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Employment Law

Warn bosses: Don’t ask about caregivers’ responsibilities

09/02/2011
Employees can sue for discrimination based on being associated with a disabled individual. Employers must make sure they don’t use such associations as factors in job decisions. More employees are claiming that supervisors are discriminating against them because of fear that caring for a disabled individual will affect job performance.

Beware Sec. 1981 lawsuits, which target race bias

09/02/2011

After the end of the Civil War, Con­­gress enacted Section 1981, outlawing bias based on race in contracts. But “race” is a general term that also includes clas­­sifications based on qualities like being identified as Ger­­man, Russian or Arab.

When racially charged symbols appear, remove them ASAP and punish culprits

09/02/2011
Here’s an incentive to keep ra­­cially hostile symbols out of the workplace: In a case that resulted in no other damages, five black em­­ployees received $50,000 each for spotting a noose at work.

NLRB: You must display new pro-union poster by Nov. 14

09/02/2011
The National Labor Relations Board announced in August that most private employers will soon have to display a new poster in their workplaces notifying employees of their right to form or join a union. The poster—it’s not yet available, but soon will be on the U.S. Department of Labor’s website—must go up by Nov. 14.

Know how law treats sexual orientation bias

09/02/2011
Discrimination against a man or a woman based on whether the employee conforms to stereotypes about appropriate behavior for each sex is sex discrimination. However, outright discrimination against employees based on sexual orientation isn’t covered under Title VII.

Carefully account for all FMLA leave absences

09/02/2011

Smart employers make sure that no employee is ever punished for taking FMLA leave. They do that by carefully cataloging when every employee takes FMLA leave. And if they must discipline an employee for attendance problems, they spell out the reason why each absence counted toward punishment.

Former TSU hoops coach wins $730,000 for sex bias

09/02/2011
Former Texas Southern University women’s basketball coach Surina Dixon has won $730,000 in a sex discrimination and retaliation lawsuit she filed after being fired in 2008, shortly after she was hired.

Remove bias suspicion: Make firing a group decision

09/02/2011

Employers that use a team to carry out termination decisions may have an advantage. Case in point: George Dulin, who is white, lost his job of two decades as an attorney for a hospital. When a black attorney replaced him, he sued for race discrimination.

Reason prevails: Court limits supersized class actions

09/02/2011
Courts are beginning to rein in col­­lec­tive actions, in which a few com­­plaints about unpaid overtime can explode into massive litigation if courts aren’t careful.

Employee won discrimination case? Understand bias laws’ cap on punitive damages

09/02/2011

Employees who win discrimination cases are sometimes entitled to punitive damages if their employer’s actions were egregious. But those damages are capped based on the employer’s size. Now the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has clarified that the cap applies to all claims brought by the same party, even if she wins on several claims.