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

Discrimination / Harassment

Agencies address gender-based harassment

07/17/2024
The Department of Labor and the EEOC addressed gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace recently. They noted the prevalence of the problem and that dealing with it takes a toll on the victim’s physical and mental health.

Failure to investigate lands HR in trouble

07/17/2024
Employers must investigate every harassment claim. That’s true even when the alleged harasser is an owner or executive.

Prepare to pay up if you insist on English fluency or prohibit other languages on the job

07/15/2024
While English is the dominant U.S. language, it certainly isn’t the only one spoken in our multicultural society. In fact, employers that insist on English fluency or prohibit speaking another language at work may find themselves running afoul of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other employment laws, as one employer recently discovered.

More older workers may mean more age-bias, disability-discrimination lawsuits

07/15/2024
Older workers make up an increasingly large share of the workforce, and EEOC charges alleging age-based discrimination increased to 14,144 in fiscal year 2023, up sharply from 11,500 the year before.

Anniversary: Civil Rights Act of 1964 hits 60

07/15/2024
July 2 marked the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The landmark legislation outlawed, among other things, workplace discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origins.

Can it get worse than this?

07/11/2024
It’s not a rhetorical question. We spend the vast majority of our time on tax and payroll issues, as you would expect. So we don’t often run across examples of sexually harassing behavior, let alone something this egregious. But we highlight it when we do, because we all deserve to work in a safe place, free of harassment.

EEOC provides guidance on how to prevent harassment in vulnerable workplaces

07/10/2024
Employees in some industries and in isolated workplaces are more likely to experience workplace harassment. The EEOC’s newly expanded enforcement guidelines emphasize that employers can help prevent this from happening by learning to identify high-risk settings. Now the agency has published Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment in the Construction Industry.

HR’s big artificial intelligence question: Does AI candidate screening discriminate?

07/10/2024
AI skeptics and a growing cadre of plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that instead of preventing hiring bias, relying on an AI algorithm may actually bake discrimination into the selection process. That’s what is alleged in one recent complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission and another with the EEOC.

Employers can’t force religious conformity

06/28/2024
The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Groff v. DeJoy expanded employees’ right to religious accommodations at work. Unless an accommodation creates an undue hardship, employers must allow for religious needs such as time off to worship and permission to deviate from dress and grooming codes. But what about the right of employees to be free of religion at work—or at least the religion professed by management, owners or co-workers?

DOL targets federal contractors accused of discrimination

06/28/2024
Like any other employer, companies that perform contract work for the federal government may not discriminate on the basis of sex, age, race, national origin and other protected characteristics made illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other federal nondiscrimination laws. Unlike other employers, they must answer to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, a part of the Department of Labor specifically dedicated to ensuring federal contractors abide by non-discrimination rules.