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Discrimination / Harassment

Set clear, easy-to-use processes so employees know about all promotion opportunities

06/27/2012

If you don’t regularly post your job openings and promotion opportunities, you are asking for trouble. Here’s why: Applicants and employees can sue if they believe they missed out on an opportunity—even if they never applied. That litigation blindside may force you to justify your hiring and promotion decisions long after you made them. And if you didn’t keep careful records, you may be in trouble.

N.C. EEOC discrimination charges declined in 2011

06/27/2012
North Carolina employees are doing more than their share to keep the EEOC busy, filing more discrimination complaints per capita than the national average. Even so, North Carolina filings fell last year after spiking upward in 2010.

EEOC pushes effort to root out Hispanic harassment, discrimination

06/27/2012

When the EEOC declared it was starting an enforcement effort aimed at protecting Hispanic ­workers from harassment and discrimination, smart employers promptly looked at their organ­­izations and corrected any problems. Those that didn’t are now paying the price.

HR law: All eyes on the Supreme Court

06/26/2012
The center of the HR universe is in Washington, D.C., this week, as the U.S. Supreme Court issues a key decision affecting hiring of undocumented workers and announces it will hear an important case concerning supervisor harassment in its next term. Oh yeah, and then there’s that health care reform case, which should be decided Thursday.

Court shoots down argument based on bizarre racism ‘proof’

06/25/2012
A federal trial court hearing a discrimination case has refused to accept a new and rather bizarre legal theory. The plaintiff alleged that a principle called “psychological projection” can prove that someone is a racist because he falsely alleges that someone else is racist.

EEOC charges? Don’t break off conciliation too early

06/25/2012
When the EEOC wants to take a dis­crimination case to court, it is required to try to settle the case first. That conciliation process is a two-way street. Employers can’t walk away from the process, expecting a court to dismiss a subsequent lawsuit because the agency didn’t try hard enough.

Call lawyer ASAP if your last-chance agreements require employees to give up Title VII rights

06/25/2012
The EEOC has just won a significant legal victory without even having to go to trial. It recently alleged that some last-chance agreements automatically violate Title VII if they prevent employees from filing EEOC actions. The agreements in question contained a clause that had em­­ployees promising not to file discrimination charges in exchange for keeping their jobs.

Illinois EEOC discrimination complaints up sharply in 2011

06/25/2012
Although Illinois accounts for just 4.1% of the nation’s population, 6.1% of all EEOC discrimination charges originated in Illinois in fiscal year 2011.

Sound policy beats post-firing lawsuits

06/25/2012
You just terminated an employee for misconduct or poor performance. A few weeks later, you receive an EEOC complaint alleging that the employee suffered years of harassment and discrimination. If you didn’t have clear rules in place for reporting such conduct, you may be facing years of litigation.

No Title VII protection for illegal immigrants

06/25/2012

Employers can’t discriminate against someone based on her  national origin. But what about discrimination based on whether someone is in the country illegally? Is that also national-origin discrimination? The answer is a resounding “No!” according to a recent 7th Circuit Court of Appeals case.