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Discrimination / Harassment

What happens next? An alleged harassment victim doesn’t want to come forward

06/20/2013
Q. An employee confided in a regional VP that their boss had invited a co-worker to have a drink in his hotel room while they were attending a conference. When she declined, the boss became angry. Now, the boss has reported the co-worker for leaving work early without permission. The employee doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her friend, but she can’t let this go without telling someone. The co-worker refuses to come forward herself out of fear of retaliation. What should we do?

New law permits veteran preferences in private sector

06/20/2013
Public employers in Minnesota have been able to give employment preference to veterans for years, but private employers that favor hiring vets have always run the risk of facing discrimination claims from other applicants who lack military experience. A new state law gives some limited protection to private employers with hiring policies that give preference to hiring veterans.

Transferring harasser won’t necessarily stop harassment

06/20/2013

Recent, highly publicized sexual abuse scandals have shown that hiding the problem by simply transferring abusers often doesn’t work. The same is true for supervisors with a penchant for sexual harassment. Problems often crop up again, despite a “fresh start.”

Undocumented workers’ best witnesses may be other undocumented workers

06/20/2013
Former employees who are un­­documented or illegal immigrants and claim they have been discriminated against based on their country of origin can sue, even if the em­­­­ployees they are comparing themselves to are also undocumented.

How to thwart bias lawsuits: Have supervisor who did the hiring also handle firing

06/20/2013
Here’s a tip that can help prevent successful termination lawsuits: Set up your system so that the same individual or individuals who make hiring decisions also make the final termination decisions. It will help you prevail in court if the fired employee tries to sue you for discrimination.

Minnesota Supreme Court clarifies workplace sexual harassment rules

06/20/2013
The Minnesota Supreme Court has issued a ruling that ­clarifies what employees have to show in order to win a sexual harassment case under the MHRA. It concluded that employees who work in a sexually hostile work environment don’t have to lose pay or benefits to win a case. Nor is it a defense that the harasser was an equal opportunity harasser who targeted both men and women.

Obscenity, drunk-dialing: No unemployment

06/20/2013
In a win for common sense, the Court of Appeals of Minnesota has reversed an unemployment compensation award to a supervisor who used obscenities at work and then drunk-dialed a subordinate more than once.

Beware firing worker who sleeps with the enemy

06/20/2013
Here’s a situation that should send you straight to your attorney’s office. If you fire an employee because you discovered her spouse works for the competition, you may be violating the marital status discrimination clause in the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA).

Screaming at ashtrays: Just part of the job?

06/20/2013
That’s what several employees of Dynamic Medical Services in Miami were required to learn to do, according to a recently filed EEOC religious discrimination lawsuit.

Speak freely to EEOC–it’s privileged communication

06/18/2013
Good news: You won’t be held personally liable—and neither will your company—for what you say in re­­sponse to an EEOC complaint. State­­ments made in an EEOC investigation are privileged.