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Discrimination / Harassment

At job review, take notes on employee’s comments

07/01/2006

DuPont engineer Godwin Igwe filed a discrimination lawsuit, claiming the company denied him bonuses and promotions because of his national origin. But DuPont successfully defended the suit because its records showed that Igwe said he understood and accepted his demotion because of funding cuts in his department …

‘Pizza snub’ doesn’t equal religious bias

07/01/2006

A boss bought pepperoni pizza for all employees one day, but a Muslim employee felt slighted because, she said, the boss knew of her religious beliefs about eating pork …

Consistency Erases Risk of Light-Duty Jobs

07/01/2006

Employers who use light-duty programs to cut workers’ compensation costs often make one big legal mistake: They apply their policies haphazardly, allowing some employees to take light-duty jobs, but not others. That inconsistency is the fastest way to trigger discrimination lawsuits …

Have an Affirmative Action Plan? Protect Against Reverse-Bias Claims

07/01/2006

In the HR world, your actions sometimes fall into the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” category. This is one of those cases …

Equal treatment is absolutely essential after employee’s complaint

07/01/2006

It may seem patently obvious, but judging from the number of lawsuits alleging retaliation these days, many employers still don’t understand the importance of equal treatment following a complaint …

Analyze Severance Agreements for Plain-Language Readability

07/01/2006

When it comes time to downsize or reorganize, one of the most common risks you’ll face is age-discrimination claims. That’s why it’s best to have departing employees sign severance agreements in which they waive their rights to pursue age-related claims …

‘Ministerial exception’ isn’t free pass for religious groups to discriminate

07/01/2006

If your organization is a religious institution, you may not have adopted anti-discrimination policies or practices because you think you can rely on the “ministerial exception.” But, as a new case shows, that may not always be the case …

Planned EEOC budget cuts attacked by unions, lawmakers

07/01/2006

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws, has lost 20 percent of its work force since 2001. And it may suffer another budget cut in the coming FY2007 federal budget …
 

Boycott effort at ExxonMobil could alter policies on gay workers

07/01/2006

ExxonMobil has earned the wrath of many for reaping record profits while gasoline prices run so high. Now the oil giant is facing a boycott—not from angry motorists but from gay rights groups …

THREE CHAMPAGNE BOTTLES … TWO DIFFERENT PENALTIES

07/01/2006

Q. Two employees went to breakfast and drank three bottles of champagne to celebrate one’s birthday. One employee is an exempt employee who has been with us for seven years. The other is an hourly employee with the company for one month. I’d like to treat them differently: terminate the hourly employee and suspend the exempt employee for a week. Is that possible? —D.M., California