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Discrimination / Harassment

N.J. may add another protected category: the unemployed

11/24/2010

It may soon be illegal for New Jersey employers to discriminate against applicants because they are unemployed. The State Assembly in October passed legislation prohibiting employers and recruiters from placing anything in job ads that would discourage unemployed persons from applying.

Tell bosses: Don’t nudge staff into retirement

11/24/2010

Remind supervisors to avoid comments that could be interpreted as pushing soon-to-retire workers out the door. If an older employee has to be terminated, a supervisor’s not-so-subtle hints at retirement will make it easier to persuade a court that age was the supervisor’s true reason for the firing.

Can deciding not to discipline lead to court?

11/22/2010

It happens: A supervisor wants to discipline an employee, but HR or upper management nixes the idea because it knows something the boss doesn’t. Perhaps the employee had suffered discrimination in the past and was placed in a new position for a fresh start. Be prepared for legal fallout if you wind up disciplining the supervisor.

Can our harassment policy penalize false claims?

11/19/2010
Q. Can we implement a provision on our sexual harassment policy that imposes discipline on employees who bring false harassment claims?

With eye toward defending disability lawsuit, track medical condition before termination

11/19/2010

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that a former employee can’t use his physical condition at the time of trial to prove he is disabled. Instead, he must show that, at the time he was employed, he had a condition that substantially limited a major life function. The ruling is good news for employers.

You must try to prevent co-worker harassment–but you’re not expected to be clairvoyant

11/19/2010

With co-worker harassment, employers are responsible only if they already knew the harasser was trouble because other employees had already complained about harassment, or the harassed employee had previously complained that she felt uncomfortable or harassed. Fortunately, employers don’t have to be clairvoyant.

Ban all supervisor comments about workers’ ages

11/19/2010

Here’s something to include in your regular supervisory training sessions: Remind everyone that they should banish from their vocabularies any slang or colorful terminology that hints at age discrimination. “Ageisms” can make legitimate business decisions like altered compensation plans, new job duties and other necessary changes look like pretexts for getting rid of older workers.

Beware setting up employees for embarrassment

11/19/2010

Employers have an obligation: Use their best efforts to create a workplace environment free of sexual and other illegal harassment. That means managers and supervisors should always consider “what if” before they push employees into difficult situations. Consider, for example, what happened when several male firefighters were ordered to ride on a firetruck as part of a gay pride parade.

Conducting online background checks? Beware the pitfalls

11/16/2010
Online tools can be highly valuable in recruiting and selecting the best candidates and screening out bad hires. Despite the potential advantages, those activities come with potential employment law risks that are still evolving due to the relatively recent emergence and growth of social media. Some of the obvious and not-so-obvious legal risks:

Fired for Cubicle Exorcism: Is That Religious Bias?

11/16/2010
The EEOC says you must “reasonably accommodate” employees’ religious beliefs and practices. But you can (and should) step in when that religious zeal crosses the line into religious harassment. Just make sure you treat all employees consistently—or you’ll be praying for the lawsuit to go away…