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Discrimination / Harassment

Lawsuit alert: Beware disciplining for infractions of seldom-enforced rules

03/15/2019
Sometimes, supervisors get frustrated with workers they consider trouble makers because they complain all the time. Those bosses need to think twice before they retaliate by strictly enforcing work rules—especially if they have often ignored those rules in the past.

Accommodate lactation needs of new mothers

03/15/2019
Employers that prohibit necessary lactation breaks or who retaliate against women for trying to take breaks may violate the sex discrimination provisions of Title VII.

Federal courts add another twist in the road to pay equity

03/13/2019
The U.S. Supreme Court just rejected an equal pay lawsuit for a most unusual reason. Even so, employers can learn valuable lessons from the case.

Transgender football player wins $20,000 for bias

03/13/2019
For the first time a transgender person has won an employment discrimination award under the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Audit training to identify possible discrimination

03/13/2019
Make sure your training programs don’t discriminate, especially if promotions and pay raises depend on training.

$4.2 million firing: Back pay, pain & suffering, punitive damages—and then front pay, too

03/13/2019
Unfairly terminating a worker could spark a lawsuit that costs your organization millions of dollars.

Supreme Court hands win to injured workers

03/13/2019
The Minnesota Supreme Court has overturned a 30-year-old decision that prevented injured workers from receiving workers’ compensation benefits and also suing their employers for discrimination.

Missed EEOC deadline doesn’t rule out lawsuit

03/12/2019
If you haven’t heard from a former employee by the time the EEOC’s 180-day deadline for filing a complaint passes, you can probably safely assume the termination won’t turn into a discrimination lawsuit. However, there is one way a former employee can revive her chance to sue.

Sexual innuendo can be sex discrimination

03/07/2019
Here’s a new worry, courtesy of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals: Allowing—or worse yet participating in—rumors that a female employee is allegedly “sleeping with the boss” to get ahead may trigger a sex discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Staffer’s assault claims cost Jackson Lee two House posts

03/06/2019
Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has agreed to step down from two positions in the U.S. House of Representatives after a former Capitol Hill staffer filed a lawsuit alleging she had been fired for reporting she was sexually assaulted by a co-worker.