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

Discrimination / Harassment

Don’t even try to argue slur wasn’t offensive

07/30/2013
Here’s a hint for defending your company in a discrimination case: Don’t even think about arguing that an obviously offensive ethnic slur is ambiguous or not offensive at all. It won’t get you very far with most judges.

Target misses mark with multicultural training

07/29/2013
Minneapolis-based retailer Target is scrambling to explain a training document that surfaced at one of its Northern California distribution centers. The document purports to tell supervisors how to interact with Hispanic employees—and in the process betrays some offensive stereotypes.

How to avoid being sued for caregiver discrimination

07/26/2013

While family responsibility discrimination (FRD) is not a new protected category (and no federal law expressly prohibits employment discrimination against caregivers), a number of laws provide protection for employees with caregiving responsibilities.

Document every discharge just in case there’s a lawsuit

07/26/2013

You might assume that someone won’t sue if they’ve been accused of sexual harassment by several employees and cited for poor performance. You could be wrong. That’s why you should document every discharge decision as if you expect a lawsuit.

Does your discipline policy grant ‘one harassment free’?

07/24/2013
We all struggle with drafting policies. In the following case we learn that leaving certain words out of your disciplinary policy can be just as legally dangerous as putting the wrong words in. In this case, the employer’s discipline policy essentially allowed employees to engage in one act of sexual harassment without being terminated.

TV chef Paula Deen hires L.A. attorney-to-the-stars

07/23/2013
Embattled celebrity chef Paula Deen has fired her Georgia attorneys and called in the big guns—including famed Hollywood attorney-to-the-stars Patricia Glaser—to help salvage her reputation and media empire.

Suit claims Chivas USA illegally fired non-Latino coaches

07/23/2013
Major League Soccer team Chivas USA, which plays its home games in suburban Los Angeles, has been sued for race and ethnic discrimination by two former youth coaches. They claim they were fired because they are not Mexican or Latino.

Employee acts as own lawyer? Expect legal complications

07/23/2013
Before you jump for joy when an employee acts as her own lawyer in a federal lawsuit, consider this: Courts give pro se litigants lots of leeway, as this case shows.

One subjectively offensive comment won’t support lawsuit

07/23/2013

Courts are losing patience with employees who are overly sensitive when it comes to joking and off-color comments in the workplace, and are tossing out flimsy lawsuits because it’s not their role to manage workplaces.

Buying business and rehiring staff? Beware excluding employees who have filed lawsuits

07/23/2013
When you buy a business, the employees generally don’t automatically transfer. Typically, the new owner decides which employees to keep on the payroll. Before you exclude any existing employees from consideration, make sure that rejecting them won’t look like a failure to hire because they have previously filed discrimination litigation.