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Discrimination / Harassment

Prompt corrective action limits harassment liability

02/01/2007

When employees complain about a sexually hostile environment, it pays to remedy the situation … fast. That’s true even if you don’t believe the actions would amount to illegal harassment …

Hired a dud? Double-Check that person’s qualifications and sniff out exaggerations

02/01/2007

You’ve no doubt hired a candidate who looks great on paper but quickly shows deficiencies. The experience he or she listed on the résumé isn’t apparent when the person starts work. Before long, you realize your mistake and fire the new employee, who then sues for discrimination …

Setting layoff criteria? You can ignore past performance

02/01/2007

When planning a layoff or restructuring, you can set criteria for who gets the ax by focusing on employees’ potential future contributions and ignoring their past performance …

390,000 reasons to avoid religious talk at work

02/01/2007

A new Arizona court ruling offers a good reminder that asking employees about their religious practices is irrelevant unless the employee is requesting a religious accommodation, such as time off to worship …

Can a company be liable for race-biased firing if decision-maker didn’t know the person’s race?

02/01/2007

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide on an important race-discrimination employment issue: whether a fired employee can win a race-discrimination lawsuit when the manager who pulled the trigger on the termination didn’t know the employee’s race …

Draft severance packages to comply with age-Bias law

02/01/2007

When employers offer severance packages to employees age 40 or older, those packages must comply with the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act …

What are the costs for age-Discrimination sins?

02/01/2007

Q. If we’re sued for age discrimination, is the potential award limited to lost wages and benefits? Or can a court also award damages like pain and suffering? —D.B., Nebraska

Traffic tardiness: Be consistent with punishments

02/01/2007

Q. How many times should we allow an employee to be late before giving an oral warning? We have a mandatory 8:30 a.m. production meeting. Everyone knows traffic is out of control, but most employees manage to arrive on time most of the time. Some are consistently late and constantly blame traffic. —J.A., California

Section 1981 bias law doesn’t cover national-origin claims

02/01/2007

Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 has become an increasingly common route for African-Americans to bring to federal court a variety of discrimination claims not covered by Title VII. But claims of national-origin discrimination aren’t allowed under Section 1981…

To defeat bias lawsuits, track all supervisors’ discipline

02/01/2007

Nothing will sink an employee’s discrimination case faster than evidence that you handed out punishment in the exact same doses to other employees as well …