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

Discrimination / Harassment

Palm Beach diocese wins grant to fight immigrant bias

11/08/2010
The Catholic Charities Diocese of Palm Beach is one of 13 recipients of U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) grant funds meant to aid victims of immigration discrimination.

Jacksonville gay advocates seek anti-discrimination ordinance

11/08/2010

Jacksonville is the only major metropolitan area in Florida that does not have an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. If gay activists have their way, that will change.

Promptly fixed problem can’t be grounds for legal action

11/08/2010

Managing a workplace isn’t easy and not every assignment or schedule is completely fair. Employees who complain about something that might otherwise be considered an adverse employment action can’t sue if their employer fixes the problem right away.

Post job openings, application deadlines to cut down on suits challenging promotions

11/08/2010
Employers that use formal promotion processes probably won’t lose a failure-to-promote lawsuit if the employee in question didn’t even bother applying. But employers that use informal methods may be blindsided by lawsuits alleging discriminatory promotion practices without even having had a chance to review the employee’s qualifications.

Use hotline to receive employee complaints, prove when litigation clock started ticking

11/08/2010

Courts increasingly insist that employees meet deadlines for filing EEOC or other discrimination complaints. The law allows employees just a short period of time to start the lawsuit process after an employer’s adverse decision. Smart employers have systems that precisely track internal complaints. With those in place, employers can more easily argue that the employee waited too long to sue.

Bias, retaliation settlement strips club of $95,000

11/08/2010

The Papermoon Strip Club in Stuart will pay $95,000 to two black doormen and several white employees to settle complaints of racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation. According to the EEOC, the doormen were subjected to racial slurs and segregated from white employees. White employees who complained about the discrimination were retaliated against.

Southern Ohio contractor settles race bias lawsuit

11/08/2010

Mareo R. Allen will get his job back at Mike Enyart & Sons Inc., after the construction firm—located in South Point, near the West Virginia border—agreed to settle an EEOC race discrimination suit filed on Allen’s behalf. Allen alleged he was fired in retaliation for complaining about racial harassment while working on a sewer-line installation project.

Mineral Met hung out to dry following noose incident

11/08/2010
Chemical company Mineral Met has agreed to pay $440,000 to settle an EEOC race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed on behalf of black employees at its Cleveland plant.

Temp-to-permanent promotions the norm? Check for unintentional bias toward one group

11/08/2010

Sometimes it makes sense to appoint workers to temporarily fill vacancies and then use your formal promotion process to make permanent appointments. But that practice carries some risk. You could wind up in court if you make those temporary appointments permanent.

Establish zero-tolerance policy on violence and threats–but don’t count on backup from courts

11/08/2010

The almost universal employer response to increased workplace violence has been the implementation of so-called zero-tolerance policies. The problem with zero-tolerance rules is that they only work if they’re uniformly enforced. Employers can’t pick and choose which employee’s behavior violates the policy. To do so invites legal trouble, as the following case shows.