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Discrimination / Harassment

Are there perils in giving a pay raise in hopes of boosting employee performance?

09/02/2011
Q. About four months ago, we gave a pay raise to a marginal employee who is pregnant, in hopes that it would improve her job performance by boosting her morale. Unfortunately, her performance has gone from bad to worse. If we fire her for poor performance, can she successfully argue that the recent raise indicates that she was performing well and that our reason for terminating her was discriminatory?

Ricoh must print out big check after harassment settlement

09/01/2011
The Greensboro office of Ricoh Elec­tronics has settled EEOC harassment and national-origin discrimination claims filed on behalf of three em­­ployees who claimed they had to en­­dure years of harassment and abuse—and then were fired for complaining.

Coddle repeat harasser at your own risk–you could be courting huge penalties

09/01/2011
If you have doubts about what you should do with a serial harasser, the following case should clear things up.

Authorize managers to act fast to remove offensive material from workplace

09/01/2011
Here’s a good way to stop needless sexual or other harassment claims: Empower even low-level supervisors to immediately remove any material anyone could consider even remotely offensive. The best outcome: Offensive material disappears before anyone has a chance to complain.

EEOC to N.C. janitorial firm: Clean up this debt!

09/01/2011
Access Services, a Charlotte-based janitorial services company, must ex­­plain to a judge why it failed to make court-ordered payments after it settled an EEOC discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee.

Not every complaint is protected activity

09/01/2011

Some employees seem to believe that any complaint they make about their employer is protected activity. Thus, they may assume that any punishment they experience is retaliation worthy of a lawsuit. Fortunately, that’s not necessarily true.

Document discharge decision at time it’s made

09/01/2011
When an employee senses that she may be in trouble and about to lose her job, she may begin to review the last year or so with an eye toward filing a pre-emptory lawsuit. If she suddenly remembers alleged acts of discrimination, she’s sure to complain. But she won’t win in the end if her employer can show it made the decision to fire her before she ever complained.

How to manage ‘super-qualified’ employees

08/31/2011
With unemployment still running above 9% nationally, many people are taking jobs that are lateral—or even downward—moves in their careers. As a result, many managers are supervising employees who have far more experience than the job requires. Use the following guidelines to effec­tively manage overqualified workers and lengthen their stay:

Pregnancy bias law doesn’t guarantee leave for child care

08/31/2011

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act says it’s unlawful to discriminate against applicants and employees “on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.” But the PDA doesn’t grant pregnant workers any special, additional rights to time off for child care.

Punishing worker for loud complaint: Retaliation or legit insubordination penalty?

08/30/2011

Employers obviously can’t punish employees simply because they complain about discrimination. That would be retaliation. But that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate loud, obnoxious or disruptive complaints, no matter their content. That’s simply unacceptable in the workplace … and grounds for legal termination.