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Discrimination / Harassment

Beware policies forcing workers to take leave: That can be considered an adverse action

07/18/2012
Placing an employee on forced leave can form the basis for a lawsuit, according to a recent 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. That’s true even if the forced leave is consistent with company policy and applies to all employees.

Scrutinizing employee’s work isn’t retaliation

07/18/2012
The courts—which have been slammed with retaliation lawsuits—have begun narrowing what they consider retaliation. For example, the 7th Circuit has ruled that merely scrutinizing someone’s work more closely after a complaint isn’t retaliation.

Violence flares? You can discipline flexibly

07/16/2012
Do you have a zero-tolerance policy for workplace violence? That doesn’t mean you have to fire everyone who violates the letter of the rule. You can use some discretion, as long as you document why.

Detail discipline so you can later explain why punishment was appropriate and fair

07/16/2012
A discrimination lawsuit compares what happened to the complaining employee with what happened to others outside his protected class. Details matter. For example, an isolated instance of rude behavior is one thing, but constant rudeness is something else entirely. It can justify different, more severe punishment.

Minnesota Senate braces for Brodkorb’s sex bias lawsuit

07/13/2012
Michael Brodkorb, the once-powerful Minnesota Senate staffer fired following allegations he had a sexual affair with former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, has filed a sex discrimination complaint with the EEOC. So far, the state Senate has racked up $46,000 in legal bills contesting Brodkorb’s suit.

Ensure you can justify gender pay disparities

07/13/2012

There may be many reasons em­­ployees end up earning different salaries for similar work. Pay disparities often grow gradually, over time. That can mean big trouble under the Equal Pay Act. If you aren’t tracking all pay changes and noting the reason, you may end up liable for sex discrimination.

OfficeMax faces EEOC suit for Sarasota retaliation

07/12/2012
The manager of a Sarasota-area OfficeMax made life so miserable for an employee who filed a racial discrimination claim that he was forced to resign, according to the EEOC. Now it’s suing on the man’s behalf.

Not a federal case: Gospel music, incivility

07/12/2012
Courts don’t tolerate religious har­assment, but they won’t punish an employer for occasional lapses in good sense, either. That’s the lesson of the following case.

Don’t be afraid to fire insubordinate supervisor

07/12/2012
Not everyone is cut out to be a boss. Some employees just can’t direct others or criticize their work. If a supervisor can’t—or won’t—do his job, termination may be inevitable.

Act fast to stop any workplace incident that smacks of racism or racial harassment

07/12/2012
Generally, a single racially charged incident won’t create a hostile work environment. But repeated or escalating incidents will. That’s why employers should take immediate, firm action to stop future problems.