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Discrimination / Harassment

Worker Doesn’t Have to Say ‘Harassment’ to Make Complaint

04/01/2007

Don’t wait for employees to use the magic words—“sexual harassment”—to begin investigating a complaint. It’s up to you to decipher an employee’s protests to determine if they could fall into that legally dangerous harassment-complaint zone …

This jury verdict didn’t break any records

04/01/2007

Although a 63-year-old quality control inspector won his age-discrimination lawsuit, a jury awarded him only $1 in damages …

Can we ban dating among co-workers?

04/01/2007

Q. We recently defended a workplace harassment lawsuit against our company involving two co-workers who broke up. To avoid future problems, can we impose prohibitions against co-workers dating to avoid future problems? …

Punishing a worker for personal blog post

04/01/2007

Q. One of my staff showed me an Internet link to another employee’s personal blog, which included racial and offensive comments about our company and employees. Can we reprimand the employee for the racial slurs?

Remind bosses: Don’t let ‘Soft’ traits sway hiring, firing

04/01/2007

When it comes to hiring and promotions, one of the quickest paths to the courthouse is relying heavily on a person’s subjective qualifications when objective measures point to a better candidate …

‘Anti-Mom’ comments can trigger messy discrimination lawsuits

04/01/2007

It’s not only illegal to discriminate against females in the work force, it’s also illegal to show bias against certain subsets of women …

Genetic discrimination bill takes another step in Congress

04/01/2007

A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation last month that would ban employers from collecting genetic information from employees and applicants and prohibit the use of genetic tests when making employment decisions …

How long to retain applications and résumés?

04/01/2007

Q. How long do we have to keep applications and résumés? — L.P., Kansas

In handbook, spell out policies on promotions and pay

04/01/2007

When it comes to promotions and wage increases, it pays to spell out for employees exactly how the process works. That way, you’re less likely to lose a failure-to-promote case or a pay-discrimination suit. …

Track contracts for bias against black-Owned firms

04/01/2007

Think you don’t have to worry about race discrimination in hiring contractors? Think again. A little-known section of the federal Civil Rights Act has become a popular vehicle for claims of race discrimination in contracting …