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Discrimination / Harassment

Arbitration agreements: Draft legal pact to stay out of court

05/01/2005
THE LAW. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a less costly way of resolving employment conflicts than going to court Also, good ADR programs often end up being a more peaceful forum …

Don’t ‘get tough’ on certain staff; tie punishment to crime

05/01/2005
Issue: Supervisors tend to be quicker in disciplining employees that have given them trouble in the past.
Risk: Singling out certain “troublemakers” for discipline can spur a retaliation lawsuit.
…

Scour your policies now for any traces of age discrimination

05/01/2005
Issue: A new Supreme Court ruling ratchets up your vulnerability to federal age-discrimination lawsuits.
Risk: Employees no longer need to show a “smoking gun.” Even policies that inadvertently discriminate can …

Shift assignment is your call, not the employee’s

05/01/2005

Q. We’re looking to switch an employee to a different shift, which will better serve the entire shift. Can we force an employee to change shifts even if he’s not interested? —K.C., New York

Cut your legal risks by reworking exit interviews

05/01/2005
Issue: Gaining more value from your exit interviews.
Risk: Intelligence gathered often falls into a “black hole,” so mistakes are repeated and legal land mines are overlooked.
Action: Ask …

Take same-race bias complaints seriously

05/01/2005
Don’t allow discrimination to continue simply because the “discriminator” and “discriminatee” are among the same racial minority. The EEOC is warning that it’s seeing more discrimination complaints between people of the …

Will your anti-retaliation policy pay off?

04/01/2005
When it comes to handling employee complaints of unfair treatment, you’d better have a policy and a procedure in place to handle retaliation claims.
That’s the $520,000 message a federal …

3 provisions NOT to include in your sexual harassment policy

04/01/2005
Some judges interpret policies, including those on sexual harassment, as enforceable contracts between employer and employee. To prevent charges that you didn’t live up to your side of the bargain in …

Personality tests don’t trammel constitutional rights, but beware risks

04/01/2005
Many employers use personality tests to identify job-related characteristics, such as maturity or emotional stability. But these tests can carry legal risk when applied incorrectly.
If you use personality tests, …

New law aims to stem the tide of mega class-action lawsuits

04/01/2005
Employers won a big victory when President Bush signed legislation
Feb. 18 that aims to inject more fairness in the class-action lawsuit arena. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 …