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Discrimination / Harassment

Good news: Texas Supreme Court says no double claims for sexual harassment

07/02/2010

The Texas Supreme Court has issued a ruling in a closely watched sexual harassment case involving a woman who charged co-worker sexual harassment and common-law failure to supervise. The court said that because the underlying facts were the same for both claims, the woman could sue only for sexual harassment.

When good workers go bad: ‘Employee of year’ award doesn’t give immunity from firing

07/02/2010

Sometimes, for whatever reason, a seemingly great employee makes an awful decision that forces you to terminate her. The key: Be consistent. Letting bad behavior slide because the worker is a stellar performer can trigger a discrimination claim. The best way to show bias played no part in the decision: Document the employee’s unacceptable behavior.

When employee complains, you must investigate — but you can insist on a civilized complaint

07/01/2010

Sure, everyone knows that employees who make a good-faith complaint alleging some form of discrimination are protected from retaliation. But that doesn’t mean that no one can criticize the employee for making the complaint in a way that’s out of line. If he or she is discourteous, you can and should put an end to the disruptive behavior.

Document rationale for all discipline to show it wasn’t a pretext for bias

06/29/2010

If you carefully document disciplinary actions and punish all employees fairly, courts will usually uphold your decisions. That’s because an employee who challenges the reason for her discharge has to show that the reason wasn’t legitimate—that, rather, the rationale was merely a pretext for some form of discrimination. And it takes more than just coincidence to do that.

Document any slippage in employee performance to insulate against later discrimination claims

06/29/2010
If you can show that the employee wasn’t living up to your legitimate expectations, her discrimination case will most likely be dismissed. Legitimate expectations—or adequate performance—aren’t measured just by performance evaluations. That’s especially true if the last performance evaluation occurred months earlier and performance has since changed.

EEOC busts dentist’s chops

06/28/2010
Kinston-based Affordable Care Inc. will pay $150,000 to settle sex and race harassment charges leveled by two female employees of an affiliated dentist in Massachusetts.

N.C. woman has bone to pick with Perdue

06/28/2010

Audrey Sheftall and her granddaughter both applied for jobs at Perdue Farms’ Lewiston facility on the same day. Perdue hired the granddaughter, but not the 66-year-old Sheftall. Sheftall complained to the EEOC that Perdue had discriminated against her because she was no longer—ahem—a spring chicken.

NASCAR’s Mayfield loses N.C. disability challenge

06/28/2010

The North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against the disabled, but that protection is limited. Consider the following case involving race car driver Jeremy Mayfield:

Keep processes transparent so everyone knows crucial employment milestones

06/28/2010

Typically, employees have just a short period of time to file an EEOC discrimination claim. But what if they don’t know they are being discriminated against? In some circumstances, that may give them much more time to begin a lawsuit. All the more reason to be open about employment decisions—it makes it harder for employees to later claim they didn’t understand their situations.

Invest a little in harassment training upfront to avoid sky-high litigation costs later

06/28/2010

If you do nothing else during training sessions, at least impress upon supervisors and managers the costly mess that can result if they allow any sort of harassment or retaliation in their departments. And remind them that it doesn’t matter if employee complaints fail to stand up in court.