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Discrimination / Harassment

‘OK, boomer!’ not OK at work

11/21/2019
Employment lawyers are warning that “OK, boomer!”—the viral meme-phrase that caught fire on social media earlier this month as a tool for millennials to dismiss baby boomers’ opinions—could be used as evidence in age-discrimination lawsuits by older workers.

$20 billion case could reset race bias bar

11/21/2019
A $20 billion lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court could dramatically change what contractors—and employees, potentially—have to prove in order to win a race discrimination case.

Internal harassment complaints: Avoid these 5 mistakes

11/19/2019
Receiving an internal harassment complaint is a critical moment for an employer. How you handle the complaint can affect workplace morale, the likelihood of a lawsuit or an administrative charge and the defenses available to you as an employer, among other things.

Which word doesn’t belong when disciplining a pregnant employee? That’s right: pregnant!

11/18/2019
A little bit of caution goes a long way toward limiting charges of pregnancy-bias discrimination.

Customer preference doesn’t excuse bias

11/14/2019
The customer is always right, right? Wrong! Employers aren’t allowed to bow to customer preferences if they are racist, sexist or otherwise would violate an employment discrimination or public accommodation law.

In #MeToo era, you need a contingency plan

11/14/2019
In the days after McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook’s termination for having a consensual romantic relationship with a woman at work, details emerged showing that the fast food company had prepared in advance to handle relationships between C-suite executives and subordinates. Your organization needs a contingency plan, too.

Best defense: Consistent rules universally enforced

11/07/2019
When an applicant or employee launches a lawsuit, courts naturally end up scrutinizing your organization and its processes. The best defense: Have consistent rules that you universally apply to everyone.

Ensure policy spells out exactly how employees should report allegations of sexual harassment

11/07/2019
You will probably survive a harassment lawsuit if you trained all employees how to use the policy and followed up with discipline whenever an investigation uncovered harassment.

Employee acts as attorney? Prepare for a long haul

11/07/2019
Plenty of employees who want to sue their employers can’t find an attorney willing to represent them. Then they decide to act as their own lawyers. Courts dread these cases, but they often grant great leeway to pro se plaintiffs, who usually aren’t familiar with even basic legal processes.

Jury’s $20 million message on anti-gay bias

11/07/2019
A Missouri jury has just delivered an unmistakable lesson to organizational leaders everywhere: Open displays of homophobic bigotry aren’t just wrong; they have real-world consequences.