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Discrimination / Harassment

Want to ‘fire’ your way out of problems with troublesome employees? Think again

02/11/2011

You’ve been dealing with a particularly difficult employee. He’s constantly claiming he’s being discriminated against in one way or another. But then he breaks a rule, and you spot your chance to fire him—of course, following all your internal procedures to the letter. Finally! Now you can rest easy, believing the employee can’t possibly come back and successfully sue you. Guess again.

Log customer complaints to back up discipline

02/11/2011

Customers may not always be right, but employers can’t ignore their reasonable and lawful complaints. Remember, you need to document those complaints at the time they happen—especially if it seems like a customer complaint might lead to employee discipline.

Document efforts to help employee improve

02/11/2011
Nothing makes an employer look better in court than clear proof that it tried to help a struggling employee improve her performance. That’s why you should keep track of those efforts.

Offer reasonable ADA accommodations–but you don’t have to provide full-time helper

02/11/2011

It can be devastating when an employee becomes severely disabled in the prime of life, especially if it’s clear the disability means she will never be able to perform her old job without substantial assistance. Well-intentioned, compassionate employers try their best to help. But the tough question is how far they should go to accommodate the disabled employee’s restrictions.

Put a stop to harassment ASAP–fast action now prevents liability even years later

02/10/2011
Sexual harassment sometimes grows slowly, starting out fairly innocuously before accelerating to behavior that creates a truly hostile work environment. Courts understand that and have created a specific legal doctrine to help harassed employees—the continuing violation doctrine.

With harassment, punishment should fit crime

02/10/2011

Employers sometimes assume they have to harshly punish every incident that violates their sexual harassment policies—which often means termination. That isn’t necessarily so. You can differentiate between various kinds of conduct that fit your definition of harassment, but clearly aren’t equally severe.

Should we forbid supervisors from becoming their subordinates’ friend on Facebook?

02/09/2011
Q. A supervisor recently asked if he was allowed to accept a subordinate’s “friend” request on Facebook. How should we advise our supervisors?

Retaliation long after employee complained? Courts skeptical when years pass without incident

02/09/2011
Judges understand that human emotion plays a part in some personnel actions—especially in cases involving alleged retaliation. They know that if an employer was planning to retaliate for something an employee did, it wouldn’t wait several years to act.

Worry that boss is a bully? Ask subordinates

02/09/2011

You hear a lot about bullies and bullying these days, especially in schools. But bullies grow up. If they’re not stopped, they bring intimidation and violence into the workplace. What’s worse, some of them will become supervisors. If you get wind of a potential bully boss, here’s what to do:

Federal workers have 45 days to complain of bias internally

02/09/2011
Federal employees who allege disability discrimination have to complain to an internal equal employment opportunity officer within 45 days of the alleged discrimination—unless they can show their employer had a discriminatory policy (not practice). But that’s hard to do.