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Discrimination / Harassment

Tell worker when interactive accommodations process ends

10/29/2010

Employees don’t have much time to file ADA or NJLAD disability discrimination claims with the appropriate agency. For failure-to-accommodate claims, the clock starts ticking when the employer ends the interactive reasonable accommodations process. That’s why employers must nail down that date and tell the employee.

3rd Circuit: Ledbetter Fair Pay Act doesn’t apply to failure-to-promote cases

10/29/2010
Here’s a bit of good news for employers worried about lawsuits that may crop up years after a faulty employment decision was made. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to expand the impact of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which says that each paycheck that is lower than it should be because of a past discriminatory act can be the basis of a new lawsuit.

When faced with irrationality, act rationally

10/29/2010

Have you ever run across an irrational employee who thought everyone was out to get him because of bias? You probably listened carefully to his complaints, only to realize there was no real discrimination going on. It would be easy to dismiss the complaint out-of-hand. However, a better approach is to try to fix the “problem.” The reason: Irrational employees often file lawsuits despite ample evidence that nothing is amiss.

EEOC extinguishes Cintas’ harassment fire

10/28/2010

Uniform supplier Cintas will pay $152,000 to workers at its Conshohocken facility after agreeing to settle an EEOC race and sexual harassment suit. The suit stemmed from a supervisor’s sexual and racial harassment of black workers in Cintas’ fire-protection division.

Philly firm bans Muslim scarf, earns religious bias lawsuit

10/28/2010
Imperial Security, a Philadelphia-area security firm that provides guards for the Pennsylvania Convention Center and other locations in the city, faces a religious discrimination lawsuit after it refused to allow a Muslim woman to wear a khimar, a religious head scarf, on the job.

EEOC challenges Cavalier attitude toward age bias

10/28/2010
The EEOC has filed a class-action lawsuit against Cavalier Telephone on behalf of a group of account executives and job applicants from Pennsylvania and other Mid-Atlantic states, charging that the company refuses to hire older workers and fired two employees in retaliation after they objected to the alleged discrimination.

EEOC sues Ricoh for national-origin harassment

10/26/2010
The EEOC has sued copier company Ricoh on behalf of three former employees—two Hispanics and one man of African origin. The suit alleges the three endured almost daily racial epithets and race-based harassment at the company’s Greensboro location.

Goldsboro builder settles bias case with Adventists

10/26/2010
Goldsboro-based construction company T.A. Loving has settled a religious discrimination complaint for $47,500. Elvis Cifuentes Angel and two other workers filed the complaint stating that Loving forced them to work on their religion’s Sabbath. All three workers are Seventh-day Adventists.

Subway assistant manager too fresh for EEOC

10/26/2010
SKMATCH Inc., a Subway franchisee with several stores in the Wilmington area, faces charges it failed to address sexual harassment complaints leveled at one of its assistant managers.

Dillard’s faces age bias charges after firing in Cary

10/26/2010

Dillard’s department stores will have to answer in court to charges it discriminated against former area sales manager Virginia Keene because of her age. Working in Cary, Keene was 61 years old at the time the company fired her and replaced her with a 24-year-old with only four months’ experience.