• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Retaliation

Cut your retaliation risk: Make sure training is open to everyone who’s eligible

11/05/2010

Employees who experience retaliation after complaining about bias can sue and win, even if it turns out there was no basis for the original discrimination complaint. The retaliation doesn’t even have to be something serious such as a demotion or firing. It can be something as subtle as lost training opportunities.

You can add new rule during medical leave

11/05/2010
It’s OK to change work rules while an employee is out on FMLA or other medical leave. It’s legal, as long as the rule applies equally to every similarly situated employee.

Tollway EEO officer claims punishment after complaints

11/01/2010
An Equal Employment Opportunity officer with the Illinois Tollway has sued the agency, claiming she was suspended in retaliation for two reports she wrote alleging contracting improprieties by its former chief procurement officer.

Promoting staff into management? Train on anti-retaliation laws

10/28/2010
Sometimes, a new supervisor takes the opportunity to settle old scores with former co-workers. And that can create liability for the employer. So before the promotion kicks in, teach your newly minted managers that federal laws prohibit supervisors from retaliating against workers for everything from taking FMLA leave to filing a workers’ comp claim.

Can you pass the constructive discharge test? Beware lawsuits from employees who quit

10/26/2010
Some supervisors wrongly assume that employees who quit can’t sue because they weren’t fired. That’s not true. An employee who finds conditions so intolerable that he or she has no choice but to quit can sue and allege termination. Fortunately, courts expect employees to have relatively thick skins. Workplaces will never be perfect and courts don’t expect them to be.

Sudden discipline problems? Check for retaliation by boss

10/25/2010

Some supervisors get angry when an employee complains about alleged discrimination. Then they may look for an excuse to discipline the employee. Watch for such sudden complaints of “poor performance.” If the worker was formerly a good employee and now suddenly is not, you may be staring down a sudden outbreak of retaliation.

Bay Area worker files sexual orientation harassment suit

10/15/2010
A former clerical worker is suing a San Francisco Bay Area-based trucking company, claiming he was harassed and subsequently fired for asking about medical benefits for his same-sex partner.

Sending Form 1099 to IRS doesn’t amount to retaliation

10/15/2010

Sometimes, settling a discrimination complaint may mean paying the employee several thousand dollars. That payment may or may not be taxable. Employers often send a 1099 miscellaneous income form to the IRS. Some employees think this is a deliberate effort to alert the IRS to their miscellaneous income and amounts to retaliation. Courts disagree.

High Court rejects university boss’s reverse-bias claim

10/15/2010
The Minnesota Supreme Court has rejected a retaliation lawsuit that alleged reverse discrimination at Capella University, the nationwide online institution of higher learning based in Minneapolis.

Don’t fear retaliation claim if job changes are minor

10/13/2010

Employees who sue claiming discrimination have to show they endured some sort of adverse employment action, such as a demotion or termination. But what about changes in assignments, such as a new sales territory?