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Discrimination / Harassment

Prompt response key in hostile environment cases

08/28/2009

Employers that quickly respond to employee sexual harassment and hostile environment complaints cut their liability.

Stanley Furniture settles racial harassment suit

08/28/2009

Virginia-based Stanley Furniture has settled a racial harassment suit filed by three employees at the furniture manufacturer’s former plant in Lexington.

Document reason for termination to make sure courts don’t second-guess your decision

08/26/2009

If you have to fire an employee, don’t worry that a court is just waiting to second-guess why you did so. The fact is, courts are reluctant to question your reasons as long as you can convince them the reasons were honest, even if in retrospect they may seem baseless or even foolish. They don’t want to become a national HR department.

Federal HR pros, take note: Bias complainers may contact any EEO officer to press claims

08/26/2009

Federal employees have special rules they have to follow in order to sue their employers for discrimination. One of these requirements is to contact an Equal Employment Opportunity “counselor” within 45 days of the alleged discriminatory act. The 9th Circuit has concluded that employees don’t have to contact the individual their employer has designated as the EEO counselor …

During RIF, make sure your rationale makes sense

08/26/2009

Reductions in force are risky, so plan them carefully. Before you try to explain why you’re letting certain employees go, make sure your reasons make sense.

Complaining about co-worker’s harassment may be protected

08/26/2009

Employees who complain that a co-worker is being sexually harassed by a supervisor may be engaging in protected activity. That’s because a good-faith complaint may amount to opposition to a discriminatory employment practice. Punishing that employee may then be illegal retaliation.

Cross-dressing hair stylist blames firing on gay bias

08/26/2009

Daniel Brant liked to curl his eyelashes and wear mascara and heels when he went to his hair-stylist job at the Chop Shop on the Philadelphia campus of Temple University. When his boss transferred him to the salon’s South Street location and later fired him, he sued for discrimination.

Confront bigotry—it won’t go away by itself

08/25/2009

It may be tempting to ignore rumors about racial or other hostility in the workplace. But you do so at the company’s peril—especially if some of that hostility is coming from a supervisor who has the power to hire and fire.

Duties, not title, determine harasser’s status

08/25/2009

Employees whose supervisors sexually harass them have a fairly easy time winning their cases. But courts are much more lenient when the alleged harasser is a co-worker. That means employers can relax a little if an employee complains about a co-worker. Fortunately, the alleged harasser’s title isn’t the deciding factor. Instead, courts look to the actual job responsibilities.

Supreme Court toughens path for workers’ age bias suits

08/25/2009

In an important victory for employers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that for employees to successfully bring lawsuits under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, they must now show that age discrimination was the cause of their termination or other adverse job action …