• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Discrimination / Harassment

Dayton revises police exam following race bias settlement

03/31/2011

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the city of Dayton has revised its police entrance examination. The DOJ and Dayton had settled a 2009 suit involving allegations that the city discriminated against black applicants who applied for jobs in both the police and fire departments.

Jury awards $900,000 in age discrimination case

03/31/2011
A 30-year veteran at University Hospitals in Cleveland has won an age discrimination case in Cuyahoga County court. Gloria Parks argued that her supervisor blamed her for the mistakes of two younger co-workers because he favored young, female workers.

Ohio Supreme Court refuses to hear false ticket case

03/31/2011
Beth Rist, former Ironton police officer and current Ironton City Council member, appears to have exhausted her legal appeals in her battle to return to uniform. The Ohio Supreme Court has declined to hear her case.

Old pay cut may be basis for new pay-bias claim

03/31/2011

It’s important to regularly review your records of evidence of past discrimination. If an employee now earns less after missing out on past promotions, each new paycheck can support an equal-pay claim under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Now a court has expanded that reasoning to include lower paychecks based on past discriminatory pay cuts.

Insubordinate worker? Fire away knowing court probably won’t second-guess

03/31/2011

Employees are expected to follow directions and treat their supervisors with respect. Employees who lose their tempers or refuse to follow legitimate directions are insubordinate. That means you can terminate them, a decision courts will rarely second-guess.

Overly sensitive employee or bully boss? Trust instincts to determine who’s right

03/31/2011

Sometimes, HR professionals have to make judgment calls about who is telling the truth. In fact, just about every workplace investigation requires assessing the credibility of employees, co-workers and managers who disagree about what happened. Take, for example, an employee who complains about a supervisor’s harassment or hostility.

Appeals court rules for employers on ADA

03/31/2011

There’s good news for Ohio employers worried about ADA compliance: The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to change the law on disability discrimination. A recent ruling upheld prior court decisions that said an employee can’t win a disability discrimination discharge lawsuit unless she can prove that her disability was the “sole” reason for the discharge.

Not everyone wears a halo: Courts don’t expect your work atmosphere to be perfect

03/30/2011
You’d like to think that employees will never do or say anything even mildly offensive. But that’s just not realistic … and courts don’t expect it to be. As long as workplace squabbles and personality conflicts don’t turn into discrimination based on age, race, religion or another protected category, they simply won’t rise to the level of unlawful discrimination.

EEOC issues final ADAAA regs

03/29/2011
The EEOC has issued final regulations for implementing the ADA Amendment Acts, clarifying many of the provisions contained in legislation that was enacted in January 2009. The likely result of the final regulations, according to employment law attorneys: More ADA cases will probably go to trial.

Supreme Court: Complaints don’t have to be in writing to be protected

03/29/2011
Employees are now three-for-three in Supreme Court employment law cases this term, now that the High Court has ruled that an employee’s complaints don’t have to be written to be protected from retaliation by their employers.