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

Discrimination / Harassment

Can an employee sue us and our parent company?

10/15/2009

Q. Our company is owned by a foreign parent company. A former employee who was discharged last year recently filed a suit against us and our parent, claiming age discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Will the court dismiss our parent company from the lawsuit?

Letterman case spotlights boss-employee relationships

10/13/2009

Late-night talk show host David Letterman came under fire earlier this month after admitting—to ward off a blackmail plot—that he’d had sexual relationships with several female staff members. While Letterman is unlikely to make any Top 10 Lists of good bosses, does his misbehavior rise to the level of sexual harassment? And what’s the lesson from all of this?

Memo to supervisors: Even one slur can spur jury trial

10/13/2009

Have you warned all your supervisors and managers against using any slurs, no matter what background the slurs reference? If not, do so today! Otherwise—if the target of the slur happens to be discharged or demoted later—you’re risking a lawsuit for national-origin discrimination or some other form of bias.

Courts lose patience with frivolous lawsuits; employers can recover attorneys’ fees

10/13/2009

Here’s a bit of good news for employers fighting baseless lawsuits: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has signaled its willingness to allow trial judges to order attorneys’ fees for employers forced to defend themselves from litigation that has no merit.

Recruiting college students? Consider all ages

10/13/2009

If you have a robust college-student recruiting program, make sure you consider students from all age groups for your open positions—co-op and internship programs, too. That way, other employees can’t point to your college-student recruiting program as direct evidence of age bias.

Post promotion openings to cut down on lawsuits

10/13/2009

Employers that rely on informal announcements and word of mouth to promote employees, take note: If a supervisor knows an employee would be interested in such a position and doesn’t let him know it is opening up, a court may allow a failure-to-promote lawsuit even if the employee never applied.

Even if managers go rogue, you can defend terminations by conducting independent review

10/13/2009

You can preach your zero-tolerance policy on discrimination and retaliation until you’re blue in the face—and sometimes it still makes no difference. Occasionally a supervisor will say or do something stupid that gets the company dragged into court. However, there are steps you can take to avoid liability.

Helping worker dodge jury duty with medical excuse doesn’t amount to disability

10/13/2009

Here’s a novel twist on the ADA violation of regarding someone as disabled. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an employer doesn’t necessarily consider an employee disabled just because a manager uses a health-related excuse to help a worker get out of jury duty.

EEOC bites Cobra for supervisor sexual harassment

10/13/2009

Allegedly lewd and crude behavior by managers has led the EEOC to file a sexual harassment lawsuit on behalf of female employees of Delray Beach-based Cobra Construction and Cobra Pavers and Engineering.

Will lawsuit help Six L’s learn lesson on bias?

10/13/2009

The EEOC has filed national-origin and race discrimination charges against Immokalee-based packing company Six L’s. The complaint alleges Haitian employees endured a hostile work environment in which they were continually degraded by a largely Hispanic cadre of manages who considered Haitian workers “slaves.”