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Discrimination / Harassment

Don’t sweat minor compensation differences

07/03/2012
Ever since enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, pay equity has been a hot employment law topic. In the intervening years, many employers have proactively gone over their pay scales and made adjustments after discovering apparent pay inequalities that crept in over the years.

Police called in response to workplace harassment? You must still act to stop future incidents

07/02/2012

If a co-worker, supervisor or cus­­tomer sexually assaults an em­ployee and the police are called in, the employer must still take reasonable steps to stop the harassment and prevent another assault. It’s not enough to rely on the police to take care of the problem.

OK to discipline, even after harassment claim

07/01/2012

When employees face progressive discipline and think they might be fired, they sometimes suddenly start complaining about alleged sexual harassment. The underlying reason may be legitimate—or it may just be a ploy to stop discipline. It doesn’t mean all discipline has to be put on hold.

EEOC on age bias: Update on ‘reasonable factors other than age’

06/28/2012
The EEOC has issued a new regulation addressing the “reasonable factors other than age” (RFOA) defense to disparate impact claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Understanding the new regulation can help you comply with the law and prevail in court if you are sued.

Race differences alone won’t prove discrimination

06/28/2012

Some employees attribute perfectly reasonable actions to race dis­crimination just because the ­decision-maker happens to belong to a different protected class. Fortunately, courts usually quickly dismiss such cases.

No need to investigate harassment complaints clearly not covered by anti-discrimination laws

06/28/2012
Here’s a reminder for harried and overworked HR professionals: Even if your anti-harassment policy states that you will investigate all harassment complaints, you don’t have to drop everything to chase down clearly meritless allegations.

Management commits gross bias error? Fast action can stop employee’s lawsuit

06/28/2012

Sometimes, supervisors make dumb mistakes—for example, telling an employee that she won’t be transferred to another office because the people there don’t like co-workers of her ethnicity. If you learn of such bone-headedness, fix the problem fast.

Pennsylvanians filed slightly fewer EEOC charges in 2011

06/28/2012
Pennsylvanians filed 4,302 EEOC discrimination and retaliation complaints in fiscal year 2011—406 fewer than in 2010 but still up sharply from the 3,448 complaints filed in 2009.

Warn bosses: Don’t discuss bias complaints

06/28/2012

When employees face discipline (or fear they might be punished soon), they’ll often file a preemptive EEOC complaint. Then, when discipline comes down, they argue that it was in retaliation for complaining. To make such a case, an employee must show that the people involved in the discipline knew about the complaint. If they didn’t, there can be no retaliation.

Act fast on racist talk, before it poisons work

06/28/2012
Employers usually won’t lose a law­­suit over just one racially hostile incident unless it’s particularly severe. But it’s a spectacularly bad idea to ignore that first incident. Do your organization a favor: Crack down ASAP as soon as you learn of workplace racism.