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Discrimination / Harassment

Before you’re sued: Check for bias patterns

12/18/2012

Do you regularly audit your HR records for signs of hidden bias? Would you know if members of a particular protected class were getting fewer promotions than others? The start of the new year is the perfect time to identify and correct any problems.

EEOC lawsuits are down, but is that good news?

12/14/2012
The EEOC filed only 122 discrimination lawsuits against employers in fiscal year 2012, less than half the number it did in 2011, says the Seyfarth Shaw law firm. They attributed the decline to a series of court rulings in which the EEOC was slapped down for “shooting first, aiming later.”

Your best weapon in court: documentation that’s dated

12/12/2012

Employees have a limited window in which to file discrimination complaints and related lawsuits. Miss the deadline and the case is over. That’s why it’s important to document all employment decisions—even trivial ones—with a note and a date for the record.

Whether layoff affects one or 100, use solid business reasons to justify job cuts

12/12/2012
Sometimes, all it takes to cure a budget shortfall is to cut one position. As a business move, doing so is just as valid as conducting a much larger layoff. As long as you can show the change was based on business needs, you won’t lose a discrimination case.

Stop litigious employees’ amateur sleuthing! Set policies to ban unauthorized recordings

12/12/2012
Surreptitiously gathering evidence in violation of your rules isn’t protected activity and can’t be the basis for an employee’s subsequent retaliation lawsuit.

Beware bias claims if pay cuts are looming

12/12/2012
Like many state and local government ­employers, you no doubt are looking to cut ex­­penses, including labor costs. If you must scale back employee pay, make sure that there’s no discrimination in whose salary is cut. Other­­wise, your savings may be eaten up in litigation costs.

Request for ’50 state club’ lands boss in lawsuitland

12/12/2012
Two male bartenders at a Hilton in Minneapolis are suing the hotel, claiming they were punished for spurning a female manager’s sexual overtures and then complaining about the sexual harassment.

EEOC: Domestic violence victims may be protected from job bias

12/10/2012
A new fact sheet from the EEOC clarifies that Title VII and the ADA “may apply to employment situations involving applicants and employees who experience domestic or dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.” You may need to update your anti-bias and anti-harassment training.

Are you liable for harassment by independent contractors?

12/07/2012
You have enough to worry about with employees sexually harassing each other. But here’s another risk: As a new court ruling shows, employers can also be held liable for the behavior of third-party independent contractors in the workplace—even though they are not employees.

A slur is a slur, no matter the language, and it deserves discipline

12/06/2012

You don’t tolerate slurs spoken in English, do you? Then don’t put up with vile, intolerant and demeaning speech in other languages. It’s the content that matters, not the language spoken.