013
Employees are protected from retaliation for complaining about alleged discrimination. The complaint is considered protected activity. Something as simple as calling a supervisor to complain about a co-worker’s racial slur is protected.

Mere worker inconvenience doesn’t warrant a lawsuit

09/06/2013
Denying a request to work from home is just an inconvenience for an em­­ployee. It’s not grounds for a law­­suit since it’s not an adverse employment action, doesn’t create a hostile work environment or justify quitting.

No individual liability under federal, NY layoff notice laws

09/06/2013
Good news for supervisors who help determine who to cut in a reduction in force: Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Noti­­fi­­ca­­tion Act (WARN) and the New York State version of the law, there is no individual liability for violations.

Make arbitration agreements stick–even if there’s no employee signature

09/06/2013
If you use arbitration as a way to resolve employment disputes, you no doubt realize that you need the employee’s signature on that agreement in order to make it a binding contract. But what happens if that signature isn’t there or perhaps was faked?

Beware crackdown on complaining employee

09/06/2013
Tell super­­visors and managers to look out for co-worker antagonism. Avoid the appearance of retaliation by making sure bosses enforce all rules equally and fairly.

Assigning unpleasant work isn’t discrimination

09/06/2013
Supervisors don’t always manage to divide the workload evenly among employees. As long as the labor division isn’t obviously intended to demean a particular individual based on his or her protected status, workload assignments are within the purview of management and not something that will support a discrimination lawsuit.

When rude bosses spout off, expect little sympathy from juries

09/06/2013
A supervisor’s foul temper can do more than alienate employees and spike turnover. It can wind up costing your company big bucks in the courtroom. That’s why HR should keep its antenna up for bully bosses and respond quickly to hints of abuse or harassment. Simply hoping the bully improves won’t work.

Gather essential hiring records: Interviewers should take notes, HR should collect them

09/03/2013
It’s impossible for everyone to remember exactly what happened during an interview held several years earlier. But that’s what an interview panel may be asked to do if a candidate sues. The best approach is to ask the panelists to take notes. Then you should collect all the panelists’ notes for potential future use.